Sunday, February 16, 2020

Offshore winds and warm temperatures in the 70's made Avila Beach a great place to be today. It was almost hot on the beach if you were out of the wind. I measured a surprising water temperature from the pier of an almost normal 54.5 degrees. 

Swimming today were Niel, Tom, Heidi, Maria, Duke and Gary. Gary swims with a group in Ventura Sunday mornings at 7. They go bareback and do two miles.  

The water felt warmer than it has but not exactly bammly.

The acclimation period was shorter.

That is Heidi Duke and Maria on their way to the end of the pier. 

Tom behind that stubborn drop of water.

At the end of the Avila Pier.

Tom, me, Duke and Heidi. 

That is Gary on the left in the photo

Gary and Tom over at  the Cal Poly Pier.

Maria and Heidi at the Cal Poly Pier

Me with Duke at the Poly Pier

Maria on the left and me on the right, trying to stay underwater with a wetsuit on.

Maria wound up doing a summersault.

niel

Sunday, February 9, 2020

Avila was sunny and windy with an air temperature of 60 degrees and a water temperature of 52 off of the pier and 50 to 51 toe test temp. See the following voting.

The plan was to swim to the end of the pier, over to the reef buoy, OK as it was high tide, back to the end of pier and in for a mile swim.

First getting in were Niel, Tom, Phil, Duke, Stephanie and Heidi. Teresa caught up with us. John and Jonny got in later and did their own swim.

Seasonal Central Coast weather today. Not too bad for mid-February

Tom, Duke and Phil feeling the first freeze. 

Stephanie, Tom, Teresa, Phil and Duke at the end of the Avila Pier for the first time. 

Tom and Niel at the same spot. Nice clean but cold water. 

Swimmers caucusing about whether the water temperature was above 51.5

There were no problems with our software with this method.  

Tom's vote.

It took swimming the length of the pier for me to get past the first shock and settle in.

That is below 52 for me. 

I think that is Heidi and Duke already heading west at the buoy that marks the reef. 

Dave and Phil (?) at the buoy.

Back at the end of the Avila Pier.

Teresa, Dave, and ? talking to John and Jonny in the background.

The current weather pattern looks pretty stable so we may not see seasonal/warmer water temperatures until May. That wouldn't be ideal but we are growing accustomed to spring temperatures in the winter, but I'm trying to not be concerned about the prospect of water temperatures in the high 40's this spring.

niel

Sunday, February 2, 2020

I was out of town so Heidi, Tom and John contributed to this Sunday's blog.

Some photos (looks like John is trying to feed Jonny a banana) and maps of our swim.  The close up view of the map shows our route climbing on the pier before taking the leap into the ocean.  Our group was John, Jonny, Stephanie, Maria, Heidi.  

The first group was Tom, David, Duke and Sue from London who was swimming bareback!  They swam out to a ship anchored about 1/2 mile ?  from the pier.  My watch read 52F in the water today.  Clear, cold, large swells.

Thanks for the coffee & hot chocolate & whipped cream, Maria!

Thanks for the touch o’ Jameson’s, John!

- Heidi

John, Maria, Heidi and Jonny

Tom’s Blog Report for Group One

It was a beautiful crisp day at Avila – wispy blown clouds mixed with deep blue skies. Perfect February day.  Swimming in group one today was Duke, Sue, David, and Tom.  There was a pretty big ship anchored out a ways beyond the Avila Pier.  Initially, I thought it was a coast guard cutter – It was not.  Whatever it was, it was fitted out with a lot of electronic gear (research, maybe) and had some robust cranes/ lifting moving power in the stern of the boat (deep crab cage fishing?) – whatever it was, it was named the Independence, we swam out to it. 

It was about 1300+ yards away from the our starting point, and looked to be about 200 yards further out to sea than the Cal Poly pier – see picture.  The bridge of this ship appeared to be easily more than 3 stories high from the water.  There was a nice swell, the water by my internal thermometer was 53-54.  We all agreed, the way back was work – it was pushing out to sea.  All in all it was a good day of ocean swimming!

Group two was Heidi, Maria, John & Jonny – their route appeared to go vertical and horizontal…  

Sunday, January 26, 2020

Everyone swam the same route today; out to the end of the Avila Pier, over to the second cross bracing on the Cal Poly Pier and back to the beginning.

The water was warmer that last Sunday today, I measured 55 degrees off of the Avila Pier but it swam colder. The general opinion was about 53 - 54, with some colder spots. The water was very clean and there were 3' waves with an occasional 4+. There was no wind and a flat sea.

The first group was Tom, Teresa and Niel. The second group was John, Jonny, Amy, Maria and Heidi.  Everyone swam 1.3 miles. 

It was clearing in Avila at 10:30 on its was to 

a partly cloudy but comfortable afternoon. 

