Potpourri of swims...

We had a lovely day at Long Reef, but then we usually do. From all accounts, punters had lovely days, too, at Tama-Cloey, Lake Macquarie, Half Moon Bay, and we know the Tweetybirds had a lovely time swimming to Rottnest Island.

Only discordant note was, yet again, the mean-spirited Warringah Council, who offer no support to their surf clubs by waiving parking fees during ocean swims. Worse, whilst we were swimming, the council rangers hit the carpark booking people. And this whilst one of their parking ticket dispensers wasn't working properly, making it harder to buy tickets at $5 per hour. We'll have more to say about the unpleasant Warringah Council in our report, which we'll post tomorrow.

Sorry it introduced a sour note to what is one of the friendliest, warmest (in terms of hospitality) ocean swims of the season at Long Reef. Otherwise, what a beautiful course over the reef out towards Long Reef headland and back.

Tell us about your swims...

Magic at Malabar, bubbly in the Bay

This is becoming exhausting... It's that part of the season after all The Big Ones, but there are so many swims on, quite largish ones, that it's exhausting keeping up with them. That may be due partly to the party we had after Malabar today, celebrating the birthday's of our staff photo drunk, Glistening Dave, and Rotto-bound transformer, RealDeal_Cat. Dave turned 60 yesterday and today was his first outing in the sub-Codger age group. It wasn't a milestone birthday for Cat, but this was her last swim in Sydney before heading to Perf for Rottnest next weekend, where she's swimming as part of the Tweetybirds quad team, four laydee swimmers who know each other largely only through Twitter. That's Cat above, on the left, with sibling Tweetybird Liz Hill (@SwimBikeKnit).

Heard good reports from the Pier to Perignon, which is one of the glorious swims on the calendar. So sad we couldn't be there ourselves. And Malabar, while a little mucky in close, was such clear water from 150m off the beach, although some punters reported some lice, and one even tweeted that he'd been stung by a bluey. Musta been the only bluey in the bay.

We'll have our report up tomorrow. In the meantime, our swimmer feedback surveys are open for both those swims... Pier to Perignon... Malabar... We shot some video and plan to post an essay on different strokes, also tomorrow. Provided that blob we discovered on the outside of the lens wasn't there all day.

Anyway, what did you think?

Drag racing an 82-year-old

We did a terrible thing at North Bondi - we drag-raced an 82-year-old. It wasn't just any 82-year-old, mind you. It was John Kelso, whom we reckon is perhaps the world's best ocean swimmer. To be swimming as fast and as regular as Kelso does at his age truly is phenomenal.

Anyway, when we turned the close in booee off the Icebergs at Bondi, we stopped, took some pitchers, mooched around, shot some video, then set off back up to the finish at North Bondi. Shortly after we began swimming, we saw out of the corner of our eye, a yellow-cap hoving into view to our left and behind. No idea whom it was, but we noticed this yellow-cap was gaining on us quite easily. They also seemed to be sitting pretty close behind us, and the thought flitted across our minds that perhaps they were trying to draft on us; to heel-waft. The impertinence, we thought. No-one's ever tried to heel-waft us, with good reason. We remember at Byron Bay a few years back when our idiosyncratic cobber, Killer, boasted around the pub post-swim that someone had drafted on him. He was so proud...

Anyway, they weren't trying to draft on us, and they weren't really swimming behind us. They were minding their own business. We had no idea whom it was, but we could tell they were a bit older, slight of build, and, as they drew closer, we realised they were goggless. And we realised suddenly whom it was: John Kelso. Kelso swims pretty well every week, is one of the faster swimmers on the Sydney circuit in terms of deciles, and rarely wears goggles. We were just ambling along ourselves, at our normal cruising pace, but we thought, this was a great opportunity to watch him closely to try to discern his secret. What is it about Kelso's swimming that makes him, at 82, so fast.

