Swim Avila - Open Water Swimming

Monday, March 27, 2017

Sunday, March 26th, 2017

Today's blog is by John Hampsey

Sydney, Sam, Marie, Heidi, Amy, Jonny, and I swam today. Under a gauzy sky the weather was mild with a slight breeze and air temp about 65 degrees. Because of the recent rain, we thought it wise to stay south of the pier. There were regular sets of large waves cresting as we entered the water. After getting past the break, we headed out to the end of Avila Pier. The closer we got to the end of the pier, the choppier the water became, and there was also a strong current moving from the north-west making for a challenging and boisterous swim. We then headed south-east to the cliff. With the wind and current at our backs we seemed to be sailing along at times. After re-grouping at the cliff, we headed north along the shore, against the current, to the pier and in to the beach. Because the water was so clear, some got a prehistoric surprise as we passed by the reef buoy because of the large brown stands of kelp sprouting up in that area.

Swim time 44 minutes, distance one mile. The sun broke through for a while as we gathered on the beach afterward, so even though the water was a cold 53 degrees we all warmed up quickly. Fantastico swim for all!

Sunday, March 19, 2017

This Sunday Avila Beach looked and felt more like winter but had some new indications of spring. Instead of hot and sunny with offshore winds and a 50 degree water temperature we had cloudy and cool conditions with no wind and water that was up to an estimated 55 degrees.

It was Amy's 65th birthday so she got to choose the route. She picked the triangle counterclockwise. I left my GPS at home so today's plot is from Duke's Strava account.

We started with six swimmers, Duke, Niel, Amy, Jonny, John and Jim and gained two, Pete and Maria at the halfway point. On the beach and who was great to see again was Sylvia Glenn. She was here to get her beach fix and will be getting back in with us when the weather warms up a bit.

Jim and Amy at the start.

Duke and Jonny

I took a couple of pictures of the damaged pilings that contributed to the closing of the pier.

Duke, Amy, Jonny, John and Jim at the creek mouth

Pete, Duke, Maria, Jim, John, Jonny and Amy at the end of the pier.

The water was extremely clear for Avila Beach, I could clearly see detail on the bottom at 6 to 8 feet. Nobody had numb toes and considering that the overcast sky will make it feel colder than it is, the consensus was that the water temperature was about 54 - 55.

niel

Sunday, March 12, 2017

It is suddenly spring at Avila Beach.

There was nothing but sunny, windy and warm weather earlier in the week and it finished up with a summer day at the beach. It was warm with a very light wind. From the pier I measured a water temperature of 52 degrees in the surf line.

The creek and the ocean water was nice and clean so we decided to swim the triangle. This was a 1.24 mile swim the way we did it today.

Swimming today were Niel, Duke, Jim, Sydney, Sam, Jonny and John. Mark kept us company on his SUP. We got a surprise getting in when the water temperature dropped about 2 degrees when we passed the surf line. Cold indeed!

Mark herding everyone together at the left end of the beach.
Sydney and Sam headed back along the beach from here.

Duke and Jim at the end of the pier.

John and Jim performing a scientific experiment; are your toes colder in or out of the water?
I was just about comfortable with the temperature at this point.

Duke and Jim at the mouth of the creek.

Jonny, Jim, John, Sydney, Sam, Dule and NIel

Every team needs a mascot and we have a warthog that Sam found on the beach..
Go HOGS!

This is the time of the year to think of doing some longer swims. Pat, Amy, myself and others are interested in swimming; out to the rock and back (1.5 miles), or maybe over to Smith Island (2.4 miles one way). For those swims we will need two and preferably three support paddlers. If anyone is interested in joining us to support a swim let me know at ndilworth65@gmail.com.

niel

Sunday, March 5, 2017

Sunday, March 5th, 2017

The creek was clean for the first time in weeks but it was raining in San Luis Obispo last night and into this morning, leaving some question about what the water quality would be today.. The sky was clearing when I arrived at Avila with patches of blue starting to appear. The water was flat with knee high waves and as the sky cleared the wind began to pick up.

Niel, Stephanie and Johnny took a (small) chance and got in.

Stephanie and Johnny

I'd guess the water temperature was 52 or 53. By the time we got out and stopped along the pier the wind was kicking up and a chop was starting to build. Stephanie had not been in in some time so we chose a short course and would see how she felt.

