Sunday, September 15, 2019

After two 100 degree days in San Luis Obispo I was expecting and hoping for a very summery day at the beach, but, the high pressure that had been pushing the warm are to the coase collapsed Saturday evening and the fog came in. It cooled things off nicely in San Luis Obispo and had Avila Beach wrapped in complete grey. 

 

The slot of light off to the west held some promise but I 

would not make a guess if it was going to clear. 

The silver lining was that the water temperature was 62 (Heidi measured 59) and the conditions were flat and windless.

We decided to do a counterclockwise triangle for about a mile with a Cal Poly Pier add on  option for about a mile and a half.

Swimming today were regulars Niel, Heidi, Brenda, Maria, Amy, Stephanie and John with Tim making it his second swim and Max, Mike, and Jim joining us for the first time.

The Cal Poly Pier group was Niel, Stephanie, Mike and Jim. 

Stephanie, Jim and Mike at the Cal Poly Pier.

The two groups came back together at the finish at the first buoy 

on the east side of the Avila Pier.

Maria, Max, Stephanie, Jim and Brenda.

The sun broke through at the end of the swim,  just in time to warm up the beach.

After the swim: Mike, John, Maria, Amy, Heidi, Niel, Brenda, Max, Jim, Stephanie.

Tim had already headed to the showers.

niel

Sunday, September 8, 2019

It was clear, calm, sunny and warm at Avila Beach at 10:30. I measured a water temperature of 59.5 off of the pier.

Notice how nice and flat the water is? This was going to change.

Swimming today were Niel, Louis, Agustin, Heidi, Amy, John, Brenda and Tom.
Niel, Louis, Agustin and Tom swam to the end  of the Avila Pier, over to the Cal Poly Pier and back to our starting point.
Amy, John, Brenda and Heidi swam to the first buoy, out to the anchored boat in the second photo, to the second buoy, to the 4th buoy, to the end of the Avila Pier and in. 

The standard photo of Tom, waiting for the rest of us to get our acts together and to get in and start swimming.
Shortly after both groups began swimming a west wind began and within a few minutes built to the point of pushing breaking whitecaps.
The the route of the swim from the end of the Avila Pier to the Cal Poly Pier was about 20 degrees off of the direction of the wind so we had a fun time of it pushing through the waves and current.

Agustin and Louis at the Cal Poly Pier. Louis has done a half Ironman and is 

really game but this was his first ocean swim!  It was quite a day for your first try at ocean swimming. He was smiling when we got out and will be back.

The back and forth loop at the Cal Poly Pier was Agustin and I. The first swimmers to a waypoint along the swim usually swim back along the route to the last swimmer and then back to the waypoint. The faster swimmers get some extra distance and they don't get cold waiting. 

The swim back to the beach had following swells with an occasional large long period swell that were almost large enough to get a short ride on.

The Group 2 route.

niel

Labor Day, Monday, September 2, 2019

Niel and Craig got in the water at 9 and did a counterclockwise triangle. The sun was already out and the water temperature was about 60+. There was a very light breeze and a swell out of the SE that was hard to see from shore but that gave the swim a bit of vertical motion and push and pull. A great way to begin the day!

Craig

Niel and Craig

niel

Sunday, September 1, 2019

Avila Beach cleared early today giving us warm and sunny skies and 62 degree water. There have been reports of red tides in Pismo but the water at Avila was clean. It was flat and windless.

Swimming today were Niel, Tom, Amy, John, AnneMarie, Chris, Stephanie, Tim and Brenda.

Niel, Tom, Chris, Stephanie, Tim and Brenda swam on the west side of the pier. John, Amy, AnneMarie and Brenda decided to swim on the east side.

I have not seen any bait balls since last summer but today there was a huge one 200M beyond and to the east of the end of the Avila Pier. While we were getting ready it moved onshore, inside the end of the pier. We decided to swim on the opposite (west) side of the pier to the mouth of the creek and make it up our route from there. 

By the time we were wading in the bait ball had moved to the west side of the pier so we swam west to the creek mouth and evaluated the situation. It looked like the bait ball might be moving over towards the Cal Poly Pier, which had been our original destination, so we decided to do two laps of the buoy line on the west side. 

This is Stephanie, Tim, Chris and Tom on our second stop at the last buoy at the mouth of San Luis Obispo Creek. Tom is looking to the east because is noticing a large gray porpoise swimming past within 20' of our group.

