Saturday, May 31st. 22025

 We Swim The Tom Fog Route -  

Tom Lorish created this route for days just like today. It has landmarks to navigate to when the The route is: get to the first buoy and swim buoy to buoy to #4 and then come back to #1, swim out and around the pier and swim buoy to buoy on the west side. Repeated until you have your distance or the fog burns off.   

Jodi and I were swimming this morning. It was 53° and the water was 55°.  There was no wind, small surf and a slight swell.  I couldn't see anything beyond the surf from the seawall. At the water's edge we could see the first buoy.  From the first buoy the second was barely visible so we felt our way along to #2 and on to #4, swam back and around the pier. Things were a bit brighter now so the west side was easier to navigate. We lapped the pier back to the east side and did a second leg to make our distance. Strangely, the fog was always thicker on the east side of the pier.

55° water was sure more comfortable than Thursday's 51° and the water temperature was pretty even.       

Niel and Jodi

I'll swim tomorrow at 11. 

Sunday will be cooler than the last few days and we'll be back to 70° on Monday so I'm expecting a return to a water temperature in the low 50's.

niel

Friday, May 30th, 2025

Tom Lorish's Friday Swim -  

Foggy, a slight breeze, and bumpy water. Avila was socked in fog when I arrived at 915 AM. By the time I got to the water's edge at 930 a.m., the sun was starting to burn it off. Slowly. Three of my Water Polo girls were swimming with me and they wanted to go around the rock. We decided we'd swim to the fourth buoy on the east side and see what the visibility was like.  When we got there, we could see the Rock easily so we went for it.  Throughout the swim there was the occasional spot of blue sky that was quickly covered again by fog. The water temperature was 53, 54. It was a good Adventure Swim. 

Thursday, May 29th, 2025

 Another Nice Morning Swim - 

Niel and Jim midway between the Avila and Poly Piers

Avila Beach was sunny, calm and 47°. It was nice to feel the sun on my wetsuit. It was a very low tide so it would be a short swim out to the buoy line.  

I got in at 6:50 and went left down the buoy line.  I was near buoy #4 when Jim motored up to my shoulder so we stopped and talked about last Sunday's rough conditions compared to this mornings glassy with a small swell.  My thermometer, Jim, and I all agreed on a water temperature of 52°.  We looped around the kelp at the reef buoy and headed for the end of the Poly Pier.  

Jim is a much faster swimmer than I so he swims to other places along the route and comes back to where I am. I was half way between the ends of the Avila and Poly Piers when we ran into each other.  I didn't think 'shark' but maybe a playful seal. We had a nice laugh and continued on to the P Pier.  

Jim went directly back to the beach from the end of the P Pier. I swam in to the second crossbars, across to the 4th buoy on the west side and along the buoy line to #1 on the east side.  The water was a bit warmer near the creek mouth  but I wouldn't call it a 'warm spot'.  

At the showers the sun felt nice. 

These are rills. They can form on the sloping wet sand between the dry sand and the water. At a low tide water drains out of the sand and out onto the surface on the slop to the water. The water makes these small culverts and change to a positive form. They look like miniature trees.  

I'll swim with the Saturday group at 7:30 and on Sunday at 11.

niel 

Wednesday, May 28th, 2025

Tom Lorish's Wednesday Morning Swim Report - 

Cloudy, with some blue sky showing through. There was a breeze and a lot of bump on the water. The temperature was 53°. It was a good day of swimming. Terrorist alert: towards the end of my Swim two jet skiers were savaging the water. I don't like seeing that. 

Tuesday, May 27th, 2025

I got in the water just before 7. Avila Beach was overcast and gray, calm and still with glassy, flat water. With all of the wind we'd had the last few days I expected the water to be cold so I may have psyched myself out.  The water felt like 52° - 53°to me, my watch said 54°, my thermometer read 55°. I'm with Tom Lorish today; the water temperature is what it feels like. 

Once I got acclimated and relaxed the cold started pushing me and I had a nice strong swim. 

