Sunday, January 29, 2012

It was another beautiful day at Avila Sunday, sunny and warm but not hot, no wind, and no sea life to be seen in, on or above the ocean. The only condition that was not perfect for swimming was a water temperature that seem stuck at 52 degrees. We had 8 swimmers today; Niel, Rob, Sylvia, Amy, Duke, Roberto, Ed and Casey. We decided to just do a mile along the buoy line starting left and them back , under the pier, on to the creek and back to our starting place. I had 33 minutes in the water.


niel

For more pictures check out the Swim Avila Facebook page!

Also... don't forget to check out the new Central Coast Open Water Google Group for swim information in Avila and other places around the area

Sunday, January 22. 2012

Concerns about the water quality after the heavy rain caused us to cancel our regular swim today. Rob suggested that we do some beach cleanup instead. I liked the idea of giving back and improving our playground so we met at the usual spot at 11 with buckets and gloves. Duke was already there hoping to swim after his run. Disappointed, he settled for a nap until Angela returned from her run. Chad came by and said hi before going out on his run. I did check the water temperature and it was still 52 degrees. There had been a big high tide of +6.2 at 9:32 which combined with the large waves to send water all of the way to the sea wall. At 11 the waves were still large with 6 to 8 foot faces but not rideable. Rob and I walked the beach and collected a couple buckets of plastic trash, toys, cigarette buts and general junk. Kris and I had lunch on the beach and finished up as the cloud cover was moving in.
By next Wednesday our now familiar anomalous weather pattern of clear skies, offshore winds and warm temperatures will be back in place so next Sunday should be another beautiful winter day at Avila. Enjoy it now before the drought hits.




niel

Bonus Announcement:

New Google Group for Open Water Swimmers on the Central Coast!

I set up a Google Group for local open water swimmers to use to talk swimming and set up swims locally. The idea is to pull swimmers from more than just our regular Avila Dolphin crew so please forward it along if you have friends that swim elsewhere like Lake Lopez and Morro Bay. My friends in Orange County use this program to coordinate swims and it has been really successful for them.

The group is located here: http://groups.google.com/group/centralcoastopenwater and there is a link to join on the right hand side of the page.

Rob D.

Sunday, January 15, 2012

It was a little cool at Avila with partial clouds, but it was completely still with flat water conditions.  Surf was in the 2' range, the water was clean and 52 degrees with just a few birds and maybe one seal to be seen.  Swimming today were Ed, Rob and Niel.  There was a jet ski practicing tow-in surfing at the end of the beach  by Fossil Point so we decided to start on the other (west) side of the pier and see let the conditions decide the route.  We swam out to and down the buoy line to the last buoy at the creek,  turned and continued to the end of the Avila Pier.  At this temperature it takes me about 10 minutes to get 'comfortable' to where I start thinking more about swimming than how the water feels on my exposed skin.  Next week I want to ask Rob (no wetsuit) how this works for him.   The jet ski left while we were grouping up at the end of the pier so we decided it was OK to swim to the end of the buoys on the east side, close to where the jet ski had been.  Once there we regrouped and swam along the buoys back to the pier and in to the beach.  We were in the water for 36 minutes and covered about a mile.  After we got out the sky had cleared and it was nice and warm on the sand.


niel

Sunday, January 8, 2012

It was beautiful at Avila today, warm (70+) with a mild offshore breeze and unlimited visibility.  The tide was ebbing, the big waves were gone leaving just a small swell moving towards the beach.  The water was 52.5 and still kind of murky from the big swell earlier in the week.  It was Rob, Sylvia and I on the beach today.  Sylvia elected to soak up the sun and read the paper so Rob and I got our gear on and waded in.  The water was biting at my ankles and hands and I took my time getting out, with plenty of looks over to Rob, he of the non-wetsuit persuasion, to see how he was doing.  We got going, met up at the first buoy and kept going.  With the tide up and not much swell it was a good day to visit Fossil Point so we continued past the last buoy and swam parallel to the beach until we were bobbing in the waves 75M from the point.  At some point between the last buoy and the point I had gotten as comfortable as I was going to get.  My hands and feet were cold and my face was numb but my arms, legs and core felt OK.  We agreed to swim from the point to the end of the pier.  When we regrouped at the pier I was still feeling about the same, not getting any colder yet, so we pushed on to the last buoy at the creek and came back along the buoy line, under the pier and in.  We were in the water for 53 minutes and covered a mile and a half.  Afterwards the sun on the sea wall was almost too warm, which was just about perfect. 


niel  

New Year's Day, January 1, 2012

Four of us swam at 10 o'clock today.  It was sunny, clear, in the 60's and calm at Avila this morning.  The water was 53 with small surf.  There were no birds or other ocean life to be seen.  Swimming were Sylvia, Niel, Susan James and Ed.  We swam out along the west side of the pier and around the end.  We came back along east side of the pier to the dock.  There was a plan to climb up on the dock, from there onto the pier and to jump back in, however the coating of barnacles and mussels on the rungs of the ladders made a barefoot assent impossible.  So, we decided to do a longer swim with no vertical element. We swam to the last buoy in the line on the east side and back along the buoys to the pier and in.  We were in the water for 33 minutes. 
Duane Leib was waiting for us when we got out.  He came by to pick up some inspiration to get back in the water once he has completed rehabing his shoulder after surgery in November.

We will be back to our regular 11 AM start next Sunday.


niel     

New Years Day Swim Time Change!

Just a heads up for everybody out there thinking about a New Years Dip, the usual Sunday swim is moving to 10am for just this week. We'll be back to our usual time the following weekend.

thanks!

Rob D.