John, Amy and Brenda swam on the east side, down to Fossil Point and back.

Duke and Marguerite swam over near the Harford Pier, from the kayak rental shack to the base of the breakwater and back.

Labor Day Piece of Pie Swim:

I am going to swim at Avila tomorrow morning. In the water at 9, done and home in time for our block party at 11. Might be foggy but the water will flat and the parking easy. 

Join me and earn the ability to have a guilt free piece of pie tomorrow afternoon.

niel

Sunday, August 25, 2019

At 10:30 I was out on the Avila Pier getting a water temperature and checking out the swimming conditions. If the fog didn't lift we would be swimming up and back along teh buoy line. 

The fog was moving in and out, making it difficult to know if it was going to cleat or not. Just before we got in at 11 the fog opened up and moved way off shore, making for fine swimming.

The water temperature was 60 degrees. With the sun out the air temperature was rising from 65 to eventually 80 degrees. 

Swimming today were Tom, Duke, Amy, John, Niel and AnneMarie. 

Tom proposed today's route: a witches hat, complete with tie strings.

Tom getting in.

Tom decided to go formal today so he added a fashionable kelp scarf to his ensemble. 

AnneMarie

Niel and Duke at the last buoy on the right, if you are looking at the plot,

otherwise on the left from the beach.

The water was nice and clear close to the shore so Tom tried to get a photo of 

Niel (on the left) and Duke (on the right) swimming towards him. 

Niel

Niel as a green streak passing Tom.

Niel

Tom

We will be swimming next Sunday and polling interest in a Monday morning swim on Labor Day. 

niel

Wednesday Evening, 190821

Beautiful conditions at 5:30; 85 degrees on the beach and 62 degree water. No wind, almost flat.
The lifeguards packed it in at 5:45. No one else showed and I didn't swim alone. Too warm to hang on the beach for long so I was gone by 6.

I hope that it is like this on Sunday.

niel

Sunday, August 18, 2019

Today's swim was out to the end of the Avila Pier, over to the end of the Cal Poly Pier, in along the Poly Pier to the third set of cross bracing and then in to the Avila Pier and our starting place for a distance of 1.55 miles.

It was gray and spitty in San Luis Obispo so I came prepared for damp and cold on the beach. It was surprisingly warm in Avila Beach and 

there was a hole in the overcase and some blue sky. 

The water temperature was 58 to 60 degrees, there was no wind or swell, so we had very nice swimming conditions. 

 

That is Duke, Margariet, AnneMarie and Heidi.

We had three female swimmers in green caps last week and I couldn't 

tell them apart so Heidi decided to distinguish herself today 

Today's group was Niel, Duke, Heidi, Sara, Margaret, Tom, AnneMarie and Addie. Addie is a new grad student at Cal Poly. I hope I spelled her name correctly. She is from New Jersey and was very happy to find the group and Avila Beach.

Sara, Heidi, Addie, Duke (green splash) and Margaret at the first buoy

Tom

 

Niel

At the end of the Avila Pier.

Duke, Margaret and Addie

Addie, Heidi and Sara

Tom, Duke, Addie and Margaret

At the end of the Cal Poly Pier.

Wednesday Evening Swim:
We got skunked last week, nobody could make it and the lifeguards had spotted an 11' white shark near the Cal Poly Pier earlier in the day, so there would have been no swimming if we had shown up.
How about this week? Niel and Margaret are in for in the water at 5:30. 


niel

Sunday, August 11th, 2019

The fog was in at 10:30 but clearing, promising calm and flat swimming conditions. The water temperature was 59.5 with no sign of red tide.

 

Swimming today were Niel, Heidi, Augustine, Tom, Duke, Maria, Sara, Ben, Stephanie, Sue and her sister Kiri (?, can't read my writting) 

Augustine is from Fresno (yes? Visalia?). He and his wife drove over to visit the coast and so he could get in the water. They are from Argentina. His company moved them to Fresno 6 months ago where he works for the cattle industry.

Sue and her sister are from London, England. Sue is frequently in the area and drops in whenever she is here.

The plan was to swim down the buoy line to the left and beyond the fourth buoy to Fossil Point, back to the 4th buoy, to the end of the Avila Pier and in to the beach, which would be about 1.5 miles. 

Ben would hang with their daughter while Sara was swimming and them go out on his own once Sara was back.

 

 Kiri, Augustine, Stephanie, Sue, Maria. Tom is behind Maria. At the start.

