Desperate and dateless: yet another swim postponed due to nasty weather and mean surf

After last year's Freshwater swim: nice big orange buoys

At the cafe at Freshwater Beach

It was bad enough when Bondi was postponed and Long Reef cancelled. And last weekend it happened again. Conditions at Sydney's beaches were so awful that the organisers of the Freshwater swim decided to call the whole thing off.

They left it until Saturday arvo to make the call but we all knew it was coming.

Friday's weather was atrocious. Actually, I think the whole week was pretty topsy turvy. But Friday went ballistic. Monster winds and slanting relentless rain turned the city into a car pool, literally.

Saturday wasn't much better, though the rain abated for the Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras (as it always does because God has lots of gay friends, and there are rumours...)

Twenty two Sydney beaches were closed on Saturday because of dangerous conditions, Freshwater amongst them.

Because I don't live near the beach I didn't witness the big surf but we're talking six-foot waves, messy, untidy conditions, nasty rips and all that stuff that makes swimming in it a rather treacherous affair.

In the olden days an event such as The Barney Mullins at Freshwater Beach, not far from Manly, might have still been held.

But what with the sport of ocean swimming growing exponentially, organisers chew their nails whenever the weather closes in. None of the surf life saving clubs wants to lose a swimmer. And now there's more swimmers and more ocean swims on the calendar, the odds are greater that someone at some point in time might get hurt in a swim.

Insurance premiums are up, and after several deaths at surf lifesaving events over the past decade you can't blame organisers for pulling the plug at the 11th hour.

This coming weekend on March 10 is Caves Beach swim, which I was going to have to miss because of a prior commitment. With withdrawal symptoms kicking in, I am considering a way out of that commitment.

Let's hope the weather improves. The experts claim that climate change is to blame for Australia's chaotic summer of bushfires followed by floods.

Sydney's summer was the hottest on record, though it's hard to believe when there was so much rain.

We all need to consider our lifestyles and how we can, in some small way, make a change to help our ailing planet.

I live with Spanner so it will be harder for me to initiate changes such as solar panels and other electricity saving devices that take some time to show a financial return. Spanner should really be a politician but don't get me started.

A small victory was that I finally started a compost heap that has halved the amount of rubbish we put in our wheelie bin. At first, Spanner didn't want to know about it and continued to chuck his stuff in the bin. He is change resistent. But I have worn him down. A small win for womankind!  Woo hoo!

Enjoy the pics from last year's Freshwater swim. This year's has been moved to Good Friday on March 29. The Bondi swim is on Easter Sunday. Fingers crossed.

Freshwater 2012

Last Sundee at Bondi: the cold and the beautiful

On the day of the Bondi Bluewater Challenge ocean swim, 'controlled' burning-off of bushland on the outskirts of Sydney left a smog smear on the horizon, but above it the sky sucked up the colour blue like blotting paper. It was a magnificent autumn day.

I drove to the beach with Ms Fivestar, whose dream (along with around 20 million Australians) is to one day live by the sea in a nice house. However, Ms Fivestar and the rest of us would need a couple* of million to put a downpayment on a beach shack anywhere in Sydney. 

In Bondi, finding a parking space on a sunny day has the same effect on my mood as when I find loose change in Spanner's dirty jeans' pockets. We arrived early and I inched in to a perfect METER-FREE parking space. Feeling pretty pleased with ourselves, we strolled down to central Bondi just in time to see the punters lining up for the 1 km swim. There was still a chill in the air - I'm guessing that at 9.30am it was about 17 degrees. The water temp would've been around 19 or 20 degrees. Noice.

By 11am, the weather had warmed up, with the sun pushing its way through the clouds to keep us all comfortably warm.

I've posted two photos. In one is a gorgeous pregnant woman about to do the 1 km swim. Sunday was her due date but she wasn't concerned because her obstetrician was swimming, too. A water birth maybe?

The second pic is of the blokes in the 1 km swim peeling off to the southern end of the beach before diving in. This had something to do with a mild rip and a sandbank directly in front of the start.

Anyway, I followed everyone else and ran to the right at the start of the 2.1 km swim. Although the conditions were perfect, I found the swim challenging (which is just a veiled way of saying it was bloody hard) and spent a fair bit of time on my own, wondering "why on earth do I keep doing this to myself?"

Once the swim was over and I was sitting in a cafe, sipping on a flat-white and eating cheese on toast, I could answer that question: "Because I love it."

*We're talking more than $3 million - a lot depends on the beach location, size of property and of land, etc.

A longer than usual long weekend in Australia

Aussies love a long weekend. We can't get enough of 'em. And I'm not about to complain.

This year an extraordinary clash of public holidays has led to a five-day long weekend. Usually, there's the four-day Easter long weekend that includes a holiday on Good Friday and another the following Monday.

But this year ANZAC Day, a national public holiday, fell on Easter Monday. Rather than roll the ANZAC Day and Easter Monday holidays into one, the powers-that-be added another day to the break. So, Tuesday is also a day off work for millions of Australians.

We're not bludgers. No way.

Anyway, the weather today is miserable and I feel for the Diggers who've joined ANZAC Day marches across the country.

There's also an ocean swim on today, from Coogee to Bondi. This one's a 5 km trek, which I'm definitely not ready for even though I was encouraged to participate by several delusional swimming associates.

Maybe next year.

