Wednesday Evening, August 17, 2011

Ryan and I swam this evening. Rob was off somewhere in the Catalina Channel swimming support for a friend who was attempting his second crossing. It was warn and sunny at Avila. I measured a water temperature of 65, which went along with the large number of people who were still playing in the water. I saw a couple of seals from the pier but no organized flocks of birds. I met Gerry Gross back at the beach. He had finished his swim and was heading home. He said that he had had to wait an hour to get in because of the intensity of the feeding activity that was taking place over near the Poly Pier. Not only was there a huge flock of birds and large numbers of seals and dolphins feeding on bait fish but also several whales were near the Poly Pier about 200m from shore! While we were talking the birds had returned to feed. Gerry said that feeding had been occurring in cycles for several hours in that area so Ryan Na I decided to stay on the east side of the pier where it looked nice and lonely. We swam out to the end of the Avila Pier and angled left to the last buoy. From there we swam parallel to the beach down to Fossil Point, reversed our course and returned along the buoy line to the Avila Pier and came in . We were in the water for 42 minutes and covered about 1-1/4 miles. The water was very comfortable with some very warm spots and one "cold" spot that must have been in the low 60's :). Hey, a sudden 3 or 4 degree drop in the water temperature is still a surprise. Kelp is piling up on the beach and there is a lot of loose pieces in the water, making kind'a trashy swimming conditions. Lot's of tings to hit with your hands and get tangled on your goggles. Yuckie, but the water is so comfortable I can't complain.

For any of you who have not heard Dave VanMouwerik successfully completed a trans-Tahoe crossing on Sunday. He swam the long way, from south to north, a distance of 21.2 miles in 13:51. The water temperature was in the mid 60's. He is the 19th person to have completed this swim. He started at 3AM and finished at 4:44PM. The water became so rough in the afternoon that his paddle boarder could not stay in the water and it took Dave 2 hours to complete the final mile. The dock where he was to land had been closed due to the severe conditions and they had to reopen it to allowed his boat to dock!

The only posting I know of is this clip from the news; http://www.ksby.com/news/mission-complete-slo-man-completes-21-2-mile-swim-across-lake-tahoe/#!prettyPhoto/0/

Let's all give Dave a huge ATT'A BOY! for a amazing accomplishment.

niel

Tuesday Evening, August 16, 2011

Rob and I did a extra swim Tuesday evening. At 6 PM we swam from Avila Beach to Olde Port Beach which is west of Avila towards the port. The occasion was the annual meeting on the beach of a trade group that he belongs to and Rob wanted to make a special entrance from the water. I came along to accompany him and to rack a minor personal first as I have ever been swimming on the West side of the Poly Pier. We started out along the east side of the Avila Pier to the end and turned right towards the second set of cross bracing on the Poly Pier. I didn't get a temperature before we got in but the water felt warm, about 63 to 65 degrees. There was a slight wind and small chop from the East which I didn't notice once we turned towards the Poly Pier. Rob and I both towed our rescue cans behind us as we were going to be on our own on this swim. From the Poly Pier we angled towards the middle of Olde Port Beach. There was a large group of pelicans working a ball of bait fish out among the moored boats off of the beach and we wanted to stay well clear of them. We had watched them while we were leaving a car at Olde Port before driving back to Avila and we never saw any seals or dolphins and it seemed safer without them. We swam parallel to the beach for about about 100m before we came abreast of Rob's friends. He made his entrance and we walked to my car on the bluff and drove to Avila. I dropped Rob at his truck and he headed back to the party. We had covered 2200m in 34 minutes including stops for photos and reconnaissance. Rob is swimming support for a friend's Catalina Channel crossing Wednesday and again on Sunday for a crossing from Anacapa. I'll be at Avila tonight and on Sunday.

