Thursday December 30, 2010

Rob and I did a noon swim today. It was sunny and clear at Avila Beach with a steady wind from the NW. There were no whitecaps on the water but the surface was getting messed up. The water temperature was 54 degrees. The county had updated the beach advisory website on the 29th and there were no closures posted. The water was reasonable clear and there were just a few ducks, one seal and two optimistic boogie boarders in the water. We were going to swim down to Fossil Point but the tide was really low, it seemed like we had been able to wade in all of the way out to the buoy line, and when we stopped to regroup at the end of the sea wall we could see a lot of white water around the point. We were also still riding up and down several feet on the incoming swells this far from the beach so we bailed on swimming into the rocks and surf at the point and turned towards the end of the Avila Pier. The wind was coming over our right shoulders on this leg and I had to start modifying my stroke so I could get a clear breath. The wind really kicked up while we were at the end of the pier and I had to switch from breathing on alternate sides to just the right side on the way back to the seawall. This swim was about a mile and we were in for 35 minutes. Rob was trying out his new GPS unit which was under his cap and velcroed to his goggles strap. You can check out his review of the unit and the map of our swim at his website; www.robaquatics.com.

Rob is doing his Pier to Pier Swim tomorrow morning. The weather report has upgraded (?) the conditions from a 90% chance of rain down to 80%. I don't know that the rain will make much difference to Rob, except that he may be able to get a drink by just rolling on his back. I does mean that everyone else, including yours truly in the kayak, will be getting wet too.

The Avila Dolphins New Year's Day Swim is rescheduled tentatively for January 9th. We are supposed to have sunny weather and 60 degree temperatures by Wednesday. We will swim on the 9th anyway, if the weather is good let's make it a party!

niel

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Rob and I met at Avila today for a swim before tonight's storm. Because of the rains neither of us had been in the ocean in a week and with Rob's Pier to Pier swim this Saturday he needed to keep his cold water mojo going. The weather at Avila was warm, sunny and surprisingly crowded. A lot of people apparently have this week off and came to the beach with their kids. As warm and sunny that it was, almost nobody was in the water. The county's website still has Avila posted as closed, but the notice is from 12/20 and has not been updated. The water was pretty clear, better than it is in the summer when the plankton is heavy, and 56 degrees. There were no signs posted indicating closure. The only birds around were a flock of ducks down towards Fossil Point. Rob and I spent 35 minutes swimming the big triangle route clockwise. There was just a small chop coming out of the SW to make things a little interesting. By the time we were done the weather was changing and clouds were moving in.

When we were getting out of the water we were met by a reporter from the Tribune. There will be a story about Rob and his winter Pier to Pier Swim in the next few days. Rob is doing this swim as a fundraiser for the SLO Food Bank. You can donate at www.robaquatics.com

The New Years Day Avila Dolphins swim and pot luck lunch will be at 1 PM this year. Since Rob is doing the pier to pier swim Avila to Pismo, that will give Rob and myself (I'm paddling for him) time to get back to Avila.

AND IF THAT IS NOT ENOUGH, we will be swimming at 11 on Sunday too.

niel

Beach Clean Up Day

Hey everybody, some of us that have Friday off are looking to make it into a little bit of a beach clean up day. If anybody would care to join us we'll be out 9am Friday morning in Avila Beach removing trash that this recent series of storms has pushed onshore, washed down the creek, or blown in from town. We'll meet up in the usual swim spot and then get to work. I figure we can spend an hour or two of making our beach pretty and then everyone can all run off to whatever Christmas excitement they may have to attend to. If nothing else it's a good excuse to hang out on the beach on a day the water is too dirty to swim in right? :)

I'll bring bags and some latex gloves if anybody wants them, but if you want something a little more serious you might want to bring your own. If it turns out there's a ton of garbage out there I'll have my truck with me to help cart it away.

If you want to come out shoot me an email at rob@robaquatics.com to let me know you're coming or just show up!

thanks!

Rob D.

