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...
As commented on the forum, wildly diverse days with the serene calm (and perfect sand) of Pacific Palms followed by the very best April weather of Sydney (50km/h winds and squalls) for Coogee-Bondi, aka Coogee-Coogee 2.5k. Fun days both, and each with their own charm.
ReplyDeleteThanks to the Coogee-Bondi organisers for not cancelling - a very good decision, especially given the eventual water temperature. Did anyone hear anything more of the brave souls who decided to swim to Bronte by themselves?*
For the broader question of what to do when a swim is close to being cancelled - I guess the deciding factor is not whether we expect most to make it, but whether water safety can be guaranteed to keep us safe in the worst-case scenario.
As someone points out on the blog, given that most entrants in the 5k could easily have handled a bit of wind, chop, and a trailing current, I do wonder what could be done to help remove the inhibitions of organisers to run in those kind of conditions?
Perhaps each lifesaver could have multiple floaty batons in case of mass emergency? Or more, larger powered vessels, capable of housing large amounts of withdrawals? Not sure of the solution, but given the disappointment for all of a cancelled swim, perhaps something that bears a bit of further thought.
* Last I saw of them was their making a rather unsteady line around the rocks at the North end of Coogee - with the narrow berth they were inadvertently giving the shore, I do wonder how they got on in the cliffier sections
v funny reports on os.c website re: coogee-bondi.
ReplyDeletei have never jumped into such warm water as last monday - unbelievable.
i was too quite skepitcal about the alternative course that had us swimming into the swell and chop, when original course would have been away from it, but our fearless and loyal bag-handler julie overheard discussions between water safety people - apparently the visibilty dropped to zero every time the rain bucketed down. was glad to do A swim and to support organisers who were providing it. also, any thought of pulling out was totally thrown out the window when mermaid jo referred to us as "the hardcore ones" (i think more than half of the swimmers left).
water safety was incredible - every time i looked up to see where i was going someone popped up and asked if i was ok! the blue wetsuit superman on the jet ski cracked me up, and the man on the paddleboard at the southern buoy (hardest to get to buoy) had such a nice smile that i HAD to do a second lap.
have realised that if you end up with a personal escort of water safety towards the end of a swim, you are probably one of the last swimmers. i was.
excellent tribe of dry cheerers at the end when i finally finished - julie, michael, col and david. not the morning i was expecting but a fun swim anyway - we can't control the elemants!
I was lucky enough to attend the Culburra/Penguin Head swim. It was refreshing to have less then the usual overwhelming numbers at the Sydney swims and the Nowra-Culburra SLSC are to be congratulated on their excellent pre-swim briefing and provision of water safety. The bacon and egg roles post swim were fabulous as well and the atmosphere was most convivial indeed. The visibility was wonderful in the water, to be rivalled only by the Stanwell Park swim a few weeks beforehand. I loved it! Especially watching the dolphins cavort in the sea once I finished up, just off Culburra beach. I will most certainly be aiming to do more of the swims outside of Sydney next year - they are a delight!
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