niel

Sunday, August 14, 2011

Not much swimming went on at Avila today. It seemed like everybody had a story of recent extremely sharky conditions at Avila or a siting near by, and even thought the conditions looked great only Gerry Gross swam. Dale started it off with a mid-week e-mail about a large shark that crused the stern of an acquaintance's boat while they were fishing off Diablo Canyon. Pete Kelly stopped by while we were discussing Dale's info and recounted how late Saturday afternoon Avila had the most sharky conditions he had ever seen; a ball of bait fish and feeding birds and seals that extended half the length of the buoy line. Gerry Gross showed up to swim and reported that late Friday, after he had gotten out of the water, that a group of 50 to 70 dolphins gathered to feed along the surf line.. Well, at this point Sylvia was had gotten deeply interested in Sunday's paper, Chad, who had done a biathlon Saturday, was just going to do a run, Duke announced that for once he was going to do the unexpected smart thing and say out, Rob was on the fence and I would have liked to swim but considered this a great opportunity to grab some extra time today to spend with my wife. That left Gerry, who swam by himself. The water was 60 degrees and there was only a slight breeze, so I hope he had a great time.

Rob and I will be back Tuesday for his swim into a party of Olde Port Beach and Wednesday for our regulary scheduled evening swim at 5:30.

niel

Wednesday Evening, August 10, 2011

It was another warm Wednesday, and there will be more on that later in this post. It was breezy but sunny and pleasant at Avila. There was enough of a breeze to push up a decent chop out of the SSW. There were no whitecaps but it would be enough to make this a real ocean swim. I measured a water temperature of 62. While I was out on the pier I did not see any bait fish/bird/seal activity. Swimming this evening were Rob, Ryan Kim and Niel. By the time we were ready to get in the water some pelicans had gathered on the west (right) side of the pier so we decided to start on the left side, swim out to the end of the pier and see what things looked like. Our initial plan was to go to the left from the end of the pier to either the last buoy in the line or to Fossil Point before coming back along the buoy line to the pier. The chop was surprisingly bumpy swimming out along the pier, especially as this side was in the lee of the wind and the chop usually is reduced as it passes through the pilings. I found the water to be very comfortable, thinking that my temperature reading might of been low. Ryan and I waited at the end of the pier for Kim and Rob and got pushed steadily to the east by the wind and swell. Kim wanted to go to the last buoy and since she was the least experienced ocean swimmer of the group we decided to stick together, thinking that she could return down the buoy line by herself if the rest of us decided to extend our swim down to the point. Well we didn't. We grouped up at the buoy and everybody swam back along the line to the pier and in to the beach.

Kris and I stayed for dinner and at about 7 a huge scrum of fish and birds formed at a point about even with the end of the pier and moved back and forth, to alternate sides of the pier, for 20 minutes. It looked like we were too early for the buffet.

The next swim is Sunday at 11.

About Warm Wednesdays. For the last two months the water temperature at Avila Beach has been significantly warmer for our Wednesday evening swims than on the previous or following Sundays. On Wednesday, June 22, the water temperature was 63.5 and has been no lower than 60 and as high as 67 (! on 7/6) on every Wednesday since. On the Sundays starting with 6/19 the water temperature has been in the 50's from 55.5 to one lonely 60 on 7/24. Now I'm not complaining, the Wednesday evening swims have been great, but I don't get it. This is more fluctuation than seems 'normal' and being warmer on every Wednesday evening is just strange. That this has been going on for two months seems to rule out tides or currents and I do not think that the later time of day can be the cause of this much variation. Unfortunately there are no other records for comparison. The water temperature station on the Poly Pier has been inoperative for about a year and historically, the one at the port does not follow the trends at Avila close enough to be useful. So, does anyone have an idea about this? I ready for an explanation that relies on whales farting, residual effects from the Shell oil spill or some secret government testing program.

niel

***Bonus Swim!!! Avila to Olde Port Beach on August 16th***

Next Tuesday the 16th I'm looking for some people interested in doing a point to point swim from the Avila Pier down to Olde Port Beach (the dog beach). A trade group I'm involved with (the SLO Creative and Marketing Alliance) is having its annual beach party down there an I feel like making an unnecessarily dramatic arrival :) On top of being a good swim this might be a fun networking event for you if you're in a creative or marketing field or need to meet some people who are. We'll leave Avila at about 6pm and hit Olde Port Beach probably around 6:45pm. If you're interested in doing the swim or possibly kayaking please let me know so we can come up with a plan in advance for transportation since this is a point to point swim.