Sunday, December 19, 2010

Rob and I were eager to swim today, getting rained on would not be a problem, but we agreed that the runoff from the rain that we have had since Friday has probably contaminated the water at Avila. We will wait until things clear up to get back in.

niel

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Rob and I met up at Avila at noon today to get in a swim before the rain started on Friday. It was very sunny and calm at the beach with only a few thin high clouds. The water was 54.5 with no noticeable swell. The waves were close to nothing except for an occasional set of 3 footers. Except for the falling temperature, the water was flat and smooth and the swimming conditions were just about as favorable as it gets in the ocean. We were dawdling about in the suds, taking our time getting in, when a set of the 3 footers came along and hurried up the getting wet process. The water felt colder that the 55 degrees at our previous swim., more than the half degree on my thermometer. I kept feeling a lot of clod water moving around in my wetsuit and the neoprene free Rob said that his skin was burning more than usual. We headed straight out to the end of the pier, turned left and swam to Fossil Point. I found a nice cold spot from the upwelling from the rocks to stop at, Rob noticed my plan right away. From the point we swam parallel to the shore along the buoy line to the pier and in. This route was just over a mile and took us 35 minutes with stops. The legs to and from Fossil Point were about 700M and were a nice opportunity to stretch out and get into my stroke.

Rain is likely on Sunday. Rob and I are going to keep in touch and may decide to swim, rain or not. We are going to get wet anyway.

niel

Sunday December 12, 2010

I do not think that it made it to the predicted 82 degrees at Avila today but it sure was nice. It was sunny, warn, cloudless and breeze less. The water was clear, flat, 55 degrees and with waves that were too small for anything but a playing on a boogie board. It was Rob, Sylvia and myself swimming today. Sylvia had not been in the ocean in a while so she elected to do the buoy line. I was into doing some distance and Rob is usually good for more rather than less distance. We swam out to the buoy line and turned left. We swam along the buoy line past the last buoy and continued straight to Fossil Point. With the tiny swell and flat conditions it was a great day to head down there because there is usually a lot of wave action close to the rocks. We turned from the point and swam to the end of the Avila Pier. From there to the last buoy at the creek and back along the buoy line, under the pier and in. This was about 1.5 miles and took us 50 minutes including stops.

Rob and I are going to swim on Thursday at noon, and he would like to go Tuesday as well if someone wants to jump in with him.

niel

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Rob and I decided to sneak off to the beach and get in a swim at noon today. It was comfortably warm and sunny with a moderate breeze out of the SE. There was a fog bank sitting offshore that extended from the port around the bay and hid Shell Beach. It seemed stationary, but later turned out to me kind'a play full. The water temperature was 55 and the surf was up. I could see the shapes of the waves in the water well out beyond the end of the pier. They were close together and running from 4 to 6+ feet. Not only would getting out be some work but all of that wave action would put short work to the wetsuitless Rob's usual plan of easing himself into the water. We had no swim plan beyond getting out and then figuring it out once we got through the surf and to the buoy line, although the thought of 'shoud'a brought our fins and then we could of just played in the surf' hit us both about the time our feet got wet. I had to swim full out in the wash between the waves and after diving under the third one I was out of breath and almost decided to bag it and ride back in, but I was out just far enough to breast stroke through the curl of two waves and gathered it back together enough to swim on out to the buoy line. Rob was not far behind me and we both spent some time catching up with ourselves and getting ready to swim somewhere. With the chop and the wind coming from the SE we elected to do the triangle route clockwise, thinking it would moderate the effect of the chop. When we got to the end of the buoy line and prepared to turn to the end of the Avila Pier, it wasn't there. A funny little patch of fog had materialized and was hanging on the end of the pier. We headed that way anyway and by the time we neared the end of the pier the fog had moved off. The chop was not bad on this leg but the swell was still large enough at this distance from the shore that I kept feeling myself getting moved around in the water. While we were treading water at the end of the pier I estimated that the water at the pilings was rising and falling 6' with each swell. When we were ready to head towards the end of the buoy line at the creek, the buoys were gone, shrouded in another (the same?) small fog bank that was hanging along the beach. We headed towards the buoy at the creek, navigating by the mooring buoys that we always swim past on this route. When we approached the buoy line the fog again moved off leaving us in sunshine. We came back towards the pier along the buoy line and turned left before the pier to head in. This was no day to try and swim under the pier. The swim in was easier than the one getting out but I still had to time the breaks and swim hard against the out rushing wash in order to get into water that was shallow enough so I could stand up. Rob and I agreed that we had not put in this much work for a 35 minute swim in a long time.

We will be back on Sunday for more fun in the suds and will probably be swimming at noon on Tuesdays of Thursdays as well for the next two weeks. Check this Sundays post for details.

niel

Sunday, December 5, 2010

It was raining at my house at the time when I usually head to the beach. Rob was in the Southland this weekend so since I didn't have to worry about standing him up my resolve weakened and I didn't make it to the beach. The rain cleared and I could of boogied to Avila but by then I was committed to house cleaning and meal planning and didn't break away. Did anyone else show?

niel

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