Anyway, we picked up the pace a bit, and we ended up drag-racing Kelso all the way back to the final turning booee off North Bondi, where we stopped again to take pitchers. Along the way, sometimes Kelso was in front, sometimes we were in front. He wasn't racing us; and we weren't really racing him; but we were sticking with him to watch, and to learn. And it was more a case of us keeping up with him rather than swapping the lead, and when we pulled ahead momentarily, it was because we ran into a wall of breaststrokers whom we had to split to get around, or because Kelso ran into one of those North Bondi water safety laddies who sit with their rescue boards across the course, which means the peloton must split widely to get around them.

So what did we learn? Not a lot. We watched his stroke all the way along that 1km reach, particularly the underwater stuff, and there didn't seem anything particularly perfect about it. We thought he could have kept his elbows a bit higher, and his grab could be a bit more effective, and his pull through was nothing to write home about... For a bloke who carries no weight at all, he floated quite well, although his legs were down a bit. But what did strike us was that Kelso seemed relaxed. At 82 and with a wiry frame, it's hard to look relaxed, let alone be relaxed. As you get older, the body tightens. The best swimming, of course, is the slowest, most relaxed swimming. Try it yourself in a a pool. Go flat out and time yourself. Then do the same distance as slow and as relaxed as you can, and you'll probably find there's not that much difference between your times.

Kelso seemed relaxed, and maybe that's his secret. He's 24 years older than us, but he's far more relaxed.

But tell us about your swims this weekend... North Bondi, Geelong, Phillip Island, wherever...

And a weekend of season classics...

After the weekend of big swims, it was the weekend of season classics and jetty and pier classics... The Cole Classic, which likes to bill itself as "Australia's largest ocean swim", the Brighton Jetty Classic, Sou Stra'a's biggest swim, the Dromana Pier Swim in Victoria, and the Busselton Jetty Swim, which we're told pulled 1,400 mugs in the sou-west of Wesson Stra'a. We'll have reports on three of the four, at least.

Interesting and curious figures from the Cole @ Manly: numbers at this year's Cole Classic were way down on last year: 3,818 over three events, from 4,232 over two events in 2011. Numbers confirm the vacuity of Fairfax Meeja's claim that the Cole is "Australia's largest ocean swim". Lorne's Pier to Pub always -- since Fairfax has been making the claim -- has been the largest, and over one event, not multiple events. One would think a meeja group as sanctimonious and as moralising as Fairfax would be concerned about accuracy.

Whilst we were at Manly, where the Cole organisers shifted the starts and finishes of both swims around the Shelly Beach, this was what Tamarama looked like, on Sydney's south side (thanks to Ralph McLeay for the pic)...

Lots of controversy over the Cole in Sydney, as usual, and particularly, but which swims did you do and what did you think of them?

Weekend of big swims...

Yes, it was a weekend of big swims, indeed - on Sat'dee in Port Phillip Bay, The Bloody Big Swim, and today in Sydney, on the northern beaches, The Big Swim. And yesterday, on the western side of the heads, the Queenscliff Bluewater Challenge. Not so much a big swim but what looks like a lovely swim.

Which swim(s) did you do? And what did you think of them?

National day for ocean swimming...

Lotsa swims all over the place on Stra'a Day. Much better way to mark the day than draping oneself in a flag and getting off your face. We arrived at Circular Quay railway station at 5:45am for the Sydney Harbour swim this morning, and already there were three youths, two boofheads and a young lady, blocking the stairway, topless -- the girl was clothed -- reeking of grog and wrapping the flag around their shoulders. Such a pity that the national day has to be hijacked and corrupted by this mob.

But we had a lovely swim in the harbour, the final of the four swims in the Great Stra'an Swim Series. Mind you, after all that rain, we came straight home, showered long and hard, gargled with Listerine, and we're about to flood our ears with Ear Clear, such was the state of the harbour.

Swims, too, in Newcastle Harbour, Hervey Bay, Lake Glenbawn, Mt Martha, Wollongong, Scarborough, Kingston Beach, Henley-Grange, Brighton and Williamstown. Burleigh Heads was cancelled. Or, the swim-run was, anyway.

Tell us about your Stra'a Day experiences... Don't restrict it to swimming, although it would be good if swimming was involved there somewhere.