Rob D.

rob@robaquatics.com

Sunday, August 7, 2011

AT 10:15 the sun was coming out, there was no wind and the water was 59. About 100M south and west of the end of the Avila Pier there was a big boil of seals proposing back and forth through a ball of fish. Curiously, there were no birds joining in on this buffet. There were several otters feeding on either side of the pier and a group of porpoises headed west from the kelp patch that is between the left buoy line and the rock off of Fossil Point. By the time we were thinking about a route all of the action has stopped but we still decided to stay along the buoy line. This also fit the generally low level of gumption in the group. Sylvia was soaking up the sun, sinking into her chair and didn't swim. She looked very happy. Getting in were Susan James, Niel, Duke, Chad, Kim, Dale and Gerry Gross. We started to the left, went to the last buoy and came back to the pier. At this point people started pealing off. Chad and I made it to the lend of the line at the creek and back to the pier.

Rick and Rhonda rode by and filled us in on their European vacation which included a spot at the last turn at the Tour de France time trial. Matt Farmer also visited for a while.

Rob and I will be back on Wednesday evening.

niel

Wednesday Evening, August 3. 2011

Rob, Ryan and I leaned against the railing above the beach from 5:20 until almost 6, watching the pelicans dive on a mass of bait fish about 200M east of end of the Avila Pier. While we watched and debated swimming conditions v.s. feeding conditions the wind was moving scrum of birds and fish closer to the pier and the shore. I could not see any seals in the mix but nobody was comfortable deciding how much less sharky that made the conditions. Other than that, the water was 63 and choppy, but not whitecapped. Without the birds and the fish it would have been a good evening for a swim. Well, nobody was feeling really pressed to swim and the birds and fish were now moving towards the creek, so we let this opportunity pass. This is the first time we have scrubbed a swim since last winter and that was due to questionable water quality, not critters, so the ocean has been very welcoming.

We'll be back Sunday to swim at 11.

niel

Sunday July 31, 2011

Avila Beach at 10:30 was gray, with solid overcast and calm with a glassy surface on the water. The water looked very clean and the waves were limited to an occasional 2+ footer. I measured a water temperature of 59 but later the swimmers consensus was that it was 57 -58. Sylvia and Yvonne went out early and swam the buoy line. There were out before the rest of us started and said that the water felt cold. I do not know if this was because of the overcast, because a lack of sunshine can really make a difference in how the water feels. The 11 o'clock group all swam the same route; the triangle counterclockwise. Swimming today were Niel, Rob, Duke, Chad, Liz, Ryan, Kimber, Amy, Margaret and Ed. By the time we were finishing the wind was showing up and starting to mess up the surface so our timing was just right. The sun came out as the wind rose so we had a warm and sunny beach to relax on after the swim.

We had several new swimmers today so please let me know if I got any names wrong.

Niel, Rob and Sylvia swam the 38th Santa Cruz Rough Water Swim on Saturday. This is a 1 mile no wetsuit swim around the Santa Cruz Pier. Sylvia tore up the field and finished first in her age group, 70 - 74 in 35.53! Rob finished in 24.05 minutes, 7th in the 30-34's and I put up a 28.11, 12th in the 60 -64's. Rob's GPS had his route at 1600M so the distance was right on. . The race organizers claimed a 58 degree water temperature, and it may have been close to that out at the end of the pier, but closer in to the shore it was more like 56.

niel

more Santa Cruz Rough Water Pictures here!