I'll be back Thursday at 7.

niel

Monday, May 26th, 2025

Scattered clouds with blue skies and breezy.  Despite the breeze, the water was glassy with a good sized bump and roll on it.  Like yesterday, the water felt 51, 52 to my well calibrated toes. I know that is at odds with what BMN has been reporting but I am sticking to it. Nice morning swim.  

Sunday, May 25th, 2025

Today was a lovely day at the beach with water that was much warmer than yesterday morning. I measured 54° -  55° from the pier. Avila was sunny, 75° and windy with a holiday crowd on the beach. The wind felt like it was going to keep building into the afternoon. The water was clean and the surf was a friendly 2 to 3 foot. 

Jim swam at 10:30.  Niel, Paula and Don got in the water at 11. Don lives in the Bay Area and swam with us about a year ago. 

Our first plan was to swim to the Avila Rock but the wind got my attention and the thought of swimming from the rock back to Avila into a building wind and chop changed the plan. Swimming to the end of the Poly Pier with a return leg pushing us home sounded like a better idea. 

Swimming out to the first buoy was a wake up call, the water was rough and needed a constant push and timing to make good progress. At the Poly Pier we decided to swim to the third crossbars and then back to the Avila Pier.  The leg to the Avila Pier was like running downhill on a rough trail, better than uphill but still not easy. 

Paula, Don and NIel at the Poly Pier

Once we were inside the buoy line the water warmed up a bunch.

I'll swim Tuesday and Thursday at 7, Saturday at 7:30 and Sunday at 11.

niel

Saturday, May 24th, 2025

Jodi Puts Up A New Route, The Jodi 'J' - 

Jodi suggested a new route today; a 'J' for Jodi.

We'd swim out to the #1 buoy, swim under the pier and to the third buoy on the west side, hook left around an anchored catamaran to make the loop and to the end of the Avila Pier. From there to Fossil Point and then double back along our route. It worked out pretty well. 

Jodi and Tom swam together so their plots are very similar, I'm off the back so my plot is a bit different and I have the accuracy of my app on maximum, which makes it twitchy. 

It was cold today. The air temperature was 52°, there was thick overcast and a light wind. The surf was 2 to 3 foot. I measured a water temperature of 52° from the pier. The lack of sunshine made it swim like a weak 51°. The water temperature was a bit 'warmer' near Fossil Point but it didn't feel like it until we swam into the drop on the way back to the pier.

Jodi

Niel

Tom

Jim was out there ahead of us swimming back and fourth along the buoys. We met up as we were headed out and he was coming in.  He said that there were no warm spots in the water today and he was right.

I'll swim tomorrow at 11. Kurtis, Paula and Ilene may join me.  There should be some sunshine.

niel 

Friday, May 23rd, 2025

Breezy air and bumpy water. It was clear, sunny and breezy at Avila this morning when I arrived at 900 AM. The water had a nice bump and roll on it. The water temperature was 53° and the swimming was fine. 

Thursday, May 22nd, 2025

This Was Better -

I got in at 8 this morning. The water temperature was 55°. There were some cooler spots but it was nice. The swell was coming up, there was a noticeable roll to the water outside of the buoy line. The surf was a bit larger but it was soft and not an issue.  The water was clean and a bit spooky, with the sun behind me I had my shadow down in the water following me.

 

I did two kelp crawls at the reef buoy. There was a mylar balloon caught in the kelp so I crawled out and grabbed it but after I had crawled back to open water I didn't have the balloon. My knot had failed and the offending shiny plastic blob was where I'd found it, so I went after it again, popped it and made it more secure and put it in the trash after I got out.   

I'll swim Saturday morning at 7:30 and Sunday at 11.

niel 

Wednesday, May 21st, 2025

Sunny and clear with a slight breeze.  Toes in the water at 900 AM. The micro climate water phenomenon continued today. It was 51° inside the buoy line and 52 to 53 outside… the bump seemed to have increased during my swim as did the swell. It was a good morning Swim. 

