sure it's cold but it's really the best place in town to spend lunch!

I got in one last swim in Avila before my 10k Pier to Pier on Saturday and the ocean threw all kinds of excitement at us! When we got there it was a little breezy with not much motion in the water. Real small waves rolling in and not much texture on the water. It seemed like we were in for a really mellow swim.

nice and flat... for right now...

While we were walking in the water getting acclimated and ready to swim the swells started to get a little bigger…. hmmm… interesting. Niel got out first and I followed a little behind him. It was 54 today and the breeze really cut right through you. I was on fire at the buoy line and apparently I had turned a pretty awesome shade of pink, fun! By the time we got a ways past the end of the left side of the buoy line I was ok, but that first leg… whew!

getting in... that odd lump in my cap is my Garmin Forerunner 310xt on it's maiden oceanic voyage

We stopped to regroup midway between the end of the buoy line and the point. Originally we were going to aim for the Point but we ended up changing course. We could feel the incoming swells growing beneath us and some odd things were afoot. The reef buoy which is set out even further than the rest of the buoys had a wave starting to break there! I’ve never seen that. I guess a mix of the tide being waaaay out and big swells moving it made it possible. I was pretty ok with not going any further in that direction… we made moves for the pier instead.

negotiating the next stop on our route while a wave breaks on the reef buoy!

As we turned to swim for the top of the pier the wind really started to ratchet up. The chop picked up real fast and you could see the water moving quickly in the opposite direction of where we wanted to go. I figured that this was the best workout I could have gotten for an open ocean adventure. The chop was big enough that it made it challenging to get a breath at times without swallowing a little water and it made sighting a little harder too.

At the top of the pier we hung in the water for a while. A lot of today was just about being cold for me. I need to spend about 3 hours submerged on Saturday in what I’m guessing will be 53-55 degree waters and my cold water tolerance really needs to be “on” to handle it appropriately. While we were floating out there we decided to double back on our route. It was something different that we don’t usually do.

a curious seal out on patrol

I thought the swells and chop would push us a bit but we weren’t quite going at the right angle. If things are still moving this way on Saturday I think it will be beneficial though, the route to Pismo was more in line with the wind today. Once we had made it all the way back to where we started along the middle of the pier we spent a few more minutes just floating. While we were there I saw a seal head pop up about 10m away which was a big relief for me. I was convinced I saw something big swim under me out by the last buoy and just thought the cold was making me see things… apparently it really happened, phew!

post swim stats

On today’s swim I brought my new Garmin Forerunner 310xt to track the swim. I used some velcro straps to hold it to my goggle straps and then put my cap over the top to hold it all together. The timing isn’t really right on because it includes splashing around in the breakers while I got acclimated, but the map looks to be pretty accurate. It measured it out at 1.09 miles which sounds right on to me.

I may get in one more ocean swim tomorrow we’ll see… but in other big news… my buddy Chris from LiveSwim.net is going to be in the support boat!

We’re going to try and do some livestreaming from the ocean, not sure if it’ll be possible based on the signal he can get from out there but he’s going to give it a shot. It will be highly experimental but I figure the worst case scenario is that we should have some awesome footage of the swim down the Central Coast! Either way it’s a win!

reacquainting myself with the frosty briney goodness of the pacific

It feels like it’s been forever since I’ve been able to swim in the ocean! Late last night I confirmed I’d have Niel as a swim partner for today and we decided to hit the usual spot in Avila. SLO County has a page on their website with Beach Health Advisories that we’ve been watching (here) but it hasn’t been updated since the 20th so we just used our best judgement. No major rain since Saturday, no visible debris floating in the water, and everything smelled normal so we went for it. The water was definitely murky but I don’t think it was “dirty.”

all smiles on the beach before we got in

I met Niel just before noon and we caught up a little bit since we hadn’t seen each other in a while. Unexpectedly it was a really busy day at the beach, looks like a lot of people with this week off decided to spend it in Avila. I can’t blame them because it was warm and beautiful out. Although it was busy on the sand not too many people ventured into the water. I saw a handful of boogie boarders but that was it. While we were still on the beach my girlfriend and my friend Robin showed up on the beach to say hi.

most of the apples are gone and beachgoers have been building debris teepees

Niel measured the water temp at 56 today off the pier, there were definitely pockets out there that were much colder! Getting in it took me a little bit to re-acclimate after a week and a half out of cold water, but the waves were breaking in just the right way that I couldn’t fight it for too long. After diving through 2 of them I figured it was time to start swimming.

wading in

We decided to go with the classic triangle in a clockwise direction. It was smooth sailing to the end of the left side of the buoy line, but we picked up some chop on the way to the pier. It wasn’t real big but it was persistent and coming from just the right direction to make this leg a little harder. I actually felt good working through the chop though, it’s been a while since I’ve had that and oddly I kind of like it.