Wednesday Evening, July 27, 2011

When I got to the beach at 5 there were still a lot of people playing in the water which is always a good sign which held up when I got a water temperature of 63. There was a gusty SW breeze and a choppy surface but no whitecaps. I saw only one pelican, no other sea birds, no seals and about 3 dozen hopeful looking bi-pedal carnivores on the pier. No one was having any luck. Swimming this evening were Ryan, John, Rob and Niel. We decided to start on the right side of the pier and to go down to the last buoy at the creek. If the water was comfortable and the chop manageable we would swim over to the Poly Pier and come back to the Avila Pier. When we grouped up at the creek it was all smiles. The water felt very comfortable and the wind was going down so we heard over to the second set of cross bracing on the Poly Pier. Once there we decided not to swim out along the pier for a ways and to head directly to the end of the Avila Pier. This leg is about .4 mile and with the wind on our rear quarter it was a opportunity to settle into a nice rhythm. From the end of the Avila Pier we aimed for the middle buoy of the three on this side, staying well away from the fishing lines trailing off of the pier. We came back to the first buoy near the pier and in. We covered 2200M in a slow 47 minutes. The water was so comfortable that we found ourselves spending a lot of time at the waypoint,s just laying in the water visiting.

Rob and I are doing the Santa Cruz Roughwater Swim on Saturday. You are all welcome to join us. This is a nice 1 mile around-the-pier swim and an easy day trip from San Luis Obispo. Masters membership required. No wetsuits allowed. Beach entry is $35.

http://www.pacificmasters.org/comp/openwater_meetsheet/11cruzrough.pdf

niel

Sunday, July 24, 2011

The fog and overcast was clearing at 10:30 and it looked like a great day was shaping up at Avila Beach. I got a water temperature of 60 degrees. There was very little wind but a current from the SW was keeping all of the moored boats pointing in the same direction. The water looked pretty flat but that turned out to be deceiving. There were many fishermen on the pier but I did not see anyone pulling anything in. While I was on the pier I saw no sea birds or seals. We had 9 swimmers today and did 4 different swims. Sylvia Yvonne and Ed, who was visiting from the southland, started first and swam about a mile along the buoy line. The rest of us; Rob, Niel, Kamber, Chad, Dale and Duke, started a few minutes later. I am doing the Santa Cruz Roughwater Swim next Saturday so I was committed to going without my usual wetsuit today and doing a mile along the buoy line. I was the first to start swimming, not being interested in prolonging my acclimation, and the rest of the group followed me down the buoy line to the left. I doubled back along the buoy line, almost butting heads with Chad, while the rest of the group headed to the top of the Avila Pier. I swam under the pier and down to the creek and back completed my tour of the buoys in 25 minutes. I got out just ahead of Sylvia's group. When Rob's group reached the buoy at the creek Rob and Duke decided to double back along the way then had come while Dale, Chad and Kamber continues along the buoys back to the pier. That route was about 1.25 miles while Rob and Duke did somewhere between 1.5 and 1.75 miles. Everybody agreed that the water felt colder than 60, except for a warm spot near the mouth of the creek. Rob and I also agreed that while swimming there was more chop and small waves than was apparent by the look of the water.

The beach had warmed up nicely and promoted several post swim naps on the warm sand.

Everyone is welcome to join Rob and I on Wednesday evening when we get in the water at 5:30.

niel

Sunday, July 17. 2011

It was a beautiful swimming day at Avila Beach today. The water was 56 degrees and clear. There was no wind and the surface of the water was about as flat as the ocean gets. There were only a few people fishing from the pier and before the swim I saw no seabirds or seals in the water. We did two swims today. Dale, Amy, Sylvia and Yvonne swam a triangular route starting left down the buoy line, continuing to the end of the Avila Pier, down to the buoy at the creek and back to the pier. Niel, Rob, Duke, Pete and Chad swam out to the end of the Avila Pier and headed over to the Poly Pier on a route that was roughly parallel to the beach. Except for one cold spot this leg was some of the smoothest ocean swimming I have had at Avila. Our route put us at the third set of cross bracing out from the shore on the Poly Pier. We swam parallel to the pier (I swam between the pilings which was cool!) back towards the shore to the second set of cross bracing which is our usual waypoint when we swim over here. From there we continued to the buoy at the creek and along the buoy line to the Avila Pier, under the pier and in to the beach. Rob had 2300M, or 1.4 miles, on his GPS and we were in the water for 55 minutes. The temperature on the beach was just about perfect for napping. Matt Farmer came by and chatted for a while. By 1:30 the wind had still not come up, the swimming conditions still looked great but it was getting hot on the beach and we were down wind from a smoker so we all packed up and got on with our respective Sunday's