 

At the 4th buoy,. I can't identify anyone. 

 

 

Tom, orchestrating a photo opp at Fossil Point

  

 Sara, Heidi or Maria, Duke, Kiri, Niel, Maria or Heidi, Sue, Stephanie, Augustine

at Fossil Point. Wonderful swimming conditions.

Augustine enjoyed himself and I expect that he will be back as often as he can.

 

I had 1.53 miles on my watch when I got out. 

 

 Maria, Sara and Heidi did a more out and back route for 1.3 miles.

Craig Bowman and I are going to swim Wednesday evening, in the water at 5. Does anyone else want to jump in?

niel

Sunday, August 4th, 2019

 Avila Beach was unusually full of fog and thick low clouds that didn't look like they were going to clear.The water was flat, 61 degrees and showed no signs of red tide. 
Today's group consisted of Niel, Heidi, Leslie, Andy, a friend of Jonny's who was joining us for the first time, Maria, Erin, who has been simming at Avila but liked the idea of getting in with some other swimmers, Mary Anne and Jonny.
We swam the triangle counterclockwise for 1.12 miles. Maria and Erin went bareback.

 

Leslie

 

Sorry about the water droplets.

That is Jonny on the far left, Erin behind the drop, Heidi, Andy and Maria

at the last buoy on the right of the pier.

 

 

At the end of the pier Leslie went off the front because she was getting cold and Heidi went in along the pier. This is Maria and Erin at the last buoy on the left of the pier.

 

Jonny and Andy at the last buoy on the left. 

niel

Sunday, July 28, 2019

Today's posts are by Tom and Heidi.

Tom’s Blog for Sunday July 28^th – Group One Report.

Beautiful day at Avila – sunny & clear, pleasantly warm, slight breeze – really nice.  As such, Avila would be packed by 1PM (well after our swim).  Cars looping the neighborhoods looking for the elusive parking space.  Nevertheless, it was a nice day.

Swimming in Group One was Leslie, Duke, Jeff, Heidi, and Tom.  The route started at our usual spot, #1 Bouy East.  From there we swam under the pier to #1 Bouy West, veered left and headed out the #3 Crossbeam of the CP Pier.  Then over the end of the Avila Pier and on to the #4 Bouy East and back to where we started.  I estimated this to be about 1.4 miles or so.  The water was the warmest it’s been this year – maybe hitting sixty.

Wildlife sightings: Two dolphins doing their thing just outside the Avila Pier, and three ring-necked phooies casually adrift, enjoying the day. 

Instead of swimming with us today, Niel was having fun (?) doing the SLO Tri (is anyone really having fun doing a Tri?).

Heidi's Blog for Sunday, July 28th -

Anne Marie did her own swim near the buoy line.  I began the swim with Tom, Leslie, Duke, Kiwi Jeff and Eric (the latter two bareback).  We swam to the first buoy on the east side of the pier, under the pier to the other first buoy, then off to the third cross bar on the Poly pier. Soon they were off in the distance, as I swam in “cruise mode”.  The water was about 60F, calm, somewhat clear.  It felt like a warm blanket compared with most of our chillier swims. Lovely.

When the group turned around at Poly pier, I turned around as well, into some mild chop, with Duke’s company to the end of Avila pier, then in to shore.  While at the end of Avila pier, we ran into John, Stephanie and Jonny.  There was apparently some kind of wetsuit / zipper debacle when they were gearing up for the swim and Jonny somehow managed to pull on a wetsuit with zipper closed…?  Would love to have seen that!

This was Kiwi Jeff’s last swim with us this summer, as he is heading back home, soon.  We look forward to your return and next swim with us, Jeff!

Heidi

Marie and I did the SLO Tri today. This races was a pleasant morning workout for Marie and a slog for Niel. It was a beautiful day for the race. Your start time will determine what kind of an event your were participating in. The swim is in the city's pool so start times are spread out from 6:30AM to early afternoon. An early start time can get you cool and still conditions while by late morning it is often clear, warm to hot and with 15 to 20 MPH breeze paralleling the out and back bike route.  It was gray, cool and misty when I started at 7:30. I was wearing arm warmers and a shell vest on the ride and wiping the mist off of my glasses. Around 8:30 to 9 the fog burned off, it warmed up into the mid 80's and the wind came up. I was glad to be almost back in town at this point.
I'm looking forward to being back at Avila next Sunday.

niel