On the beach; Maria, Heidi, John, Amy, Jonny and Teresa. 

Tom was already wading in. 

Niel at the end of the Avila Pier

Aquaman Tom

Teresa at the Cal Poly Pier

Tom at the Cal Poly Pier, pointing the way home. 

Niel and Teresa at the Cal Poly Pier. 

It was Niel's birthday on Monday. Kris made him a chocolate bundt cake and

Heidi had brought hot chocolate with espresso! 

Everyone enjoyed a great post swim smack.

niel

Sunday, January 19, 2020

 Conditions Even More Wintery Than Last Week

At 10:30 Avila was overcast with beautiful clouds and with what looked like a volcano erupting over Guadalupe. This photo is looking SE so the sun is to the right of the camera. Strange.

Heid got this picture looking south towards the Guadalupe Dunes at about the same time. 

As for those wintery conditions- the air temperature was about 50 degrees and calm. I measured a water temperature from the pier of 51.5. In the water Heidi's thermometer watch measured between 51 and 48 degrees. Swimming today were NIel. Heidi 1, Phil, Tom, Stephanie and her friend Heidi 2 from Santa Barbara, Tim, Dave, Teresa, John and Jonny.

Tom, Phil, Tim, Dave, Teresa, Niel and Heidi swam to the end of the pier, to the mouth of SLO Creek and back to the end of the pier. Tom, Niel and Heidi went in. We swam a mile. Tim, Dave, Phil and Teresa went to the reef buoy, back parallel to the shore and in for 1.3 miles. John and JOnny went to the end of the pier, 1/3 of the way to the creek, back to the end of the pier and in.

Niel's route

Tom, Tim and Dave starting to loose the feeling in their toes.

Tim, Phil, Tom, Dave and Teresa at the end of the Avial Pier for the first time. 

Jonny arriving at the end of the Avila Pier for the first time.

Tom has gone in. Phil, Tim, Dave and Teresa are lining up on the reef buoy.

John at the end of the Avila Pier.

Jonny at the same spot.

It doesn't usually get much colder than today's condition at Avila, but our lowest temperatures occur in the spring when we have constant offshore winds, so I have no idea what the rest of the winter months will be like.

niel 

Sunday, January 12, 2020

 Winter Swimming Conditions On the Central Coast 

The air temperature was 56 degrees, the water 52 - 53 and looked nice and clean. It was sunny with a strong offshore breeze that was making a current and small wind chop towards the ocean. The waves were 3 to 4 ft. plus with some lulls between the larger sets that would make getting out easily a matter of timing.

We had a nice group today with some faces we have not seen in a while; Duke was back from knee surgery at Thanksgiving, Hillary dropped in after a year away and Teresa was back after a bit of a break. The rest of the group was Niel, Heidi, Jonny, Tom and David. We decided to plan a shortish swim with the option for people to go longer if they had not gotten cold yet. 

We decided to include the reef buoy in today's route since there was a king high tide at 10 AM and there would not be much kelp on the surface around the buoy.  We swam out to the end of the pier, over to the reef buoy, back to the pier on a roughly parallel line with the beach and in.  

 At today's water temperatures I wear a 3mm surf suit, a neoprene cap and large goggles and getting out to the end of the pier is a matter of waiting for my face to numb up enough so I don't feel the cold. The big goggles keep me from getting a ice cream headache but anything exposed skin is screaming for the first few minutes.

Teresa, David, Tom, giving directions to the reef buoy, Duke, Hillary, Jonny and Heidi at the end of the Avila Pier.

Jonny wanted a picture of everyone seeing how high they could get out of the water. 

 Some of these people played water polo. 

Me at the reef buoy.

Hillary, Duke, Teresa and David trying to look casual at the reef buoy.

Looking west towards the port from the reef buoy;

Jonny, David, Teresa, Hillary, Duke and Heidi.

The predictions are for a bit of rain mid week but conditions on Sunday should be like today.

niel

Sunday, January 5, 2020

For the first swim of the new year the air temperature was in the high 50's, clear and sunny  with a steady offshore breeze. I measured a water temperature of 54 degrees off of the Avila Pier. The surf was mostly 2 to 3 foot with an occasional set of 5 feet. 

Group 1 was Tom, Tim and Niel who did a counterclockwise triangle for a mile swim. The water was the same temperature as last week but felt better because it was sunny. I took me the swim out, under the pier and most of the way to the creek to get evened out with the temperature and things to get numb enough that I didn't feel cold. 

Tom and Tim getting in.

Group 2 was Laurin, Johny, Amy and John. They swam out to the reef buoy, to the end of the Avila Pier, past the big white mooring buoy that is 100 M west of the pier and in to the beach for about 8 tenths of a mile.

There is currently the possibility of showers late next week but the chance of swimming next Sunday look good. 

niel