Rushing to Portsea and bumping at Mona Vale...

They loved the journey swim at Portsea again this year, and for the second week in a row there was a bump on along Sydney's northern beaches, this time from Warriewood to Mona Vale. But at Tathra, somewhere between the two on the NSW Far South Coast, we hear everything was just hunky dory.

Portsea used its journey course for the second year, after what is suspected to be the bay dredging of Port Phillip Bay robbed the town of its bay beach, eroded mysteriously to nothingness. But punters love the replacement course, this year extended to 1.5km, along the short of the Pt Nepean national park.

There was a bump on at Warriewood-Mona Vale, with many an inexperienced punter standing ashen on the beach as they watched the sets roll in. We reckon it was smaller than at Avalon the week before, but it was an ugly break, as it is so often at Warriewood. Uglier, certainly, than it was nasty. But that's not to discount the difficulty that many punters encountered as they attempted to get out either over the bank to the south, or through the slightly deeper water to the north.

The wind this year was from just south of east, the swell from the sou'-east, but the water was glorious - warm, clear, and no nasties. As you schlepped from south to north, every now and again you'd feel a following swell pick you up and thrust you forward amongst the bumps.

We heard only good reports from Tathra.

But tell us where you swam, what you experienced, and what you reckon about it all...

A little boy in a turbulent sea at Avalon...

We witnessed a distressing sight at Avalon -- a small boy, who missed his wave, trying to catch up but being knocked around by the shorebreak, and in tears because "I don't know the course".

How old should kids be before they're allowed to take part in ocean swims? There are no rules. What do you think?

See our event report on oceanswims.com for more on this.

And tell us about Torquay on Sat'dee, Sorrento and West Beach on Sundee...

A tale of three swims...

It was the biggest of swims; it was the smallest of swims... etc. Sat'dee saw a start contrast between the world's biggest ocean swim in terms of numbers, the Pier to Pub at Lorne in Victoria, and one of the smallest, the new Fingal Mile at Fingal Bay, north of Newcastle in NSW. One of the oldest of swims; and the youngest of swims...

Then today, another classic, the Roughwater at North Bondi, which offered swimming through half-set jelly, given the swarm of non-stinging jelly blubbers in the sea off Bondi. A lovely day, though, with all the colour and pageantry that Bondi does so well.

But what did you think?

Ocean beats the bay at Point Lonsdale

2 January 2012

By KAOSVIC

Our annual short break on the coast has been timed around the Point Lonsdale swim for the past few years. We leave the big boys at home to mind the pets and the house and check ourselves into the historic Vue Grand hotel in nearby Queenscliff for a couple of days of ocean swimming, eating, walking and book buying.
Point Lonsdale always seems to put on perfect conditions for its swim. This was their 24th swim, and my 7th and it was hot and sunny with clear water and a very favourable tide.
It was 40 degrees in Melbourne on the day of the swim.
That’s one reason to be pleased not to be there. Another is that my local beach, Brighton bathing box beach, has been unswimmable lately. We had a massive thunder storm on Christmas night and it washed large amounts of the Yarra into the bay. The turbid silt has been making its way down the bay and has now reached Brighton, Hampton and Sandringham. The EPA has rated water quality as only “fair” and advised against swimming there. You’d have to be mad or desperate as the water is all churned up and silt coloured.
So I was pretty keen to swim in water where I could see my toes. Both Queenscliff and Point Lonsdale hit that mark.
It was so hot I decided to abandon my wetsuit. That wetsuit is like a security blanket to me. As a later-in-life ocean swimming adopter, I cling to my wetties promise of buoyancy and warmth like a drowning woman.
I planned to take the swim easy as my shoulder is still recovering from bursitis. It tends to ache a bit after squad, but doesn’t seem to mind ocean swims.
Husband Alan and I strolled down to the starting line in just our bathers feeling cool, calm and collected.
You know how it is when you enter the water and you can tell everything is going to be all right? The course is an easy follow – one big red buoy then large yellow ones all the way home in a gentle curve. The current was great. The water was clear and cool. This is why I ocean swim.
I loved every minute of it. No shoulder pain (though it is making me pay a little the day after).
When you pass the last buoy, helpfully numbered no 1, you swim through a line of junior lifesavers warning you of rocks, telling you not to stand up yet, and cheering you on. It’s good for the ego to come home through a line of clapping kids.
Time? Slower than last year by almost 90 seconds ... but it doesn’t matter. It was a swim I will stick in my memory bank of all time favourites.

