We had a terrific day at Caves Beach, right down to the big set that came through and knocked the peloton about as they crossed the bombora on the way into the beach. Band on the grass under the pines, free barbie, beautiful water (no bities of any kind or size), and a bit of fun with the sea along the way. A top day.
Manly? Weren't there, unfortunately, but tell us what you think about both swims ...
Went to Manly today, did the biathlon, 1km and 2km. All were great. Few bits of bouy moving and stacked it in the run but had a blast of racing and now my arms hurt.
ReplyDeleteWater was warm, was pretty clear in parts and some nice surf for once! Whole 1km went off together and then in 2km all blokes went off together which was a blast and a great melee - have some cool pics of that if anyone wants.
Cheers to the organisers, its kinda like the cole classic i guess but a bizzillion time better!
Huey turned on a deadset pearler for the little journey swim at Caves today. Glorious weather, lovely water temperature, with a southerly swell standing, and even breaking at times on the bombie out the back, halfway along the course. Followed by four to five foot faced sets on the beach break. Not too sucky to ride but more than steep enough to send you down the mine if you didn't time it right.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations to the organisers and volunteers on a very well run event, particularly the water safety people. Clubbies of lesser mettle would have call this one off, on account of the aquabumps. Your clear and concise directions and easily read buoys, along with a bit of help from Huey made for some pretty quick times.
I'll certainly be back next season with my wife n kids. The live entertainment, free barbie, great venue, and convivial atmosphere of this event have certainly raised the bar in the family friendly stakes. Keep the date, it's yours now.
A warning to any organisers of other swims who are thinking of going up against this one at the same time next year:
You will lose!
David Love.
Declaring my Novcastrian bias, Caves Beach put on another great event and fantastic day. Organisation - impeccable. Everything you need to/want to know is published on their website. They publish a timetable, which they stick to, thanks to a well-organised crew and timing system, and a tried and true formula.
ReplyDeleteOrganisers of other swims should take note from this event. They have it all covered. They even know when to turn on a bit of swell.
The venue is fantastic - You swim out in the shelter of the Spoon Rocks breakwater. The course is dead easy to follow, and the starters' instruction of counting five buoys then hang a left towards the beach, so simple to follow. You get the chance to show off your body surfing prowess on the inward journey, combined with a dash up the beach.
A nice touch this year, was the custom drink bottle, having replaced the finishers medal. Then you are treated to music, food, great atmosphere, and yet another "sense of achievement".
In harder economic times, the entry fee is on the mark, not having been propelled upwards by the trend set by others.
My only disappointment, not enough people get outta Sydeney to do this great swim.
John Bamberry
Very disappointed with the Manly swim - it was way short of 2k; based on my time and my friends times, I would estimate it was about 1.6-1.7k. Also it was nothing like the advertised course - one of the main reasons I wanted to do this swim, is it is the only one at Manly that advertises itself as going out past the Bower and back in over the break. But we didn't get anywhere near that, in fact we didn't even get all that close to Shelly Beach. Then throw in having to finish the swim by catching a wave through the bathers in the flagged area and a $45 on the day entry fee and I felt just a bit ripped off.
ReplyDeletei absolutely love the caves beach swim. this would have to be one of the best organised swims on the calender. great spot, well-spaced buoys, and v nice favourable current. my only problem with this swim is that it is only held once a year!
ReplyDeletethanks so much to organisers.
new selene view goggles purchased on os.c were v good too. didn't have to stop once to defog them. highly recommended.
liz
Hey AndyM were you wearing a red trisuit? I actually saw you stacking I was right behind you and then we ran together pretty much all the way to the start of the swim (I was in teal Blackmores singlet) and then you were gone!
ReplyDeleteIt was a great day at Manly but seriously how hard is it to get the distance right in events over there? The last 3 times I swam 2km in Manly were all 300-400m short, what's with that?
Ha yes Rog that was me:)! Dunno what happened there, atleast I didn't get trampled to death - I seemed to roll up and out;)!. I actually have a pic of you running mate if you want it that my fine lady took.
ReplyDeleteHey I'd love the photo if you can please send it to my email rppassis AT gmail.com it would be great!
ReplyDeleteThanks again!
What happened to the TWO in the Manly 2K?
ReplyDeleteThe conditions were perfect at Manly on Sunday, bit of a swell running, but not too much, offshore breeze, sunshine before the afternoon storm. Pearler of a day with surprisingly few starters (about 300 in the much-less-than-2k). Could this have been the sharks in the meeja? Could this have been the Brett Stewart factor? Could this have been the appalling parking fees? (only Bondi is worse). Could it have been the appalling entry fee? (only the Cole is worse).
Whatever. It was a cracker of a day and we rolled up for a swim. We've done this swim before, in similar conditions, and it was arguably the best swim we've ever had. Out through the break, catch a wave at the Bower, kiss the sand at Shelly and look at the lil' sharkies in the bay before catching a wave back in.
But not this time. For whatever reason, perhaps because they were still fiddling about with the buoys about 10 minutes before the start, this swim went awry. We went nowhere near the Bower. We went nowhere near Shelley Beach. We went nowhere near swimming the two kilometres we'd paid our 40 bucks for. That's 20 bucks a kilometre by my reckoning. But we did catch a beauty on the way back to the beach.
We didn't exactly go home disappointed - it was too good a day for that - but we couldn't help but wish for what it could have been.
The BBQ was great though.
I would like to praise and thank the organisers of Caves beach, yes I got lost, arrived with rego shut. Rego reopened for my two daughters & friend, one of the organisers bundled my tribe in his car and his mate in the boot and raced to the start. To me this shows the great Aussie tradition of "she'll be right mate". Once again
ReplyDeleteTHANKYOU, as it would have been along drive home without swimming.
Normally I would swim, but this week I paddled my sea kayak, as swimmers we never really notice the safety support, I was impressed with the numbers in support and the care shown to the last swimmers in particular. Well done.
Regards Peter McCrae.
I tossed up between Caves and Manly. Manly won out, closer to home, 2km swim and I love to swim in that area.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Davo and Glenn What a disappointment! $45 for a poorly organised 1.5??km swim. There are several aerial pictures showing the 2km course on the manly slsc website. Did no one actually look at these before setting up the buoys?
If it wasn't an event raising money for the surf club I'd be demanding a refund! Maybe 25% off next year for the 75% of the course that we paid 100% for this year?!?!!?
Yes it is a pity about the manly 2km course, though I think the 1km swims (both) were pretty close. I can't quite work out why there were people swimming in the exit though of the 2km (were the flags there?) .
ReplyDeleteHowever, in its defense I reckon the biathlon was pretty cool (though note to organizer - swim hats were a bit unnecessary i reckon?) and if you did all 3 races it was $75 which is a good bargin.
North Steyne should be good in a few weeks.
I finally managed to read the Caves Beach report after a hectic start to the week. Normally this provides me with the challenge of catching an partly obscured glimpse of a short, fat, bald geriatric competitor (me, not Mr os.c!) amongst the good looking swimmers.
ReplyDeleteThis time I was treated to not only that blurred image, but a history lesson taken directly from the comedy channel. What a wonderful read!! Who’d have thought Art, Boozy and Bonehead played such a pivotal role in Straya’s history.
I'm off to Forster this weekend, and I don't know much about its history either. I am hoping that Mr os.c has relo's up there so I can learn about the history of more of our lovely beaches.
Thanks for the site - what else do we need in life? (though perhaps we do still need to swim!?)
Warren