niel

**For anyone that might be interested there's a good Masters Swimming open water race coming up in Santa Cruz on the 30th. It's 1 mile around the wharf and a lot of fun, this will be my third year in a row swimming it! You can read more and get the entry information here: http://www.pacificmasters.org/comp/openwater_meetsheet/11cruzrough.pdf Keep in mind that if you aren't a member of USMS you will have to sign up in order to participate in the event! - Rob D.

Wednesday Evening, July13, 2011

It was another warm Wednesday, our fourth in a row when the water temperature was warmer on Wednesday evening than it was on the previous Sunday. This evening the water was an even 60 degrees. Not quite the 65 or 67 of previous Wednesday evenings but still warmer than the 58 we had on Sunday. There was a big change in the conditions this evening as there was a stiff wind blowing out of the SW. The chop was a short foot in height and white-capping all of the way inside of the buoy lines. The only predators in sight were about 3 dozen fishermen on the pier. They were regularly pulling in silver fish about a foot long, possibly smelt. (What do you say Al ?) There were no pelicans, other sea birds or seals to be seen. It was Ryan and I swimming this evening. Given the number of fishing lines that the wind was trailing out far to the east of the pier we decided to go out on the west (towards the port) side. I was thinking of doing a box shaped route; swimming the length of the Avila Pier and then going over to the mid-point of the Poly Pier, back towards shore along the Poly Pier to our usual meeting point at the second set of cross bracing and from there to the creek buoy, along the buoy line to the Avila Pier. When Ryan and I met up at the end of the Avila Pier we found ourselves bobbing around in some pretty rough conditions. The leg to the Poly Pier would be almost directly into the chop and if the wind freshened any amount my original route could become more of an adventure swim than we were looking for. So, we decided to head to Fossil Point and come back along the buoy line. The swim with a following wind and chop was fun, with a couple of chances to surf down the face of a small wave. The leg back to the pier was a good workout with steady water breaking over your head. I found that breathing on alternate sides worked best. I was swallowing the same amount of water no matter which side I breathed on and breathing every third stroke meant fewer opportunities to take on water. This swim was about 1.25 miles and we were in the water for 38 minutes.

niel

Sunday, July 10, 2011

We had a big group and nice conditions at Avila on Sunday. It was sunny and clam with very little wind. The water was 58 and still looking pretty good. There were no sea birds of any kind to be seen, one seal and about a dozen fishermen on the pier. It is common for the people fishing off of the pier to attach a balloon to their line as a float. Today a group were using blue exam gloves instead of balloons so there was a whole series of blue hands waiving from the surface of the water. We started with a good sized group and picked up a couple more on the way. Starting out were Pete, Dale, Sylvia, Niel, Duke, Chad, Kimber and Bobby (from the SLO Tri Club). Just as we were getting in Jorge, who was visiting the area from Vancouver (?), at least Canada, joined us. He swims in lakes and was anxious to get in the ocean. With new people along we did the triangle route clockwise, as that route does not extend out past the end of the pier and would allow a swimmer to pick a shorter route to shore if prudent. Having fun and staying safe is always our first priority. We headed out and swung wide to the left away from the fishing lines from the pier, grouped up at the first buoy and headed down the line the the end. While we were regrouping we met a member of the Cal Poly tri team who was out for a swim on his own. He joined us for the rest of the route. We swam to the end of the pier, on to the end of the right hand buoy line at the creek, back along the buoys to the pier and in to the beach. Post swim beach conditions were perfect for a nap and the pull of the warm sand was too strong for some. Me, I went to Trader Joe's, where I ran into Dale, (are we like salmon, swimming upstream or something?), went home, got started on the ironing and watched the Tour. What a complete train wreck of a day! Crashes in wet conditions are one thing, unfortunate but an accepted risk, but having two leaders taken out bu a TV car is unbelievable.