The photos were taken yesterday when Spanner, The Hiss and I went to Bondi for a swim, though Spanner just sat on the beach while The Hiss and I practised body surfing. Afterwards, we had a small but nice cuppa up the road at a hole-in-the-wall cafe/tapas bar called Massive. And on the way home we stopped in Paddington for a squizz at the old reservoir, which has been preserved. Would you believe in 1985 there were plans to turn this historic piece of Sydney into a car park? Love it or lump it, this is Australia. Lucky there were no iron ore deposits under it.

Tony Abbott sends up a prayer and the inaugural Bondi Blue Water Challenge ocean swim is canned

As we drove to Bondi Beach on this cool and breezy autumn day, Davo assured me the swell was .6 of a metre.

Last night, he'd checked out the seabreeze and surfwatch websites, and the surf was flatter than a roadkill lizard.

The inaugural Bondi Blue Water Challenge, was to be Davo's last ocean swim of the season. I still have Byron Bay to go (I fall into a daydream for a moment as I contemplate one of my favourite spots on the planet).

I'm back...

Anyway, we got to the beach and guess what?

Nature in all its quixotic glory did the dirty on us. The surf was up and it was bloody rough - even beyond the foaming, sand-filled breakers dumping on the beach.

Out the back, white caps frothed on the chop and conical buoys swayed and bobbed on their moorings. One, positioned just off the rocks near Ben Buckler, broke free twice before being re-secured by surf lifesavers in a rescue boat.

Closer to the shore, a current was running. But which way? At the northern end of the beach, it was dragging swimmers south. In the middle, it appeared to be running north.

The start of the 1 km swim was moved from the middle to the northern end of the beach so Davo and I thought we'd see how that went.

I'd already decided not to swim in the main 2.4 km event. I'm not a hardcore ocean swimmer. I do it for fun. And let me tell you, because it's happened to me before, swallowing 2 litres of seawater during a swim and digging 2 kilos of sand out of your vital bits after a swim is not fun.

Undeterred, the younger swimmers bolted in for the 1 km, the weaker ones struggling to get through the constantly breaking waves. There was no respite from the onslaught before the first buoy.

Then came the rescues. We easily counted half-a-dozen competitors being pulled from the surf before we left and walked to the finish line in the middle of the beach. The rescues continued there, with surflifesavers offering exhausted swimmers a ride in.

Davo, a confident ocean swimmer, decided to give the 2.4 km swim a miss.

Then came the official announcement from the organisers: the main swim was cancelled.

Davo attempted to withdraw his withdrawal as we laughed like naughty children at our good luck. Now we can brag we were going to do the swim but the bastards at Bondi canned it!

As we walked along the promenade, we passed the Federal Opposition leader Tony Abbott (aka the Mad Monk) who was being tailed by a TV camera crew and photographers.

Mr Abbott was registered to do the 2.4 km event. I reckon he would've sent up a prayer of thanks that the swim was cancelled.

On the other hand, the diehard ocean swimmmers will be pissed off. I bet there's a lively discussion going on at the ocean swims website with all the cranky-pants codgers whining: we wuz robbed.

PS: Whenever Davo and I swim at Bondi, we have a coffee and treat afterwards at the Organic Republic Bakery on Glenayr Avenue. Mmm... tasty.

Off to watch sailing in Tassie

We're off to the Apple Isle for a week to watch Miss Hissy sail, so I'll miss out on two Sydney ocean swims.

The first is this Sunday at Bondi. Apparently there's been a record number of entries, so I don't really mind that I won't be there. It could be a bun fight.

The week after is Avalon, which is a beautiful beach on the northern peninsula. I must admit I prefer the northern beaches to the eastern suburbs. Bondi might be iconic, but it's always crowded - heaps of Irish and English trying to get a sun tan (there's a laugh) - and too showy for mine (A-list celebrities hanging out at Icebergs).

When I return I plan to start another blog specifically dedicated to writing. It's too hard to juggle ocean swimming and romance writing in the one blog. Some people just aren't interested in ocean swimming and others don't care two hoots about my writing goals and all the other trivia concerning life in the 'burbs.

I'll be back on board after January 18. See you soon and take care.

Shark shields in the news as summer approaches

In anticipation of a bumper shark season, the media is already revving up the public imagination with its reports on shark shields, which will be worn by rescue divers this season.

The shark shield is a repellent, but you don't spray it on (how cool would that be). Rather, it emits an electric field that 'induces spasms in sharks snouts'. Apparently, it doesn't hurt the shark or the environment. I read that it only works when it's stationary - I take it that 'it' means the shield is stationary and not the shark.

You'd need nerves of steel to resist the urge to flee with a shark bearing down on you with a toothy grin. But I suppose you've got nothing to lose (or should that be win) either way.

If you've been following my blog as thousands around the world have, you'll have read my numerous shark posts from last season. In February through to April there were many shark sightings and several serious attacks in Sydney waters - in the harbour at Woolloomooloo, at Bondi Beach and at Avalon on the northern beaches.

Two of the attacks took place before dawn and the Bondi mauling in the evening, which is when sharks are hungry.

Simple solution: don't swim at dawn or at dusk when sharks are on the prowl for tucker.

Expect more shark posts as the days grow warmer and crowds of potential shark bait flock to Sydney's beaches AND THE OCEAN SWIMS SEASON GETS UNDERWAY...

Never smile at a crocodile and don't swim in the dark with a Great White Shark.