Sunday, November 28, 2010

Except for the chill in the wind, and the easy parking, this could of been a summer day at Avila Beach. There was a mild offshore wind, very few clouds and no animals of any kind in or above the water. The air temperature was about 60 and, the water was 55 degrees, very clear and was only rippled by the wind with no chop or whitecaps. Nothing much to speak of in the way of surf either. It was just Rob and myself today. Neither of us wanted to commit to a distance so we opted for a route that would provide several bail out or double back opportunities. We swam what I'll call the big right triangle. Our route actually had four legs but who said swimmers were good at counting? We swam out to the buoy line, turned right and went under the pier and down to the last buoy at the creek. We could of doubled back but the water felt good so we continued from there over to the crossbars that are about 1/3 of the way out along the Poly Pier. We could of doubled back from there but decided to head to the end of the Avila Pier. At this point we declined going over to the sea wall or the last buoy and came in along the length of the pier. During the legs to and from the Poly Pier we had the experience of suddenly swimming out over what seemed to be very deep water. It was actually just us swimming into the shadow from a small cloud moving across the sun and shifting the water color from bright to deep blue. The water around her is not usually clear enough to get that kind of a sense of depth. Our total swim was about 1.3 miles and took us 40 minutes, including idling at the stops to regroup and to let Rob grab some photos. (Check out robaquatics.com). Out of the wind up next to the seawall it was t-shirt and shorts comfortable so I hung around and had lunch. Duke stopped by on the tail end of his bike ride. We got caught up on stuff and we should expect him back in the water in January.

Speaking of which, we will be having a New Years Day swim on Saturday, the 1st (duh?) at noon. The route will be determined by the conditions. No wetsuits encouraged. There will be a pot luck lunch afterwards. Last year the weather was beautiful and the water was 59 degrees. This year, who knows?

niel

Thanksgiving or Black Friday Swim?

If anybody is interested in a swim this Thursday or Friday let me know! I'd be interested getting in on either day or even both days if anybody else wants to swim. Shoot me an email if you want to go!

Rob D.

rob@robaquatics.com

Sunday November 21, 2010

In spite of the occasional showers ti was sunny and warm(ish) at Avila beach today at 10:30. There was very little wind and the waves were small but coming in in rapid, bunched up sets. The water temperature was 55 and there was no sign of silt in the water from Saturday's rain. . There was one pelican making a few dives out near the end of the pier. The only other birds I saw were roosting on the jet ski dock. There was a short dozen boogie boarders in the water trying to milk a ride out of the mushy Avila waves. No one else showed so I hung out and enjoyed the sun and watched the boogie boarders. Of the group that was directly in front of me there was one young woman who got out, shed her wetsuit and got back in. She was still in the water 40 minutes later when I left. I wonder if she is a swimmer?

I'll be back next Sunday for a post turkey day swim.

niel

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Rob and I managed our second week day noon swim today. The weather looked less than promising in the morning with fog and low clouds and a generally cold and winterly cast to things. I checked the Mr. Ricks beach cam at 11 and things didn't look too bad so I went ahead and headed to the beach. Avila was gray with low clouds or fog but almost unlimited viability towards the horizon. There was no wind or no surf and nothing else either on the beach or in the water. There was a raft of small duck like birds out towards the end of the pier and a large group of brown and white gulls on the sand on the beach to the west of the pier. I thought that they looked like they were waiting for a storm to blow in. The water temperature was 55.5 and the water had cleared up and looked real clean. Rob and I did a simple clockwise triangle swim; out to the buoy line, left to the last buoy, back to the end of the Avila Pier and to the last buoy at the creek. I this point I saw something white bobbing in the water between us and the beach so we swam in to investigate this possible pirate booty. It was an empty bottle of motor oil. I tossed it into the surf so it would get washed up on shore and picked up and we continued back towards the pier at the back of the surf line. The clouds had moved off while we were in the water so it was bright and sunny when we got out. We spent about 30 minutes in the water with nice swimming conditions and certainly no crowds or parking problems.