niel

Wednesday Evening July 6,, 2011

67! That was about all anyone needed to know about Avila Beach last night. It was high tide and some very warm water had been pushed into the bay. there was a steady breeze out of the SE that was holding up a small chop and a strong current going in the same direction. The water was clean looking and there were no pelicans, fishermen or other feeding species in evidence. Rob, Niel and Ryan were swimming. We decided to do a big triangle swim; we started down the buoy line to the left and went all of the way to Fossil Point, came back to the end of the Avila Pier and then to the end of the buoy line at the creek. We finished up by coming back along the buoy line and under the pier. The water temperature was very even with some spots that were even warmer. We tended to spend a lot of time at the turning points just hanging out and enjoying ourselves. This swim was 2,350m and we are in the water for 52 minutes. The makes three Wednesday evenings in a row where we had water temperatures in the 60's, and temps back in the mid 50's on the following Sunday. Don't ask me to explain it, but I'll sure be back next Wednesday eveining.

niel

Wednesday Evening, June 29, 2011

There is something going on with Wednesday evenings. Last Wednesday we have amazingly warm 63.5 degree water. Sunday the ocean was back to its seasonal 55.5. This evening it was back up to 60! It was sunny and warm, breezy, blowing from the west, but not as windy as it had been in San Luis Obispo or on the coast. The water had small wind waves and some small chop from the SW but there were no whitecaps. Niel, John and Rob were joined by Kim and Lynne, both of whom had been regulars but had not been swimming with us in a while. We decided to do a counterclockwise triangle, starting on the right side of the pier. The swimming was a little bumpy but not bad and the water felt comfortable. At the end of the second leg at the end of the pier, Kim wanted to head in so we all swam in parallel to the pier to the first buoy in the line, dropped her off and continued down the buoy line to the last bouy and doubled back to the first buoy. While we were at the last buoy I notices a raft of sea birds about 150m farther out. There were some pelicans diving with them and several gray dolphins swimming back and forth through the birds. Seeing dolphins is always a nice thing but we reflected on our being close by at snack time so we got in gear and hustled our way back towards the pier. There were no birds or dolphins to be seen when we were getting out. We swam about 2000m and with all of the visiting we did at the turning points we were in the water for 44 minutes.

niel

Sunday, June 26, 2011

It was sunny, calm and comfortably warm at Avila this morning. The water was almost as clear as last Wednesday and a more seasonable 55.5 degrees. Sylvia and Yvonne went out early and were still swimming when the 11:00 group started. Swimming at 11 were Niel, Rob, Duke, Jerry, Kamber (who was a regular with us last summer and is back), Berto (a tir buddy of Duke's and his first time with us), Dale, Amy (who is a local triathlete but new to us) and her brother Bill, who was visiting from LA and is is also a triathlete. The plan was to do 1+ laps of the triangle route which would allow people to do the distance of their choice. Avila put on a great show for us by having a pod of gray dolphins met us as we swam out to the buoy line. They came within about 10m of our group and swam back and forth along the buoy line as we were working our way down to the last buoy on the left of the pier. We continued to the top of the Avila Pier, on to the buoy at the creek and from there back to the pier. At this point everyone headed in except for Niel, Rob and Bill who decided to go a additional 1/2 lap. We swam back to the last buoy on the left of the pier, to the top of the Avila Pier and in along the west side of the pier to the beach. The main group did about 1-1/4 miles, while the long route was 2800m, about 1-3/4 miles. I had us in the water for 64 minutes, but we spent a lot of of time reforming the group at the turning points.

Rob and I are going to swim Wednesday evening at 5:30. Next Sunday, the 3rd, Rob will be in Monterrey and I will be in Eureka. I wont be back until the 6th but Rob will be back for the 4th. Somebody should organize a Fourth-of-July swim and pot luck.

niel