Three swims on the past weekend ... We've had good reports about the new one in Newcastle Harbour, Forster was a real ocean swim, and Shark Island lived up to its name, so we hear ...
What did you think of these swims?
Hit the Comments button below to post your thoughts ...
I saw a minute note in Monday's herald about a shark sighting during the Shark Island Swim.Anybody else see or ehar anything ?.
ReplyDeleteGeoff Moss (CanToo)
Another "real oceanswim", as Mr OS.c put it just a week after Caves Beach. Christmas might have come late this year but its been well worth the wait!
ReplyDeleteForster was great, and I reckon Mr OS.c is too right when he says that we are just heading into best time of year for oceanswimming. The water was warm, not to windy, just enough swell to both give you a help along, but also just enough to reflect off the rocks and make things a little bumpy, and a little wave at the end to pose on regardless of your placing; as I shamelessly did. There were a few sightings of small to medium, probably Grey Nurse Sharks goin about their business, as well as other assorted marine life adding to the colur and repartee of the event.
The short course event was held wholly within Forster Main Beach with the start having been moved from the adjacent Pebbly Beach to the finish line at Forster. I'm not sure for what reason exactly, but it just may have been that the seasonally unusual early Nor'easter was making things a bit bumpy early in the morning and the organisers may not have wanted to stress out any novices that we giving it a go perhaps for the first time; which I reckon is fair enough. However we still got our monies worth. It was definitely longer than 1km, more like a metric mile (1500m) as the times will attest. While on the subject of value, I'd like to applaud the extremely reasonable entry fees: $10 for the shorty and $30 for the biggy. At those prices there was plenty of punters doin both races, yours truly included.
By the time the biggy got under way, the Nor'easter had dissipated and conditions were ideal. The water was clear and calm with a little wave breaking at start at One Mile beach. The distance of 3.8km was a good test of stamina for me, the longest ocean swim I've done so far; and I'm sure everyone who did it will agree with me that it was well worth it. The only downer on the day was the barbie got wound up early so we had to seek apre swim sustenance elsewhere, and the water was bit murky from Bennett's head to Forster and pretty weedy at the finish line. I'll leave it to the organisers to decide which one of those problems they will try to tackle for next year's race, if there is one? See the latest Oceanswims.com newsletter at:
http://www.customercommunity.com.au/communities/newsletter.asp?Issue_id=1126
Do the new SLSA rules mean that this gonna be the last event of this distance at Forster? I bloody well hope not! I know this might sound trite, but get another f...ing insurer!
David Love.
Was very impressed with the swims down at Shark Island. After what seems like a month of underwhelming sub 2km swims (Cole, Harbour, Manly Wharf) finally an event that ran the advertised distance!
ReplyDeleteThe weather was warm and sunny, conditions were ideal with a slight amount of chop on the return leg. More biff than most of the other swims this season but maybe the amount of Cronulla girls explains that!
A few of us were joking after the event about the helicopter hovering very close to the surface during the 2.3km... "bet it's a shark hoho" ok not so funny as it turns out. There was pretty good video footage of the hammerhead spotted during the swim which I caught later in the day.
All in all a great event and well worth the trip from the city - almost makes me glad the 11km harbour swim was cancelled... almost
Looking forward to Stanwell Park if I can find a lift.
Swam cronulla,best run swim of the summer,right distance plenty of marker buoys & water safety great bbq,no shark sightings.also Phil Short say hi to your sister in law Sue use to work with her,wondering what she's up to.thanks tonyryan8@hotmail.com
ReplyDeleteDid the Shark Island 1km and 2.3km swims on Sunday. Simply perfect day and perfect conditions for a swim, hammerheads or no hammerheads. A very, very well run event I have to say. The distances were right, the course layout and buoy positioning excellent, the PA system and announcements loud and clear. The use of the cruiser yachts to aid navigation was also a nice touch. Congratulations and thanks to the Cronulla LSC (and contributors etc) for a brilliant day at the beach.
ReplyDeleteBTW, you owe it to yourself to try the individual pavlova dessert at the Zimzala restaurant right there at the southern end of the beach. OMG - worth a trip to Cronulla just for that.
P.S. Can possibly provide a lift to Stanwell Park on Sunday from Sydney North Shore if needed.
Tony, you mightn't have spotted it........but ITV in Britain did.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.itv.com/News/Articles/Shark-encounter-in-Australia-589240355.html
I swam the Newcastle Wharf to Waves 1.2k on Saturday, this was my first organised ocean swim so I can't compare it to anything but seemed well organised.
ReplyDeleteThere were only 65 entrants and a lot of these seemed to be doing it as a warmup for the triathlon the next day.
The harbour water was warm but a bit murky and we had a bit of current leading to fast times, the winner came in at just over 11 mins!
Great weather and a nice venue.
Cronulla hammerhead-shark island swim:
ReplyDeleteI just read that ITV report (LOL).
So there I was on Sunday ... having "an encounter with 2 sharks" while swimming in a "surf lifesaving race" ...
Those poms will be mighty impressed ...
Sounds better than "a fat old bloke had a swim at Cronulla on Sunday"
Hi, My mate Graham in the UK sent me a link to a BBC clip of the hammerhead, which was 50 metres from the pink caps.
ReplyDeleteI had a green cap so I was ok.
So - there are sharks in the ocean. Wow, there's a surprise, I may have to reconsider my participation in ocean swims.
OK, I've reconsidered and I'll be at Stanwell Park on Sunday. The shark was swimming North I believe so all should be ok - surely there can't be more than one out there.