Sunday, March 29, 2015

It was full summer at Avila Beach today.

It was sunny and warm, actually too hot by 1 PM. There was a fog bank far offshore that wrapped around towards Pismo Beach and lots of families on the beach.  We had three new swimmers, Brandon, Chris and Breanna, joined Niel, Eric and Jeff. Sylvia did her own swim and Mark was with us to paddle. We did the triangle clockwise, cutting it a bit short and and covering .89 miles.  At the end of the Avila Pier Breanna headed in parallel to the pier while the rest of us swam towards the creek mouth and parallel to the shore back to the pier.
The water was 56.5 degrees with an occasional head high wave and only a slight breeze from the east. It felt like weak offshore breeze conditions.
There is no plot today because Garmin downloaded the data and then flung it somewhere, but not to my account. I'll post it if it shows up later.

Here we are at the end of the first leg.

and at the end of the Avila Pier

niel

Sunday, March 22, 2015

We had company at the beach today.  The lifeguards didn't take any action so it appears that until the swimming zone buoys are back in place we will have to share. 
The water was 57.5 degrees and back to it's normal opaque clarity.  It was comfortably warm but there was a breeze out of the south that seemed to be strengthening. We had Mark with us again today on his inflatable SUP so with him to act as a flag and jet ski spotter we decided to swim on the west side of the pier. Swimming today were Niel, Tom, Ali, Amy and Jeff.  Pete Kelly did his own thing. 

We headed out, under the pier and down to the mouth of the creek and from there over to the Poly Pier and back on a line directly towards the Yacht Club at the base of the pier. The wind kept building so we had to do some extra work on the leg over to the Poly Pier and got pushed really well on the way back. By the time we were out whitecaps were starting to form.  The chop built up more than I expected but I enjoyed the chance to work on the rough water part of my ocean swimming skills.

Here is a nice shot that Ali's mom took from the pier. 

Mark was nice and visible. 

Having the camera along seems to encourage a certain kind of behavior. 

By the time that Mark got back to the base of the pier the wind 

had him paddling on his knees. 

niel

Sunday, MArch 15, 2015

We had a really nice swim today.  It was warm, maybe in the upper 80's, at Avila with thin high clouds, no wind and very clear 57 degree water.   Niel, Tom, Leslie, Ali, Sylvia, Duke, Jeff and Rick were there to swim and Mark joined us on his new inflatable SUP.   We decided to swim over to the Poly Pier and sort'a made up a route from there. Sylvia swam to the Poly Pier and came directly back.  The dogleg in my route on the way to the Poly Pier is a present from Garmin GPS. Duke and I both had a distance of 1.34 miles.

At the end of the beach before heading over to the pier in the background. 

Grouping up at the pier

We swam along the length of the pier for a ways. I decided to simplify my navigation and swim between the pilings.

Grouped up and ready to head back to the ocean end of the Avila Pier, which you can see to the left of Mark's paddleboard.

The water at the end of the Avila Pier was extremely clear so I got this fish eye view of Duke and Rick. 

Rick had the great idea to do the Three Pier Swim that we have not done since the late 1990's. The route  begins on the beach at the west side of the Harford Pier, goes out and around the end of that pier, to the end of the Cal Poly Pier, on to the end of the Avila Pier and in to the beach. This route is 1.75 miles and will require kayak support and some shuttle service to the start from Avila would be great.  Now is a good time to start planning. Since July 3rd is Duke's 60th birthday he would like to do this swim on the Fourth of July, which sounds like a great idea. We could follow up the swim with a potluck brunch on the beach. 

and

There are alternatives to swimming at Avila Beach and we have this to consider courtesy of Big Steve.  Anybody up for a road trip?

niel

Sunday, March 8, 2015

An Geometry Lesson

Today began with a group of three dolphins making a pass along the beach. We always think that this is a good sign.  It was clear, sunny and cool at Avila with a fog bank hanging offshore and a slight wind out of the SE pushing the cool from the fog into Avila.  The water temperature was 55 degrees, the surface was pretty flat with small waves.  Niel, Sylvia, Rick, Duke and Tom and Leslie were joined by Elizabeth Mills and two of her friends, Jeff and Keith. Tom wanted to do something more interesting than our usual routes and suggested that we swim a trapezoid. I think that I was not the only one who was searching his memories of geometry class to remember what a trapezoid was, so I asked Tom to draw a picture. 

A trapezoid has four sides, two that are parallel and this one would have looked more perfect  if my gps had not lost its lock a few times and thrown in three hiccups.

At the end of the first leg Liz and Keith (no wetsuit) went in 

and I tried to get a photo of Tom squirting water up out of his fists, which he does to keep himself amused while he is waiting for the rest of us to catch up.   

This is Rick, Jeff, Duke and Leslie at the creek mouth.  Tom was behind me and I do not know what Duke is looking for.

We covered 1.12 miles in 42:39.  Afterwards conditions on the beach were just about perfect for a nap. 

niel   

Sunday, February 22, 2015

The air and water were 58 degrees. There had been some showers earlier but we did not get any rain while we were at the beach.  We had storm conditions; a steady wind and swell out of the south pushing towards the beach. Tom, Leslie, Niel and Erik swam.  Rick came by but he and Rhonda decided to join Duke and Angela for breakfast.  The water quality along the beach was OK Thursday but the creek had high numbers so we stayed on the east side of the pier.
Sylvia stayed out and rested on her 2014 National Masters Rankings. 

She deserves a big congratulations from all of us!  She placed in the top 10 in all of her events AND her relay team is ranked No. 1 !