I'll be back Sunday. Rob will be in Long Beach doing some kind of water related playing.

niel

Sunday, November 14, 2010

The water was 56 degrees. There was no wind and it was sunny and warm. A flock of birds that looked like small ducks was resting on the water and there might of been one or two seals cruising about. Occasionally there would be a nice set of waves but it was mostly small stuff with no potential for play. We had a new swimmer join us today. Stephen is a Cal Poly student, is on the CP Tri team and found us through the web site. (Way to go Rob, you get free swims for the rest of the year!) He had done a few swims along the buoy line with the team and decided that he wanted to do more ocean swimming. Filling out today's squad was Sylvia, Chad, Niel, Kim and Rob. Rob and Chad were feeling a bit beat up and nobody else was feeling driven to hammer it so we did a short swim. We went out along the pier to the end. Turned right to the last buoy at the creek and returned along the buoy line and under the pier. At this point we had planned on grouping up and seeing if anyone wanted to go longer. There were no takers so we headed in to the beach.

The planning for the Avila Dolphins holiday dinner is commencing. We will be discussing plans next Sunday. Anybody got any ideas? All input is welcome.

New Years Day Swim - There will be a swim at 12N on Saturday, New Years Day and a pot luck lunch to follow. The route will be weather and opportunity dependent and will be finalized on the beach before the swim. Last year's route was popular so that is definitely possible. Let's hope for conditions like 2010; sunny and warm with glassy 59 degree water!

niel

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Niel and Rob Swim at Noon on a Weekday.

My first thought was to call this post 'Niel and Rob Do a Nooner" and give you all a chuckle but I decided (almost) to avoid the snickering. Rob had wanted to keep swimming more than once a week after the end of our Wednesday evening swims, so we scheduled one for this Thursday at noon and we both managed to show up! It could not of been a better day to sneak in a swim. The air was in the low 70's, the water was 56.5, there was no wind but some good sized waves and parking was easier. After we got out through the waves we continued straight out along the pier to the end, turned right and swam to the creek buoy. We came back along the buoy line to the pier and came in. We fooled around with the waves getting in and out, spent some time visiting at the stopping points and just enjoyed ourselves to the max. We are going to see if we can keep this going so listen in to the chat at the beach on Sunday and watch Rob's post and Facebook page. Fall and spring are usually when we have our best weather so if you can join us the conditions are likely to be some of the best we'll see.

niel

Sunday, November 7. 2010

There was no rain but no swimming at Avila Beach today. It was overcast with occasional weak sun, no wind or rain. The water was clean and 58 degrees. When I first arrived there were some 5'+ waves and a very messy ocean surface with little chops going in several directions. At 11 the surf had laid down, the water was getting glassy and the swimming conditions were very good but no one else had shown up to swim. Last weekend was the last one for the lifeguards for the season and none of the numerous dogs on the beach looked like particularly strong swimmers or I would have gone solo.

There are no more Wednesday evening swims so unless Rob and I get a nooner group going I'll be back next Sunday.

niel

Wednesday Evening, November 3, 2010

This was our last evening swim for the season. With the switch back to Standard Time this weekend it will be too dark to swim for those swimmers that can't leave work before 5. It was sunny and warm at Avila with just a bit of an offshore breeze. There has been very large surf, 12' to 16', earlier in the day on the west facing beaches. Some of that must of wrapped around into the south facing beach at Avila because the sand was wet up to the bottom of the stairs. All that was left at 5 was an occasional 5 to 6 footer. These were well spaced out so there was not going to be any trouble getting out. According to my replacement thermometer the water temperature was 58. The surf had dirtied up the water but I could see no birds, seals, fishermen or any other signs of potential company in the water. There were about a dozen boogie boarders down by the creek trying to wring out any remaining good waves. We had 5 swimmers; Rob, Pete, Ryan, Liz and Niel. We selected a short rout that would get us in before dusk and also avoid swimming directly into the glare of the setting sun. We went out to the buoy line and left to the last buoy. From there to the end of the Avila Pier and in along the west side of the pier. Rob, Niel and Pete did some attempted body surfing. The waves were all mush but it was still fun.