Summer at last...

We had swims all over the place on the New Year's Day public holiday, and all of them adhered to a theme: it's summer at last. First time in three outings that we've had a glorious day at Black Head (see HRH Michael Fox dolphining out for the start of the 700m event, above, after which he said to us: "If you ever see us dolphining out at the start again, stop us. We got out the back and we had nothing left". Ah, the joys of ageing.)

Newport, too, had its best day in three years. Yamba was a stark turnaround from last year, when the weather heralded floods. Point Lonsdale was a cracker, Aquagirl says. And Dicky Beach, whilst overcast, was loved by all, it seems.

We were at Black Head, fast becoming one of our favourite days out, since it's a day tour from Sydney, a glorious, largely untouched beach on the Lower North Coast of NSW. And we come back, because of holiday traffic, through Gloucester and over the Col du Dungog and through Dungog, Clarence Town (calling in our our brother), and down the back roads back to Sydney.

We love it.

But tell us what you thought... And don't forget to fill in our ocean swimmer feedback form for the swim which you attended... Links on the oceanswims.com home page.

Add your comments through the comments link below.

Ante-Xmas swims...

Last chance for swims before Xmas at Brighton in Melbourne, Manly in Sydney, and Nobbys-Newcastle in, er, Newcastle... We were at Manly, where plenty of people were stung, although nowhere near as many or as badly as we'd feared.

Tell us what you thought about those swims...

It's Xmas... Time for the Cole Classic...

An ocean swimmer has sent us an exchange of correspondence he had with the folk at Fairfax Meeja, operators of the Cole Classic. This punter wanted to enter both swims at the Cole at Manly on February 5, but when he tried to do so, he found there was no option for this. So he emailed them asking whether there was some way of doing it. A chap named Will emailed back. We quote...

You can only register for 1 swim at a time, if you would like to swim both 1km and 2km, you therefore have to register twice. Please note (as each name can only be in the system once) that if you would like to register for both events you enter your last name first as (Bloggs) and the second registration as Bloggs. (with a dot at the end). There is no combined swim pricing unfortunately.

Got that? (No mention of what happens to Bill Bloggs's entry if another Bill Bloggs has entered already -- and there are quite a few punters of common  names who take part in ocean swims in Sydney.)

It means that, to do both swims at the Cole Classic, you're up for $94 ($42 for the 1km and $52 for the 2km), if you enter by today (Friday, December 9).
After today, you're up for $114 ($52 and $62).

So what does your money get you?

Will wrote:

In return for your entry fee into The Sydney Morning Herald Cole Classic, you will receive: a finishers medal, a race pack (including one timing tag and one swimming cap), a finishing certificate (that can be downloaded from the website), water, Gatorade and fruit at the completion of the race along with a copy of The Sun-Herald newspaper. An event as large as The Sydney Morning Herald Cole Classic, is hugely expensive to organise and execute each year. Without the support of its sponsors and hundreds of volunteers, it would not be possible to run such a large community event. Representatives from Manly LSC help out on the day and they are given a donation in appreciation for their assistance.

... somewhat understating the value of the role of members of Manly LSC who "help out on the day", we'd have thought. We know that the Manly club contributes many hours of conscientious preparation to "help out on the day".

But let's do some quick maths. If the Cole gets 5,000 punters, and each pays $50 on average (the real amount will be much higher), then Fairfax Meeja makes $250,000 in entry revenue alone, not accounting for sponsorship funds and in-kind contributions. Out of that, they give around $25,000 to Manly Life Saving Club for putting the events on. As far as we can see, Fairfax gives no other money out of this event to charity, although they make a lot of noise about how much the event raises for charity (it's all money from you and your friends, not from Fairfax Meeja). They would pay Council and Waterways event fees, insurance, and to erect marquees, etc, and they would pay for various other services. But they make a killing out of the Cole.

