I’m really stoked on how many new people we’ve had popping in and out with us recently over in Avila. They’re hearing about us via word of mouth or finding the SwimAvila.com site I set up a while back and making their way into the ocean with us. Kids from the Central Coast Tri Club are starting to come pretty regularly too. We had upwards of 8 swimmers today. I can’t wait to see what kind of numbers we have floating around as we get deeper into summer! I think what makes this such a good group to swim with is we have such a wide range of speeds and experience out there. Some swimmers were out for their first ocean swim, and one of us is up 60+ years of swimming this beach!

Since we had about 3 totally new ocean swimmers we started with just the south end of the buoy line. I hung towards the back to keep an eye on everyone to make sure everyone was doing ok. After a while Duke took over for me so I could swim a little faster for a while. We regrouped at the far end of the buoy line and everyone seemed pretty happy, a little cold, but happy. And speaking of cold… I wussed out and put on a wetsuit, shhh don’t tell anybody. There was no sunshine and I felt it was the better choice.

Once we got back to the pier 2 of our swimmers turned back towards the beach and the rest of us swam under the pier towards the north end of the buoy line. Duke and I pulled out ahead of the group and I tried to just hold pace with him. I’ve got nationals this week and didn’t want to over do it too much. He was holding a good pace that wasn’t too fast. At the end of the buoy line he decided that he wanted to swim up and over the pier and then back to the beach. Everyone else was on board with that idea so we took off for the end of the pier.

I opened it up a little bit on this leg of the swim. I decided I wanted to go fast for a minute even though my need to taper says I shouldn’t. I settled into a good rhythm and made my way out to the pier. The water had been largely smooth and glassy, but it did start rolling a little bit as we got further out. I think there was a touch of current too because I was drifting away from the pier a bit as I swam out. I pulled out pretty far ahead of the group and once I got to the end of the pier I just floated around taking some pictures and enjoying the view. The best way to soak in the coast is really from inside the ocean!

While we were out there by the pier we saw what was the first seal I’ve seen in months. He was just out there cruising a bit beyond the pier. I wonder if he’s a seal scout looking for fish or something. Apparently the seafood buffet hasn’t been in the general Avila area for a while, but we’re due for the bait fish to come back in the near future.

Our finish was a straight shot to the beach and I cruised it in. I felt like I was drifting sideways again, but I had a big piece of beach to aim for so I wasn’t particularly concerned about it. I just kept my head down and picked it up occasionally just to make sure I hadn’t made a left turn down the coast or something ridiculous like that.

On the beach we had a little crowd that had been watching us and had all kinds of questions about how far we swam and how cold it was and stuff like that. It’s always kind of funny when people are all super impressed with it, it’s always sort of like “you guys saw that?” to me :) The other exciting thing that happened on the beach is Niel said that if I wanted to do a Pismo to Avila Pier to Pier swim him and Chris would be down to paddle for me. I’m pretty stoked on that idea, I’m just drawn to the concept of that swim and I won’t be able to get it out of my head until I just do it! I sent him a list of my open weekends this summer (it’s an impressively short list) and hopefully we’ll be able to find a weekend that works for both of us in there!

realizing what a poor decision I've made to eschew the neoprene casing for this swim

Honestly I was a little anxious about my swim today because I’d been tracking the water temps online and according to an NOAA buoy it was down to 50 degrees!!! I had already made a public proclamation that I was done with wetsuits for the year and I really didn’t want to re-neoprene-ify myself. Luckily it’s usually a little warmer at the beach where we swim and Niel measured 53 from the pier. Me and my human thermometer don’t believe it though… it had been windy all day and we had really cold clear water to swim in. When the wind is blowing towards the beach the water visibility gets a lot better but it also gets a lot colder. I brought my wetsuit just in case, but I knew regardless of what went down I wasn’t going to put it on… I’m stubborn like that. Plus I was referred to as Polar Bear Rob on the tri club’s Facebook page the other day so I had a reputation to uphold :)

We had 2 swimmers from the Central Coast Tri Club come out and since they’re still fairly new to swimming at Avila with us we stuck with the north side of the buoy line since it’s still intact and easy to follow. It took me a little while to get all the way in the water. I can acclimate to cold water, but it’s not always a fast process. I let the others get out in front of me a bit and once I got up to being able to put my head under water I chased them down at the first buoy. I was definitely frosty but I wasn’t shivering or turning colors so I figured I was good to go. We swam down to the far end of the buoy line, regrouped and swam back towards the pier.

regrouping at the far end of the buoy line

swimming back to the pier

Once we got back to the last buoy before the pier everyone kind of looked around and decided if they were done or not. Our new swimmers decided to bounce, I figure in a few weeks they’ll be ready to do some more substantial swims with us. Me and Niel treaded water for a bit while we decided what to do. We had a conversation that went like this:

Niel: So Rob, what do you feel like?
Me: A popsicle!

It wasn’t a particularly constructive conversation :) I let him know I was down for more swimming but I needed to be talked into it. He suggested a lap around the pier and I decided that would be ok.

waving at people on the pier before our group split in half

For a little while on the way down the pier I thought the cold water was making me lose my mind. I was thinking to myself “did the pier get taller? what the hell is going on!?!” Eventually I processed that the tide was just way out, but still the water was way low compared to where it usually is when we’re out. At the end of the pier me and Niel stopped to regroup. He asked how I was doing and I said fine as long as we keep going! Stopping was not ideal at this point!

Normally I don’t like to get too far out front when swimming in the ocean, but I was jamming on the way back to the beach. I wanted out. My brain was getting a little fuzzy and my face was numb. My stroke was feeling pretty good and I dialed up my kick a little bit. It felt like forever getting back. For whatever reason the pier gets longer when you’re trying to swim in.

almost done, that splash behind the wave is Niel

After our swim I hit the showers on the beach and the water felt WARM! That’s a first! I never really broke down into a shiver but I was definitely cold on the inside. I got my sweatshirt on and worked on bringing my body temp back up. A couple hours later I’m still cold to the touch in a few places but I feel fine. Tomorrow I’ll be in Santa Maria swimming in a decidedly warmer body of water and attempting to taper a bit.