Rob wants to continue swimming during the week and is looking for interested parties who want to do a lunch time swim on Tuesdays or Thursdays. You can connect with him through his Facebook page.

niel

Sunday, October 31, 2010

It was another beautiful day at Avila Beach. There was a bank of fog that extended from behind the hills at the port, all of the way around the horizon to Shell Beach, leaving Avila in a hole full of sun. There was no wind, small breakers, no chop and no seals or bird life over the ocean. I did a toe test of the water temperature and came up with 'probably 55 or above' on the twinkle toes scale. My new thermometer is on the way so we will be back to the Fahrenheit scale for water temperatures soon. Niel, Rob, Chad and Peter were swimming. Kim came by to visit and enjoy the sun. Nobody seemed to be too full of energy so we elected to repeat Wednesday nights swim of down to Fossil Point and back. Rob headed down to the surf first, perhaps to give himself time to get used to the water and expound to the gulls in private on the joys of the traditional approach to ocean swimming while the rest of us were finishing getting into our wetsuits. We caught up to him in the surf line and headed towards the point. When we regrouped at the end of the seawall there was a consensus that the water temperature felt colder than Wednesday night, therefor it must be about 55. I wished that I had the ability to get a reading so I could compare our impressions with a thermometer. I could not help but wonder what we would of thought of the conditions if I had taken a reading of 53, or 58? In any case we had a nice swim. There was a lot of kelp debris in the water down towards the point. We regrouped at the point and again at the end of the seawall on the way back. It was warm and relaxing on the beach afterwards.

This Wednesday will be the last evening swim of the season. I know that Rob and Ryan will join me. We'll get in at 5:30 for a short swim. Everybody's welcome.

niel

Wednesday Evening, October 27, 2010

It was a gorgeous evening at Avila Beach last night. There was just a breath of wind, a few thin clouds no fog, some occasional large waves but with glassy conditions beyond the surf line. I broke my thermometer while getting the reading so we are going to be using the tingle toes scale of water temperature until I get a replacement. I didn't see any birds, seals or fish on either side of the pier. We had four swimmers; Niel, Rob, Ryan and Pete. We decided to head straight out to the buoy line and swim all of the way down to Fossil Point and back. This would be about a mile. There was a lot of comments, expostulation and gesturing while we were getting in and I gott'a say most of it was from Rob but Ryan was contributing his share. When we regrouped about half way to the point the consensus was that the water temperature was 56 or 57 degrees. We continued along the line of the buoys all of the way to the point. We got to the rocks just as a big set of rollers came through. I felt a swell go underneath me so on my next breath to the right I took a good look and found myself looking up onto the face of a 5 or 6 foot wave with the lip just starting to curl over. I caught an extra deep breath, made a hard right turn and managed to just swim through the curl without getting tossed. I continued out for another 70 yards before I was beyond the break zone. Ryan and Rob had been behind me but nobody got washing machined. We regrouped and headed back along the way we came. The sun was dropping behind the hills and it was getting into dusk but the light was beautiful and the swimming conditions were great. Afterwards Ryan went for a run and Pete had to head home. Rob and Heidi joined Kris and myself for dinner at the Mercantile. The weather looks good for Sunday so I'll be back. Next Wednesday will be the last opportunity for an evening swim, as we go back to standard time on the 6th/7th. Rob and I are thinking that we would like to swim but will probably keep it short in order to get out before it gets too dark to keep track of each other.

niel

Sunday, October 24, 2010

Two Wet Guys - Rob and I had been keeping in touch earlier in the week and we both really wanted to get in the water today. It looked like rain was developing Sunday morning but hey, we were going t get wet anyway, right? It was wet at Avila at 10:30 this morning; shifting from spitting to drizzle to light rain. The air temperature was 60 and the water temperature was 56 with great visibility. There was a long swell that rose up beyond the end of the pier that would put up some good sized waves. A 5.8' high tide occurred at 10:38 and some of the largest waves were hitting the bottom of the pier. I saw no birds of any kind and no seals anywhere in the water. It was also perfectly still and beyond the surf line the water was as flat as I have ever seen it. As we were getting ready Rob met up with Steve, a member of the ocean swimming group that he had swum with in Monterey a few weeks back. Steve was in town for a car show and had not brought his swimming gear, but we filled him in about Avila and our swims and he wants to encourage his group to come down for a swim in the future. Rob is still recovering from his 12.6 mile swim last weekend so he was into something easy and simple today, he really just wanted to get in and enjoy the feeling of the cool water on his shoulders. Out and around the pier was fine with me so that is what we did. Between it being totally sunless and my not having been in the ocean in 10 days I thought that it felt colder than 56 and Rob concurred. The surf had mellowed out so we had no trouble getting out and once we were beyond the surf line the water felt more comfortable. The rain had stopped and we just enjoyed our cruse around the pier. There was not going to be any hanging about on the beach after the swim today so we both just took off. Rob and I will be back this Wednesday evening for out 5:30 swim.

