Sunday, June 18th, 2023

The swimming conditions were wonderful today. At 11 the air temp was 64° and heading towards the low 70's. It was clam and the water was still glassy, 58° to 59°! and clean! I don't know where the plankton went but I assume it will be back but today was pure fun. 

Tiki is back from Berkeley, no longer a freshman and had not been in the water since last fall. She was interested in doing about a mile so we got in on the west side and swam a triangle to the first buoy on the left side of the pier. 

Niel and Tiki at the end of the Avila Pier.

At that point Jamie caught up with us and Tiki went in.  We swam another triangle back to the first buoy on the right side where,

Haley caught up with us. She is from Fresno, was in Avila with her family and wanted to get in hir first ocean swim prior to doing an Alcatraz swim with her Master's group. She was happy with swimming about a mile so we would do my third triangle. Jamie wanted to do a bit more so she swam with us to the 4th buoy and returned to the pier. Haley and I completed the triangle, she had a great time and should be back in a couple of week for more. With nothing to top me up along the way I was spent ready for lunch. 

Everybody enjoyed the clean and warmer water today.

I'll be back on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday mornings at 7 and next Sunday at 11.

niel      

Saturday, June 17th, 2023

The same stuff: air 59°, water 56°, gray, no sun, no wind, glassy conditions, small surf

The different stuff: Water clarity was about like Thursday with better visibility near the beach and not good to bad visibility near the end of the Avila Pier.  Better visibility means that when I look down I can see my toes well enough to know that they are still there. Not good visibility means I can kind'a see the bottom of my pinnie.

Tom I., Niel and Jodi at the end of the Avila Pier. 

We swam three of Jodi's triangles; from the end of the pier swim to the forth buoy, along the buoy line to the first buoy and back to the end of the pier and repeat as necessary. 

I'll swim Sunday at 11.

niel

Thursday, June 15th, 2023

Conditions were better today compared to Tuesday, the water was a bit warmer and while still brown and funky, there were no spots where the plankton became so thick that it was like swimming in soup.

At 7 Avila was still gray and 59° with flat 56° water, small waves and no wind.  

I swam on the west side of the pier today and did the same back and forth between each swim buoy and the end of the Avila Pier that I did on the east side Tuesday. Todays swim came out 200M shorter. For some reason the distances on the west side has always seemed shorter than on the east side.  

The Army Core of Engineer's has begun the second phase of the repair work on the Port San Luis breakwater. Their big derrick is in place at the breakwater and there was a barge of new breakwater material anchored off of Avila Beach. I learned that these boulders come from a quarry on Catalina Island.

I'll swim Saturday at 7 and Sunday at 11. 

niel 

Tuesday, June 13th, 2023

 It has been a week since I was in the water and it was good to be back. At 7 AM it was very summary in Avila Beach; 59°, high clouds, no sun, no wind, no waves.  The water temp was 55.4° and the water quality is now full summer funk so there will be no clean water until next winter.  The funk varied from not too objectional to as thick as soup.

 

I got the kinks out by swimming between the buoys and the end of the pier.  

Photo of my toes from the surface. The visibility here was about 3 feet.

I'll be back Thursday and Saturday mornings at 7 and Sunday at 11.

niel   

Tuesday, June 6th, 2023

I had a nice swim this morning. The overcast was high and thin with some sky showing through. It was 57° and still with glassy water that developed some character as the morning progressed.  The tide was very low and a unusual amount of Avila Rock was above the water so l decided to do a lap around the rock and take a look. The water was 12.5°C/54.4°F. 

The clouds and sky looked beautiful but the lighting was so dark and flat that it was extremely difficult to pick the rock out from the background. This is the east side of Avila Rock at 7:30. There was still no 'sunrise' to illuminate the rock and it blended into the hills.  In order to navigate I had to stop swimming and really look in order to pick the rock of the background 

I'll be out of town Wednesday through Sunday so my next swim will be on the 13th. 

niel 

Sunday, June 4th, 2023

Niel, Jamie, Victoria, two of Victoria's friends, Tom L., and John and Jonny swam around mid day today.

When I first got to the beach I saw Tom swimming towards the end of the Avila Pier. He was far enough out that he would have been aiming for the end of the Poly Pier. Saw him again when he was at the Avila Pier as he was finishing up, when Victoria and her friends, Jamie and I were just getting started.  Afterwards, around 1, I saw what looked like John and Jonny moving out through the surf and starting their swim. 

