Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Easter swims...

Wildly diverse swims over Easter... Tilbury Classic at Nowra Culburra, then a glorious day at Pacific Palms, near Forster, then almost a wash-out at Coogee-Bondi, which went ahead as a truncated swim inside the bay at Coogee...

Tell us about your weekend of swimming...

Saturday, April 16, 2011

2nd Super Sat'dee-Sundee...


The start of the season's 2nd Super Sat'dee-Sundee... eight swims this weekend, that we know of, one postponed before the weekend got under way... two Sat'dee, six Sundee, two Queensland, six NSW...

New start to it, with a new swim, The Swim for Saxon, at Queenscliff, at the northern end of Steyne beach, named for Saxon Bird, the 19-year-old Queenscliff iron man who was killed at the Stra'an Surf Life Saving Champeenships on the Gold Coast a year ago. And for that reason, the biggest turn out of gun swimmers we've seen in years. And they came to swim for Saxon. We know this because the winning swimmer, Tom Fraser-Holmes, donated his $1,000 winner's prize back to Queenscliff surf club for rescue equipment. What a nice young lad! And proof that these kids don't always just swim to pay their squad fees.



It was a miserable morning on the beach, to be sure, with the wind howling in, the rain driving almost horizontally, freezing us to the bones -- and, in our case, that's through a fair bit of flesh -- and leaving us wondering why the hell we were there. The break was a mushy mess, whitewater everywhere, rips galore, gutters and banks, waves crashing and rolling in every which way. But the water! Oh, the water... so warm, so clear... so clear, indeed, that you could count the grains of sand on the bottom. It was, without doubt, the noicest water we've swum in all season. But, by all accounts from those who swim along that beach each morning, it's been like that down there for a few weeks now. How lucky they are.

Shellharbour also ran on Sat'dee, with Warriewood, Terrigal, Mollymook, Dicky Beach and Hervey Bay due on Sundee. Bondi postponed before the weekend to May 22. A courageous decision, by a club whose beach faces sou'-east, directly into the bad weather this weekend.



But tell us what you thought... click the comments link below...

Sunday, April 3, 2011

Lovely autumn swim at Stanwell Park...

Lovely day, typical of the autumn ocean swimming season, at Stanwell Park. Water clean and reasonably clear, equable temperature, bright, sunny day with a clear blue sky, and a gentle offshore breeze to smoothe out the water and keep those pesky blueys out to sea.

Gee, it was noice. But tell us what you thought... What was your swim like...