Where does the money go? You all have a right to ask. The Cole family did all this -- and with much noicer style, too -- charging $35 for the main event, and while still covering all their costs including the donation to Manly LSC.

Add the Cole revenue to parallel takes from the fun run the day before the Cole, the City to Surf, the Half Marathon and Marathon, etc, etc, and it all adds up to a noice little earner for Fairfax Meeja. (We checked Fairfax's annual report two years back looking for some acquittal of all this, but couldn't find a mention. If it is there, perhaps someone could direct us to it.)

Certainly, you'd think Fairfax would be able to afford concessional entry for doing both swims...

When we included this comment in a recent emailout, we received immediate responses. One said,

I found the Fairfax staff equally rude last year – I tried to register from my work computer several times and every time it failed - after accessing the site and entering all of my details.

I tried a colleague’s computer with the same result and in desperation I rang Fairfax Events and after the customary time on hold I was told that I needed to have the latest version of some software and there was no other way of registering – that particular bit of software is not compatible with the filing system which we use here and at that point in time I did not have a home email running – so I gave up.

I suggest that Fairfax is ripping off the ocean swimming community and probably other communities for the other events they run.

I know that insurance is a significant cost but if Bilgola can run their swim for $25 and late entry fee $30 (only applicable after the eve of the event) – and make a profit for the SLSC then Fairfax with a comparable entry fee of $52/$62 – and from now on everyone is charged a late entry fee must be ripping us off. Fairfax is charging more than double the Bilgola fee.

Ocean swimming has done very well as an amateur sport utilising volunteers and supporting volunteer organisations. I cannot find any reason to support the introduction of “professionals” working for commercial organisations which are motivated by greed.

My personal protest is limited to not entering the event ever again but how about organising some sort of protest through your invaluable website which I have used extensively for many years?

We're not in a position to organise protests ourselves. We seek to provide a platform from which matters such as these can be raised and discussed. We hope to raise punters' awareness of issues overall. We would also like the many, many new ocean swimmers whom Fairfax is drawing into our sport that not all swims -- indeed, most swims -- are not run like this and cost significantly less to enter.

The saddest moment of the season...

The saddest moment of the ocean swimming season, we reckon, is the moment we leave Bilgola. Each year, it's an enormous build up towards this beautiful boutique swim, but then it's over in such a rush, the swim, the post-swim drink, the fruit, the barbie, the preso, and our traditional quiet little drink with Billie swim organiser Cap'n Graham Foran.

Billie proves the maxim that the swim is the catalyst for the culcha. The swim is lovely, noice. But the swim is the precursor to a wonderful afternoon on the Bilgola club's front lawn, a manicured, pleasant little verdant oasis overlooking one of Sydney's prettiest beaches. The bar is the best on the circuit, a surf club at last having found a good use for a surfboat: they've cut one in two, longitudinally, and mounted it as the club's bar. Buying a drink there is a culchural experience in itself. Then there's the yarning, the story-swapping, the boasting, the whingeing, the catching up with old friends, the catching up with friends you haven't seen since last week, or since squad last Fridee.

But the entire day happens in such a rush. Then, suddenly, it's over. The swim is done. Everyone's gone home, and we're going home, too. Done for another year.

It leaves us with a sense of loss, like finishing a good book. A blur, like our wedding day.

What did you think?

Three ends of the spectrum...

Lovely day at North Curly... grey and cold at Mornington... glorious fading to blowy and miserable and even dangerous at Bondi-Bronte... You couldn't get  more contrasting conditions... We'll have something more to say on our report page, but tell us what you think... click the comments link below...

'round the island and over the coral...