It was a great day for swimming. There was no wind, the water smooth and glassy and the water's temperature was up to 54° - 55°.  At 11 it was still grey all of the way down to the horizon but the sun did come out around noon.

Victoria and her friends swam out and back along the left buoy line. Jamie and I did three triangles for 4,500M.   

I'll be back to swim on Tuesday morning at 7. That will be it for me for a week as I'll be out of town Wednesday through Sunday.

niel

Saturday, June 3rd, 2023

 

At the end of the Cal Poly Pier

Jodi and Jim in the background and Niel

Jodi, Jim and Niel got in at 7 AM. Avila was in full June Gloom mode with dense gray cloud cover, 53°, calm, 52.7° water that felt like 51° or maybe 52°, a nice glassy surface and a small swell from the SW.  This week the water has started to become 'summery', not in temperature but the nice clean winter water is being replaced by the yellow brown summer crud of plankton which means that the bait fish will arrive soon bringing with them the seals, birds and big fish. There was a lot of kelp in the surf line. 

There were three swims today: Jim is still getting his cold water chops back so he's get out when it was his time,  Jodi wanted to do 1:15 and I was looking for 4,500M.

We swam the Poly Pier Circle counterclockwise. Jim went in when we were passing by the Avila Pier. Jodi hit 1:15 when she and I arrived back at the Avila Pier and I continued on to do a triangle to to top up my distance. My dead reckoning was off a bit since I wound up with 5,000+M.

I'll be back tomorrow at 11. I'm expecting two new swimmers.

niel  

Tom L. got in at about 10 and swam around the Avila Rock.  

Thursday, June 1st, 2023

The Gods Must be Laughing - 

Poseidon, Neptune, maybe even Popeye, but they are having fun with us swimmers. 55° water on Tuesday and 51.7°/11°C today. Combined with the solid gray cloud cover it was chilly.

When asked about the water temperature I'm going to just say 51° and then the only surprises will be pleasant ones.  

Jim, Niel and Stephanie swam this morning at 7. We planned to do a loop out and around the Poly Pier. Stephanie needs a new wetsuit, got too cold and dropped off at the end of the Avila Pier. Jim also was cold in his borrowed wetsuit and swam in to the base of the Avila Pier from the end of the CPP. I had the warmest wetsuit by a good margin so I completed the loop and added a triangle for 4,746M. 

My Patagonia R3 is a 3.5/4.5 surf suit with kneepads and a rough outside texture to help you to stay on your board and is more bulky to than my Orca, but it is my best buddy when the water is around 50°.  Even in water in the 40's I've felt the cold but have never gotten cold. 

It will be Jim, Jodi, Tom I., and myself Saturday morning at 7. 

niel
  

Tuesday, May 30th, 2023

 

At 7AM Avila Beach had the full June Gloom conditions; 58°, very gray, still, and a glassy ocean with 54.5° water. That is back up to a 'normal' winter temperature so there my be summer temperatures to come. On 5/31/22 the water was 56° and by mid June it was 59° - 60°. After water temps between 46° and 50° in February, March & April the mid 50's is most welcome.  

Stephanie wasn't here today but Jim dropped in. He has swum with us before when he lived in the Bay Area and now lives on the Central Coast. He swims bareback and had not been in the water since September. He has a borrowed wetsuit for today and began getting his water temperature tolerance recalibrated. He expects to dump the wetsuit once he gets comfortable in the water.

We did triangles. One for Jim and three for me.  The water is starting to get cloudy, a sure sign of summer. I swam through a blob of red tide off of the end of the Avila Pier. Soon we should have the baitfish and the birds back, the visibility in the water will be down to a few feet, crowds of sand apes will return and it will be Summer.

Stephanie and I will swim Thursday morning at 7. Jodi, Tom I. and I will swim Saturday at 7AM.

niel     

Tom Els, Tuesday swim report: beautiful day at Avila when I arrived at 9:30. High overcast with some blue showing. The water was calm, flat and glassy. My toes told me it was 53, 54. Excellent day of swimming and all around at Avila, and not just because there were less tourists. 