I'm pretty sure that Johnny and Stephanie are both in this picture,
but I can only find Johnny's white cap on the right.

Swimming east parallel to the beach I could feel a strong push and then had water breaking over my head from behind. It was fun surfing the building chop but I was already thinking about what the swim back was going to be like.

Johnny at our turnaround point.

Stephanie arriving at the turnaround.
Welcome back Stephanie!

The swim back was a slog into the wind and chop. We stopped several times to group up and share tips on swimming in these conditions. I find it fun if I'm not swallowing too much water. Our swim was short but it felt like about the same effort as a flat mile so the distance was OK. Afterwards we had a cup of coffee on the beach before getting on with our Sunday afternoons.

niel

Sunday, February 26, 2017

Hey, we got to swim today. The weather cleared, the creek is still dirty but our getting in time was just after high tide so all of the poo from the creek would be heading straight out to sea away from the beach, so , we planned a swim on the side of the pier opposite the creek. At high tide I can get an Avila Beach water temperature from the pier, so we knew that the water was 52 degrees. Access to the pier is limited to a short distance from shore because the pier has structural deficiencies that make it unsafe. Unfortunately, the Port San Luis Harbor Commission which has responsibility for the pier has no plans to have it repaired.

Swimming today were Heidi, Amy, Niel, John and Johnny. Mark Olson joined us on his inflatable SIP.

Amy, Heidi and John wading in.In the background you can see on person on the pier and a light pole.
The barricade is between them.

Mark ready to pick us up.

Heidi in the foreground then Mark and Johnny.
That is not a surf perch but my toes in the bottom of the picture.

Amy, John, Johnny and Mark. There wasn't much wind or chop but the swell
was rolling under us a long way off shore.

John at the end of the pier.

Johnny, John, Niel, Amy and Heidi

Heidi has been following this swimmers blog about traditional open water swimming and thinks it is well worth reading. Also his photos are very nice.

https://loneswimmer.com/

by Donal Buckley

niel

Sunday, February 19, 2017

There was no swimming at Avila Beach today.

The water quality was iffy and swimming was questionable, and then there was a sewage spill in San Luis Obispo that put thousands of gallons of raw sewage into San Luis Obispo Creek, so, definitly no swimming today. :-(

niel

Sunday, February 5, 2017

This Sunday was a big change from last weekend, no more warm sun and crowds on the beach. It was overcast, about 50 degrees and felt very wintery. A new storm was coming in so we had a onshore wind, a swell out of the SE and some one foot chop. The waves were 2 - 3'+. The creek had dirtied up this past week so we stayed on the left side of the pier away from the creek mouth. The water temperature was 52 degrees, but somehow felt better than last week, perhaps because today the air and water temperature were the same.

Niel, Amy, Heidi, John and Johnny swam a triangle on the left side of the pier. Out along the pier I could really feel the push of the swell towards the beach. The second leg was across the chop, which was messy but fun and the last leg back to the pier we had a nice push from the swell.

Getting in.

John, Heidi and Johnny at the end of the pier.

Amy, Heidi, John and Johnny (floating on his back)

niel

Sunday, January 29, 2017

After almost a month storms (and very welcomer rain) of swims washed out by water loaded with debris and bacteria, we got a beautiful Sunday at Avila Beach. A lot of people must have agreed because the beach was crowded like a summer's day. The port had been hauling off the accumulation of driftwood and trash but there were still acorns and walnuts on the beach that came down the creek and a black dusting of oil particles the large surf had tossed up from the ocean. The bottom had been recontoured so it was almost flat, I just kept walking out further until it was finally deep enough to start swimming.

Late week samples by Surfrider and the County had bacteria levels in the creek and ocean well below limits so we were OK getting in. There was a light wind that gave the water a little bit of surface action. Waves were 2 to 3 feet.

Getting in today were Niel, Heidi, Amy, John, Johnny, Sydney and Clara. The reported water temperature over at the port (about 1.3 miles to the west) was 55 degrees but as we waided in my toes told a story more like the low 50's. Heidi had her new thermometer watch so we had a reading during the swim of 51 degrees which seemed about right. We swam out and down to the creek mouth, to the end of the pier and in for a distance of .91 miles.