Coogee is a glorious swim, made better when you get to see at close-up the bottom around Wedding Cake Island. In recent years, we haven't seen that much of that beautiful bottom -- all Devil's Marbles boulders on the beach side, and wavey, weedy reef on the ocean side -- because the booees have been set for safety and kept us wide. This time, however, through some quirk of booee laying, the first return reach, after rounding the outermost booee outside the island, had us almost crossing the corner of the island if you took a straight line booeee-to-booee. Watching from that outermost booee, where we did vox pops with our Olympus video camera, you could see the sets breaking on the island almost across the course. So swimming that leg wasn't just heading from booee to booee, but also keeping out of the way of the swell, heading a bit more to the south. The advantage, however, was that we got to see more reef close up. It is one of the most beautiful bottoms you will ever see. And we are so lucky to get to swim over it. Not many people get to do that...

Up in the Tweed River, by the way, we had reports of the water, which was brown, which meant you couldn't quite see the coral that Killer said was down there. They're developing the Killer brand, by the way, with the release this year of The Killer wine label, a pinot grigio was one we saw tweeted by our correspondent in locus, Roger Muspratt. Roger also was presented with a Golden Globe Award for his report on oceanswims.com of this swim last year. The Golden Globe was... er, a golden light globe. Well, perhaps all the Golden Globes from Hollywood have been taken. That corresponds with the Lucky Door Prize at the Tweed River Swim, which is a door...

And at Redliffe, near Brisbane, there was the 3rd leg of the Great Australian Swim Series, this leg won this year by Trent Grimsey and Melissa Gorman. Not a bad effort for Grimsey who, on Saturday, won the 5km and was second in the 10km events in the WA Swimming Open Water Swim Series in... PERTH! Grimsey flew back overnight on the red-eye. Perhaps he won today because he was still warmed up from Perth...

In Melbourne, the season kicked off with the Edithvale-Aspendale Club to Club swim. Can anyone tell us what happened there...

But tell us what you thought... comments below, if you please...

Big weekend all over...

What a big weekend for swims all over the place... In NSW, Woy Woy Swimming Club had their first swim at Umina on Saturday, then two swims on Sundee, at Balmain -- the Dawny swim -- and at Cronulla, the Cook Classic.
We were at Hamilton Island for the Whitehaven Beach Swim. Luvverly day out, glorious weather all 'round, and some very noice water. We saw some triffic tweets from mug swimmers at Dawny, and there was a good report from Cronulla, too. And Whitehaven was just a noice day out. No trouble from the weather.
Tell us what you thought, and complete our swimmer feedback surveys on each of these swims (links on the oceanswims.com home page)...

Back to the 'roy...

Lovely day at Collaroy, and what a revelation was "the bottom". Sure, there were some very noice bottoms that we passed, and which passed us, but particularly the one way down below. Looking out from the beach, Collaroy -- "the 'roy", as Judy Playfair refers to it, a beach where her family was instrumental in setting up the surf club 100 years ago -- looked a bland swim. A champagne glass course, keeping it simple.

The organising club, led by former explosive Tigers centre Denis Bendall, didn't want too many complications. But what a discovery once you're in the water! A bottom full of reef and weed and, consequently, sea life. Big rays, little rays, wobbies sitting on the bottom, and a pod of dolphins swimming through the peloton mid-race, Bendall reported afterwards, although no swimmer we consulted actually saw them. Pity.

It was a luvverly day out, and well worth the trip, and a top effort by Bendall and his cobbers for their first time swim.

Next year's is November 11.

What did you think of today's swim?

A chip of the old block ... err finger.

Folks… this is a tale of a little swimming interaction I had at a pool in Brissy. I’m telling this tale because I think it is food for thought for swim organisers, when designing a swim course of any kind, to spend some time thinking about collision.

So, back in May, I was up in Qld for work. As usual, I pack the swim gear to get a swim in where ever. I normally venture to the Centennial Pool at Spring Hill if I am up that way, but decided I’d give Fortitude Valley a go. When I arrived, lanes were set out by pace, and normally, I’d pop in the Fast Lane, but there were a bunch of people swimming with flippers, slowly. So I jumped in the “Medium” lane, only to learn how frustrating it is not to be in the fast lane. On this day, I had forgot to pack my defog spray for my goggles, so didn’t have the best clarity of vision, which I don’t have anyway. Having tailed some fella for a lap, I decided to overtake him, only to discover there were two of them, and a swimmer coming the other way. Like the urban rev-head, I had put the foot down. However, I didn’t see the swimmer coming my way until my index finger made contact with his massive scone during my extension stroke. In response, I quickly pulled my hand out the way, apologised, and carried on.