niel

click to view video

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Well, no swim for me on Sunday because I was in Eureka, but you ought to check out Rob's post about his 12.6 mile swim on Saturday! Go to www.robaquatics.com

niel

Wednesday Evening, October13, 2010

There was dense fog in Pismo, offshore and over the hills beyond the port but Avila was a hole in the fog on Wednesday evening. The sun was coming and going, getting lost in the fog beyond the port and there was a light but cold damp breeze coming from the direction of Pismo and Shell Beaches. The water was 59 but with the lack of sun and the breeze it would feel colder . The water was still incredibly clear. I could see 10' down through the water along the pilings to below where the kelp stopped growing. I saw only a few shorebirds and a couple of seals. A fisherman on the pier told me that there had been a football field size school of anchovies just off of the end of the pier but that there had not been any birds or seals on it. Swimming were Niel, Rob, Ryan and Pete. Nobody felt like going strong or long so we went straight out along the pier to its end, turned left at a 45 degree angle to the beach towards the end of the sea wall and came back along the buoy line to the pier and in. This was about .6 of a mile. The water did feel comfortable and the swimming conditions were great. Having the fog hanging down to the water everywhere around us was kind'a weird and the light was strange, but there was easily adequate light for swimming. We will probably get in just a few more evening swims. The time changes the first weekend in November and that will end our Wednesday evening swims for the season.

This Sunday Rob will be in LA for the Distance Challenge 12.6 mile swim and I will be in Eureka. I will be busy next Wednesday evening, but Rob will be swimming if he can reattach his arms after Saturday.

niel

Sunday, October 10, 2010

This October day at Avila Beach was about the best summer day possible. It was warm and windless with 2'+ waves and exceptionally clear water. The water temperature was 58 and I didn't see anything in the way of birds, fish or seals. Swimming today were Niel, Susan, Sylvia, Allison, Chad, Brittany, Duke, Lori, Dale, Pete, Bianca and Gerry. Someone must of sent out a memo before todays swim because one we first got out to the buoy line in I realized that all of the girls were wearing pink caps and all of the boys were in yellow, except for Duke who was proudly wearing blue. We must of looked extra organized and racy from the beach. We all headed down to the last buoy at the creek. From there Niel, Duke, Chad and Pete headed over to the Cal Poly Pier. The rest of the group was still deciding between doubling back along the buoy line and heading out to the end of the Avila Pier when we left so I am not sure, but I think that group split up between both options. The Poly Pier group doubled back to the creek buoy, along the buoy line, under the Avila Pier and in. We did pick up three seals over at the Poly Pier who followed Pete back to the buoy line. I think that they looked lonely. There were lots of smiles on the beach afterwards, The swimming conditions were fabulous and it was the first time Brittany had gone out and around the Avila Pier. No breeze had come up so it got nice and warm on the beach for a post swim layout in the sun.

A big hand for Chad who took a third in the Tinley Olympic distance tri and for Duke who celebrated his new in his new age group by clocking a third in the LA Triathlon.

I'm planning on being back at Avila for one of our few remaining evening swims this Wednesday at 5:30.

niel

Wednesday Evening October 6, 2010

For the last few weeks the Wednesday evening swim has been Rob, Ryan and myself. This week Ryan is tapering, Rob is out in the Catalina Channel as a support swimmer for the attempted channel crossing relay of 4 individual back to back crossings. I was willing to get in at Avila, it's wet anyway, but it would be kind'a dark and lonely. It is supposed to be in the upper 80's this weekend so I'll be at Avila on Sunday.

You can check out the lead in story about the Catalina Channel Relay at http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-distance-swimmers-20101002,0,2881344.story

and check www.robaquatics.com tomorrow to see if Rob has posted any photos and comments from his experience as a support swimmer.

niel