Christmas Day 2011

I went out to the beach this morning not knowing if anyone would be by to join me. I ended up getting in the water early to bodysurf a little bit and play with a new camera. About half an hour later I emerged from the 52ish degree water and found an out of town and wetsuitless swimmer looking to take a dip! Holly was visiting from San Francisco and looking for a quick swim so I took her for a shot around the pier. There was some ok surf, but one you got past that it was smooth sailing all the way around. The water was smooth and fairly clear. We took a quick break at the tip of the pier so I could point out the local landmarks and then we made our way back to the beach. All told maybe 1000m tops.

New Years day is next Sunday and we'll have swimmers in the water, make sure you come out for your polar bear dip!

Rob D.

Sunday, December 18,2011

We had a beautiful Sunday for a swim and got to share it with a few out of town guests. We had our regular visitor Susan from the valley on the beach along with Shawn (in no wetsuit!) who was in town from the Sacramento area. Rounding it out was myself, Sylvia and Amy.

The water was fairly calm out past the breakers, but we had some burly sets rolling in at the beach. I measured the water at about 53. We opted for the classic triangle route to give Shawn the full tour and make sure everyone got in about a mile.

The swim was great, no major wind or currents to contend with, although we had a hard time sighting the creek buoy from the pier because the swells were so large. At the finish we treaded lightly to do our best to get back on the beach without getting clobbered by the surf. Once everyone was in I decided to try bodysurf one for fun but that didn't go exactly to plan. The wave broke in a weird way, folded me up like a pretzel and introduced me to the bottom of the ocean... whoops :)

Next Sunday is Christmas, I'm planning to hit the beach (weather permitting) so hopefully I see a few of you out there!

Rob D.

Sunday December 11, 2011

I've had one of the flu's that is going around so I didn't swim today.  For the next two Sundays a lot of people are going to be either traveling or otherwise occupied, so the attendance at the beach will be a bit spotty.  Keep an eye on Rob's website and Facebook page.  


niel   

Sunday, December 4, 2011

Avila was a lot like last week, except for the 100's of motorcycles along Front Street for the Toys for Tots drive.  It was sunny, warm enough, windless, almost surfless. The water was real clean and we had a very low tide.  The water was one degree colder than a week ago at 53 degrees.  It was just Sylvia and I today.   Sylvia was going to follow me in, as it takes her longer to get used to the water.  I headed out, turned left and wound up doing about a mile along the swimming the buoy line.  It was chilly but the swimming conditions were great.  I never connected with Sylvia. When I got out she was sitting in her dry swim suit reading the paper, having kept an eye on me from the beach.  There is no rain in sight so we'll be back next weekend.


niel 

Sunday, November 27, 2011

Niel, Sylvia and Susan James swam today. It was sunny and warm at Avila with no wind. The water was very clean and had a temperature of 54 degrees. Susan and I headed out, turned right. swam to the creek buoy and then to the end of the Avila pier.  Sylvia was body surfing so we came in along the length of the pier to the buoy line and met up with her. We all swam down the buoy line towards Fossil Point to the second buoy, then came back to our starting point and came in.  We were in the water for 36 minutes.
With no breeze it actually got too hot up next to the wall after our swim.  Sylvia and I had lunch and I took a short nap before heading home about 12:30.


niel

Sunday, November 20, 2011

No swimming today.  It rained hard last night and is still raining this morning, leading to concerns about the water quality at Avila Beach.  The predictions are for dry weather up to Thanksgiving, so Rob and I are looking to slip in a mid-day, mid-week swim before the next storm.  Look here or on Rob's facebook page to follow out planing.


niel  

Sunday, November 13, 2011

Avila started out OK and evolved into quite nice today.  At 10:30 it was sunny but with thin high clouds and a slight offshore breeze.  There was also a slight current running form left to right, parallel to the beach.  Rob and I had considered going out to the Fossil Point rock today but a water temperature of 54.5 made us reconsider.  Neither of us had been in water that was below 55 degrees since last spring.  We decided that this was not the best day to do a swim with a turnaround point 3/4's of a mile offshore with no way to shorten the route if someone became uncomfortable.  Amy was swimming with us and was game for some distance so we decided to swim over to the Poly Pier and back to the Avila Pier.  This route can be from 1+ to almost 2 miles depending on decisions made at 2 points along the route so it was a good choice.  Duke and Angela came by as we were getting ready, heading out on a two/three run, (Duke does 2 miles while Angela does 3).   We started on the west side of the Avila Pier and swam down the buoy line to the creek.  At this point we had collected a group of 4+ seals who would follow us for the rest of the swim.  We swam over to the Poly Pier, back to the end of the Avila Pier and in to the beach.  By the time we reached the Avila Pier the clouds had gone, the sun was warm and the offshore breeze had died away.  It was very pleasant on the beach afterwards with a small school of dolphins out off of the end of the pier.
This swim was about 1 -1/4 miles and we were in the water for 46 minutes.


niel

Sunday, November 6, 2011

It was sunny and about 60 degrees at Avila today.  The water was clear and clean with nice transparent waves and a temperature of 56 degrees.  There was a gusty offshore breeze that was blowing towards Pismo Beach that was rippling the surface but not putting up any real chop .  I was the only one swimming today.  I did the triangle counterclockwise without stopping at any of the turns.  I was swimming for 30 minutes.


niel

Cal Poly Pier Open to the Public This Weekend!

Hey everybody, just a not that the Poly Pier is open to be toured this Saturday. They only do this once or twice a year and it's very cool, I highly recommend checking it out. The New Times has more info here and you can see some of my pictures from the last time they did this on my blog over here.

Rob D.