So off to work, and the conference, where I realise I can’t lift the coffee pot. By the end of the day, the joint was swollen but could be relieved by holding onto a cold ale. For some reason, probably a male thing, I did not see a doctor for 2 months. When I decided to go, so began the referrals. Doctor says – “you need an X-ray”; take self for X-ray; return to doctor – “you need to see an orthopaedic surgeon”, referred to surgeon; surgeon refers me to CT scan and ultrasound, return to surgeon with imaging; "you need to see a hand surgeon", hand surgeon says “inoperable”, refers me to sports physio, two visits to physio. Now, 9 appointments, 13 total hrs and $590 later, I have given up to let nature take its course.

In clocking this guy on the head, I had taken an 8mm chip off the joint in the middle of my finger that is now permanently wedged at right angles. In all honesty, it has not caused too much grief swimming, and the most painful episode was the physio putting his full weight on the finger to try straightening it up. Luckily for me, he is a keen cyclist. However, I am paranoid about hitting oncoming swimmers as I was told it takes a year to self-heal.

So my point of writing about this little episode is to highlight the potential for collision when swim courses are set out. Opportunities where people can swim into each other need to be avoided. I recall one swim with a T-shaped course where you had to do 180 degree turns into the oncoming traffic. The same can happen with those courses with very sharp angles, like the ones in “Y-shaped” courses, where currents can sweep you into the way of swimmers behind.

Has this ever happened to you? Let us know your thoughts?

John Bamberry

@WoJoBungo

Noosa and Mur'bah - Bikes and bands

Here’s an unusual double - from the Noosa Triathlon on October 30 to the Killer Swim in Murwillumbah on November 27. Noosa is  huge with 7500 punters. That would be like the whole population of Murwillumbah turning up at the rowing club to have a dip in the Tweed River.
Here’s another bit of trivia. When you come over the hill at Noosa and down towards Hastings Street, the whole of Lions Park off to your left is a sea of bicycles (a plethora of pelotons) on the triathlon  weekend – about 7000 of them ranging from the latest carbon fibre wonders with (I am not making this up) aerodynamically shaped drink bottles. At the other end of the scale are some surprisingly banged up old things. We took $4000 or $5000 as a conservative average. Really conservative because these people will spend $3000 to $4000 on a set of wheels. But at $4000, there’s $28 million in bicycles in the park, or $35 million if you take a $5000 average.
Money is no object when you can buy time in a race. Maybe it should be like craft events in surf lifesaving. You bring your ski or board in to be weighed before the national championships, and if it’s too light, they add weights.
The 1500m swim leg is in Weyba Creek. Considering how close you are to the blue waters of Noosa’s Laguna Bay, this is pretty average. But you can see that it would be a nightmare getting the whole field across Hastings Street, especially when you have to close the roads for about six hours.
In Murwillumbah, well, it’s not like Noosa. Good, you say. I agree. It doesn’t have as many coffee shops but it also doesn’t have as many round-abouts either. There’s nothing like the Riverview Hotel in Mur'bah and nothing like the former resident band, James T and the Tomahawks. Their CD has become my music of choice for heading off to the various swim events. This is the only way you’ll hear them now because apparently there’s been a split. I’m hoping the Tomahawks will be a little like grandad’s axe – a new head and a couple of new handles but it’s still a bloody good axe.
It’s hard to explain the attraction of Murwillumbah – a little fund raiser for the Fingal Rovers surf club. Some swims you do if there’s nothing else on. But you have a core group that you keep the calendar clear. It’s great to be part of those monster events like Noosa because you can feel the energy. Murwillumbah is more like a swim with a few mates – who you still want to beat but it’s all good fun.

Roger Muspratt