Tuesday, May 20th, 2025

 Winter Conditions - 

It was beautiful in Avila Beach this morning with excellent swimming conditions.  Last night the wind was howling in San Luis Obispo so I was was a surprised to find Avila Beach calm and sunny.  The surf was small and the water was glassy with a hint of a SE swell further out. Tom Lorish swam yesterday and thought the water temperature was 51°- 52° so I was expecting a cold swim. It was quite cold at the start, 51° or so, but it was enough 'warmer' between the piers that I kept going and completed my planned route. 

The weird part was how much warmer the water along the buoy line felt on the return. I don't usually measure the water temperature until the end of my swim because I want to maintain some deniability about how cold the water was. I measured the water's temp before I came in from the first buoy and it was 54°. There is no way it was that temp at the start 90 minutes earlier and I haven't an explanation for how the water warmed up that much.        

At the showers the sunshine felt nice.

I'll swim Thursday morning at 7, Saturday at 7:30 and Sunday at 11.

niel  

Monday, May 19th, 2025

Tom Lorish's Monday Morning Report - 

Blue skies and sunny. Beautiful sunny day at when I arrived at 10 00a.m.  The water was calm  with a slight bump to it and almost no waves to speak of.  They were very clear micro climates in the water. The buoy line was about 51, 52 and a little bit out further out was 54–55.  Beautiful Monday morning vitamin. 

Sunday, May 18th, 2025

Kurtis, David Cheney and Niel swam at 11. Swimming conditions were wonderful. It was sunny and warm on the beach with a west breeze that strengthened to a steady blow. It was 60° when I arrived at 10:15 and 80° when I returned to my car. The water was 53° but with the sunshine it felt a felt a degree or two warmer. The surf was small and the lifeguards were doing water rescue training on the east side of the pier.  I was more comfortable in the water than I should be in 53° water.    

Kurtis, Niel and David at the Avila Pier

Today's plan was to start by swimming the west buoy line and beyond to the first crossbars on the Poly Pier, to swim back to the Avila Pier and to continue on along the east buoy line and beyond to Fossil Point before returning.  

The first leg heading west was a rough swim because we were headed into the chop and current.  The chop one foot and would slap my head every few seconds.  Heading back was like running downhill.  We were pushed all of the way to Fossil Point. The east side of the Avila Pier was more sheltered from the wind and chop so swimming from the point to the pier was not as physical of a swim.

It was so nice at the showers that I didn't think to use my hot water. 

I'll swim Tuesday and Thursday at 7 and Saturday at 7:30. 

niel

Saturday, May 17th, 2025

The group got in at 7:35. It was 53°, gray and drizzly, with a breeze out of the SE that had pushed up a bit of chop.  The water was 52° but would feel a degree or two colder due to the wind and the lack of any sunshine.  The surf was small and the water was nice and clean.  We decided to do a triangle or two. After last weekend's water temperatures in the high 50's we were all a bit startled when we grouped up at the first buoy. We swam east along the buoy line and completed a triangle. There was a sailboat moored near the mouth of the creek. We swam past it on the west side, spoke to the owner, he was from Alaska, to the 4th buoy on the west side and back to the pier. At that point Paula went in and the three of us continued to the 4th buoy on the east side, to the end of the Avila Pier and in. The cold water emersion group was getting out at the same time we did.  The sun was peaking out when we were at the showers.        

Looking at my notes, last  year it was late June when we saw water temperatures stick above 55°, so we will have another month of cold water swimming until summer conditions arrive.     

Paula, Jodi, Tom I., and Niel at the 4th buoy 

on the east side of the Avila Pier

The lifeguards were training the new recruits. They all ran down the beach until they were even with the 4th buoy on the west side, swam out to the buoy and back to the beach, ran up the beach to touch the seawall, ran back to the water, turned left and ran down the beach until even with the third buoy and did it again, and continued for all of the 8 buoys. 

I'm planning on swimming tomorrow at 11. It will be nice is there is some sun.

niel