view down towards the Avila Pier

We paused for a little bit at the tip of the pier and waved to the spectators up there. It’s always fun to see people’s reactions to us just chilling off the tip of the pier after having swum there from points unknown :) While we were floating out there it was nice and clear and I surveyed my course for this weekend. The Avila Pier, the rock, and the Pismo Pier all kind of line up when you look straight down the coast.

people watching up on the pier... btw that white line isn't an error in the pic, it's a lightpost

On the way to the creek buoy I had to dodge a mooring buoy that I probably should have noticed a little earlier… I was busy breathing to the right and it kinda sneaked up on my left. Luckily I noticed it in time to swim around, I think that would have been the swimmer equivalent of hitting a parked car. Out at the creek buoy we had a nice big cold patch. I’d say 2-3 degree drop. Niel could feel it too in his wetsuit.

Niel with the Poly Pier off in the background

From here we planned to swim down the buoy line under the pier and back in from the same spot we started at. The wind was picking up and you could feel it pushing you towards shore a little bit. I made sure to be extra cautious swimming through the pilings today to adjust for the mix of the wind and the small swells moving towards the beach.

At the other side of the pier we just floated for a while. I wanted some bonus time in cold water before we went the rest of the way in. By the end of the swim I was feeling good in the water. The cold wasn’t getting to me at all, even while at rest. Hopefully I get water this “warm” on Saturday for my 10k, but even if I don’t I think I’ll do fine with whatever the ocean decides to throw at me.

Eventually we swam back in to the beach and I caught a piece of a wave en route that I rode into the shallower water. We were greeted on the beach by a photographer from the local paper which was pretty cool. I’m not sure what day but there’s a good chance that my smiling bearded face will pop up in the Tribune sometime this week in connection to my Polar Bear Swim :) I’ll make sure to post a link to the blog and over on Facebook when it hits the web!

Our photographer from the paper out on the beach, can't wait to see his shots!

As long as there’s not an epic amount of rain coming down in the next day or so I should be back in the ocean on Thursday for one more ocean swim before the main event. I may even try to squeeze one in on Friday since I have the day off… we’ll see if I have any takers on that one!

looking towards Pismo contemplating how much work it is to swim there...

Apparently we have a week’s worth of storms en route to the California Coast which is probably going to put a damper on my ocean swimming for a little bit. We’re leaving the possibility of swimming open for Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday but we’re going to have to play it by ear based on water quality and surf conditions. A little rain never hurt anybody… especially somebody out to go swimming… but rain induced run off isn’t such a good deal so we’ll see.

it was gorgeous for lunch, but the rain started hitting this evening

Although you could feel a change to the weather coming it was very nice out for lunch. Visibility was good with some scattered clouds and the wind wasn’t too noticeable. The ocean itself was calm, mainly little mushy waves with the occasional surprise set of 3 or 4 footers rolling through. Niel measured 54.5 off the pier, but it felt way colder. We’ve been averaging 55 for the last 2 or 3 weeks and I gotta say that felt like way more than a half degree drop! Yikes!

Getting in was a little hard just because the cold was pretty serious feeling today, luckily a set of bigger waves helped speed up the process for me… you can’t really fight the process anymore when a wave breaks on top of your head! We came up with a plan while walking out through the waves… we’d swim to the tip of the pier, cut over to Fossil Point, and then swim back down the buoy line to the pier. According to Google Maps it’s about 1.25 miles.

Niel in the water

Niel took off swimming first and after a little more acclimating and cursing I tossed myself in and chased after him. I definitely felt the burn of the cold on the way down the pier, but by the time we stopped to regroup I had largely gotten over it. From the tip of the pier you could see all the way down the coast to Pismo and I definitely had my upcoming Pier to Pier swim on the brain. I can’t wait to get out and do that!

Our next leg was a nice unbroken stretch of about 750m. Our plan was to stop a little short of the point though because it looked like some waves were breaking down there. As we neared the point the water started to get a little scuzzy. Gross little bubbles and it didn’t smell so fantastic… fun! My hypothesis is that there was a big flotilla of birds out there earlier in the morning. If you get enough of them in one spot for long enough they leave an oily stinky sheen on the water for a while. Ew.

frothy... ewww

We didn’t hang out for too long in the middle of all that… we took a straight shot all the way back to the pier along the buoy line. We took a quick pause there next to the pier and then decided to swim it in. I tried to catch a wave en route but it was a no go. I set my sites on a pretty decent wave, positioned myself pretty well, but without fins I just wasn’t fast enough to catch it. I was like 3/4 of the way there but couldn’t quite tip into it.

look how red I am from the cold!

Later in the evening I added on a little pool swim to round out my day. I had grand plans of like 3000m but that didn’t exactly happen. I got in a few hundred meters short course and then they got to work moving the bulkhead for LCM. This turned into a 20 minute trip to the hot tub for me and major momentum killer. I swam another half hour or so, but nowhere near what I wanted to, oh well. At least I went and I’m building up the habit of going in the evenings to swim solo again.