She is still kicking butts at 77 and has been top 10 ranked since 1984!  Nothing like setting a high standard for all of us younger folks who think we are hot stuff.

We swam out along the pier, angled towards the beach to the big rock at the end of the sea wall and came back to the pier.

Leslie getting in

Leslie and Tom at the end of the pier

Leslie, a mystery swimmer and Niel at the end of the sea wall 

Next Sunday Tom is busy, I'll be out of town and Sylvia will be competing in Pasadena.

niel

Sunday, February 15, 2014

Avila Beach, Sunday February 15, 2015

OK, I admit that it was bad of me, but I could not resist sending this photo to my nephew in Boston.
Yes, Avila Beach was showing off for the holiday weekend; sunny, windless, warm and 59 degree water.  The beach didn't seem to be that crowded but there was no parking to be found when I left at 1.
We had 10 swimmers today; Niel, Sylvia, John Hampsey, Amy, speedy Paula Dooley and her daughter Claire, who we don't see often enough, John Harmse, Roxy, Rick and Dale. Paula and Claire and Sylvia trunked it.  

John began with a novel technique to putting on his wetsuit and had to rethink his approach. 
We decided to do a clockwise triangle to give Paula and Claire a chance to get comfortable while we were close to shore.  At the end of the sea wall we all turned and headed to the end of the Avila Pier.   That is Paula and Claire, right and center.

Paula, Claire, Dale and Roxy headed in from the end of the pier. The rest of us completed a short version of the creek side of the route.  The water was really nice, the sun was warm and we all had a great time.

niel

Sunday February 1, 2015

As you can see the drought is hammering us here in Central California. No rain, just one absolutely beautiful day after another and unseasonable nice swimming conditions. Our yards may all be dead and we may not have any water to drink this summer but the winter swimming conditions are spoiling us.  Another Sunday that is sunny, warm, just a little windy with a water temperature of 58 degrees. This time last year the water temperature was running 51 to 54 degrees and in 2013 it was between 49 and 53 so this winter is like summer in more ways than just the lack of rainfall.  We had three groups swimming today; Niel and Tom wanted to go to the Poly Pier so they started first. 

We swam to the end of the Avila Pier and over to our usual rendezvous spot along the Poly Pier. On the way over to the Poly Pier we were heading into a slight wind so we had to work against a small chop and steady current.  We looped back to our starting point having covered 1.23 miles. 

This shadowy figure is Tom Lorish and the Poly Pier

Niel at the Poly Pier.

Stephanie, Amy, Dale and Rick swam out to the end of the pier, over the the mouth of the creek and back along the buoy line. Doug and John Hampsey got in later. I'm not sure what route they swam.


niel

Sunday, January 25, 2015

Today we swam the same route as last week but with two swimmers who we have not seen in a while and one new friend. Swimming today were Chad and Duke (welcome back), Stephanie, Tom, Niel, Pete, John Hampsey and his friend Doug Cerf joined us for the first time.  We did a staggered start; I joined Tom and Stephanie who were already in the water. Everyone else was taking a bit more time so we started swimming.  Chad and  Duke caught up to us at the point and we came back together.  John and Doug swam together.  We picked up Dale most of the way back to the pier. 
The swimming conditions were great for any day but especially for January. The water was 58 degrees and there was no wind.  There were some occasional 4' sets when we got in at 11, by 12 there were consistent sets of 4 to 5 foot waves with some nice barrels.  It was sunny and warm on the beach and 79 degrees in San Luis Obispo.

niel

Sunday, January 18, 2015

Niel, Sylvia, Dale, Pete, Amy and John Hampsey enjoyed excellent conditions today. It was warm with high thin overcast, no wind , a glassy ocean and 58 degree water. We went out to the end of the pier, down to Fossil Point and back parallel to the beach to the Avila Pier.  We covered 1.16 miles in a casual 44 minutes. 

 Looking back towards the pier from the point.  The water doesn't get much flatter than this.

 Looking the other way at the caves in Fossil Point 

 Amy and John


I'll be back and looking for more of this next Sunday.

niel

The 2014/2015 Will Swim For Food

Tom Lorish, Stephanie Roberson, Niel Dilworth and about 85 other swimmers completed the 2014 Will Swim For Food today. The date of the swim slid into 2015 because on the traditional day, the second Saturday of December, the 10' waves, dirty water and floating debris changed the idea of swimming around the Santa Cruz Municipal Wharf from a fun event into a very bad idea.  So, step forward one month to today and conditions could not have been better. It was sunny and warming up nicely. The water was 55 degrees with 2'+ surf and a moderate swell on the west side of the pier. For the 5th year of the swim the traditional direction was reversed to allow the swimmers to complete their parade down the length of the pier and to the water without crossing traffic.  The duck thing is very cool.  One of the original swimmers was given a little rubber Santa Ducky to take with him on the swim The duck became the mascot for the event.  Now, if an individual donor contributes a minimum of $150 the organizers provide a full sized duck decoy that the swimmer can tow behind them during the swim.  The donor or the swimmer can decorate the duck as they please.  It makes for quite a show;

The Duck Lineup

 Tom's duck is painted to look like his Great Daine

 Stephanie's four ducks, from gold to attired in a sweater and scarf and mine on the step above in yellow with Christmas lights and three ducklings.

 More

 Being GoPro equipped was popular this year

 Is this the Sherman and Megan of ducks?

 Nice

 So many stories......

So, here is the start of the parade down the pier.

One swimmer and 10 ducks!

 Tom and I met up at the end of the pier.

Done, a one mile swim completed.  Three of us raised $3,227 which is about 12,900 meals. 

Thank you all for your support!

niel