Monday, May 29th, 2023

Tom L's Monday morning, swim report: On the final day of the three day weekend,  it was still crowded enough that I could not get a front row parking spot when I arrived at 9:15, hence, the no ocean view photo. It was cloudy with scattered blue spots in the sky. Air temperature was 62°.  Being the tourist curmudgeon that I am, it is times like this morning and Saturday that I miss the emptiness that came with the Covid shut down.  As I was getting in, I saw sushi seal just past the break searching for breakfast… The water was 52° with a wind chop and bump to it. Swimming was nice, though, and tourists free!  

Sunday, May 28th, 2023

 

Jamie, Todd and Niel

Jamie, Niel and Todd swam today (Todd, I may have your name wrong. Email me). There was thick overcast, a light wind, 58° air and 52.5° water. The surf was 1 - 2 foot. The ocean was flat when we got in but the wind picked up and things were got choppy during the second half. 

We swam two triangles, clockwise then counter clockwise. 

I'll be back Tuesday and Thursday mornings at 7.

niel

Saturday, May 27th, 2023

Everybody Went Long Today - 

Jodi and Tom I. swam for about 90 minutes and did 4,000M. I swam for two hours and covered 5,251M. I wanted to go longer today and Jodi and Tom decided to join me. This was the longest and furthest swim any of us had done in some time, especially Jodi who seems to be almost fully recovered from her shoulder surgery.  The swimming conditions were ideal if you were OK with 52° water. It was calm and still but gray. The water was flat and glassy with an occasional set of swells that would make 2' - 3' breakers. 

We swam out, around the left buoys, to the end of CPP and in to the base of the pier at the shore. There were waves breaking against the rocks at the base of the pier so getting in close enough for a touch would of risked getting bounced off of the rocks so we stopped a bit short.

At the second crossbars on the way back out along the CPP Tom and Jodi pealed off towards the end of the Avila Pier while I continued to doubled back along our outbound route.      

Jodi, Tom I. and Niel at the second crossbars on the Cal Poly Pier.

I saw Tom I. and Jodi after I got out and we were all really happy with the start we had made on this weekend.  As I was leaving I saw and spoke with Tom Lorish as he was heading for the water. 

I'll do a shorter swim tomorrow at 11. 

niel 

Tom L's Saturday Morning Swim report: gray, calm, 52° water temperature. Good swimming. 

Friday, May 26th, 2023

 

Tom L's Friday morning swim report: the gray days of May continue at Avila.  It was 60° when I arrived at 9:45.  The marine layer was thick, but would be burning off by the time I finished my swim.  The water was smooth, flat and glassy with temperatures ranging from 52-54.  Aquatic microclimates.  Good swimming.  

Thursday, May 25th, 2023

 

The swimming conditions were beautiful this morning. It was clear and sunny at Avila Beach at 7 AM. The air temp was 56° and would be about 65° by 9. The surf was one to two foot, there was a slight swell the water was glassy and the water temperature was down to 52°. The water temperature has been falling for a week so I'm hoping that it bottoms out soon. I'd switched back to my winter wetsuit for today and was glad of it.  As we were wading in Stephanie and I looked at each other and said "hey, the water is cold".

Stephanie and Niel got in at 7. We swam the buoy line, the end of the Avila Pier, the end of the CPP and to the second crossbars. From there Stephanie completed the circle to where we had gotten in for 3,200M. I doubled back along our route for 4,500M. It was very relaxing in the water this morning. 

Jodi, Tom I. and I will swim Saturday morning at 7.

niel

Tuesday, May 23rd, 2023

 At seven o'clock Avila was grey and calm with perfect swimming conditions. The air temp was 54°, the water was 54.5°, the surf was 2 to 3 foot and there was a slight swell and puss out of the SE. The water is still very clear. There were plenty of Velella on the beach near the high tide line but I did not see any in the water.

With the high clouds I don't have the sun to navigate by but if there is no fog and a small swell I can keep my bearing by watching an object on the horizon. This morning I could see the light flash of the sand slide at the end of the beach near Guadalupe. As long as I it was in the same spot every time I breathed on the right I was still lined up with the end of the Avila Pier.       

I'm feeling the need for more distance so I did 4000M today.  

Looking back toward the Avila Pier.

niel

Tom's Tuesday morning swim report: I don't think I have anything new to say that Niel hasn't said in his report above . Overcast and gray, smooth water, excellent swimming. End of report.