North Bondi Roughwater Ocean Swim 2013: a tale of leaky goggles, self doubt and a discourse on sharks

1. Fine sand: Between my toes. The sand at Bondi is so much finer and paler than northern beaches' sand. It's beautiful to walk on. And today wasn't so hot that it burned your toes (like last week at Newport - ouch ouch ouch). I dug my tootsies in and relished the massage.

I made sure I got to Bondi at a reasonable time, around 8.45am, because I'd registered for both the 1km and the 2km swim. This is the first time this season that I've attempted the two swims in the one event. I'd held off doing two because of the babble that goes on in my head that tells me I can't do it.

2. Self doubt: Today was the day. Why worry, you ask? I am not a contender. But the mind can be either friend or foe.

My mind said, Why can't I breathe properly? My chest is tight. I'm tired. Maybe it's a heart attack? Or stroke? Oh, god, I don't want to spend the rest of my possibly shortened life in an electric wheelchair, like the man who lives up the road and goes to the petrol station with his dog every day to get the paper with no expression on his face because he can't do expressions anymore... Blah blah blah...  

EXPLODE!

Then my feet touched the sand, I sniffed the seabreeze like a dog with its head hanging out the car window, saw the gentle surf.

My mind said, Breathe. It'll be OK. I can do this. What on earth is wrong with me? Am I a crazy person or what? 

A big crowd had already assembled on the beach. I can't count but we're looking at around 900 swimmers? Dunno. Went to my squad tent, small-talked the peeps, kitted up, drank water.

3. Leaky goggles: My well-travelled well-heeled sister recently took a tour of France and bought me a pair of flash Italian goggles, especially designed for open water swimming. I wore them last week at Newport and experienced slight leakage in the right goggle. Today, as soon as I dived into the water for the 1km, they filled with water. During the swim, I emptied them four times.

I felt so disheartened because I had to stop on each occasion - a no no in ocean swimming where every second counts. Then I saw a familiar face. It was Shark Man (so named because of the shark tattooed on his back).

He swam at the same pace as me so, because I couldn't see anything much and my eyes were stinging from the salt, I decided to stick with him. Frustratingly, I kept drifting away from him and had to claw my way back.

I found it hard to see the cans. They were the small pointy types, which I don't like at all. There was some wavy motion out the back of the shore break so it was very up and down. There were four turning cans. Anyway, I'd lost my mojo by the end of the swim. Back on the beach I met up with Shark Man who told me I kept drifting off course.

Despondent, I walked back up the beach and bumped into my lovely Heron Island Friends and the gorgeous Lady from Lawson, who often wins prizes in the old ducks' age group (my age group). I borrowed a pair of goggles from Mr Smith of the Smiths of Newtown.

I went into the 2km swim wondering if it was worth the effort. I'd tucked the goggle straps inside my cap because they were loose. I had no trouble getting out through the surf because my wave of swimmers went off in between sets.

Initially, my head played up and my body didn't want to swim. Have you ever had that experience?

My head said to my body, Why can't you swim faster than this? Everyone is getting away from you? What is wrong with you body? You are totally worn out and overused. What is that arm doing? For crying out loud, give me a break!  

The goggles filled and I almost turned back. But then something miraculous happened and my body started obeying the instructions from my head. My head decided not to worry about the goggles. My arm decided to go in to the water in one smooth motion.

I know what happened. I started to relax!

From then on, it was all a bit of fun. I swam all the way out out out to Mackenzie's Point and spotted Mr Very Big. We had a laugh (still swimming of course - never ever stop if you can help it) and he tried to pull away but I had enough energy and some in reserve. Where the frig did that come from?

I think I teetered up the sand about 30 seconds after him. I could have gone faster, if I'd really pushed it. I'm serious.

4. A discourse on sharks: Afterwards Mr Very Big, The Lawmaker and I strolled along Warners Avenue and bought takeaway coffees from Organic Republic Bakery. Noice.

We sat on the brick wall of the block of home units next door and the conversation turned, as it invariably does when you talk about ocean swimming, to sharks.

Just lately both Mr Very Big and I have had encounters with sharks at Cabbage Tree bay in Manly. My Very Big claims the shark he spotted "doing its own thing" was easily 1.5 metres long and greyish blue and mottled browns. The shark I saw that same day has now grown to over a metre long - but it was just grey. Not being Irish, I'm unable to bring my stories to life with such lyrical clarity.

The Lawmaker is a font of information. He can talk under wet cement and bombarded us with his factual knowledge of the bull shark population of Sydney Harbour.

In a nutshell: they're out there.

Next week it's back up north to hot coarse sand and local hospitality at Mona Vale.

Rating out of 10: 9
Lots of water safety. Lots of fruit - the generous Harris Farm family is now supplying the eastern suburbs' swims. The presentations got underway in quicksmart time - a gold star for that.

Any gripes: North Bondi should invest in big orange cylindrical cans. If the swell had been bigger there's no way anyone could spot the cans - even lifting and looking.

PS: After a hellish week where temperatures reached 40+, it's raining with the works. Rumbling thunder and flashes of lightning.

Cole Classic 2012: is it worth the effort?

I wonder what would happen if he got a haircut? A finisher in the Cole Classic

Saturday, February 3, the day before the Cole Classic: 

Around midday I checked the official Cole Classic website to see if I could pick up my timing device and cap on the day of the swim. Nowhere on the website did it indicate that people like moi - late earlybirds who missed having their timers and caps mailed to them - could pick up their gear at the event.

So I made the 90-minute return trip to Manly to collect my stuff and discovered that I could've waited until Sunday. Apparently the organisers don't like to advertise that timers and caps can be picked up on Sunday because it can get "chaotic"*. 

Chaos: The walk from Shelly Beach to Manly Beach

I paid $52 to enter the Cole Classic so I reckon the least the organisers can do is inform people of their options on the website. 

I thought, 'Bugger you Fairfax Media** . I spit on you and your capitalist-pig owners who never spare a thought for the struggling masses who like to swim.'

Then I had a pleasant dip at Shelly Beach, communed with the fishies, drove home and downed two reasonable glasses of Merlot before 7pm.

Sunday, February 4, the day of the Cole Classic - magnificent sunshine after a week of solid rain: 

I organised my 'crew' - Mrs Snorkel, Ms Fivestar, Mrs Onyabike and Mme Zen - to be at the beach by 10.30am. This coincided with the start of the 2km swim - the inaugural 9km swim from Dee Why to Manly started at 8am and the 1km swim started at 8.30am. 

My crew walk towards Cabbage Tree Bay

The traditional course starts in the calm cove at Shelly Beach and finishes at the surf beach  Manly. But the surf at Manly was looking pretty rough and ready when we arrived. The organisers had already decided to move the finish line to Shelly. 

It's a small beach so the logistics of sending swimmers out and directing them back in is a challenge. I reckon the beach is less than 250 metres wide? My maths is bad so correct me if I'm wrong.  

I was in wave 15. Get it? There were 14 age groups and whatever else starting the swim before my group. There was a 10 minute wait between each wave, which meant that females in the 40+ age group didn't start until 12.40pm. That's more than two hours after the first wave.  For gawd's sake, the 2km race presentations were underway at Manly before my cohort started at Shelly!

They've got the right idea: Cabbage Tree Bay

That's dumb and not fair. By the time my wave entered the water the conditions offshore had significantly altered. The surf was up and there was more chop out the back than at a karate demonstration. I think the swim could still work with five-minutes between swimmers.

I'd had enough by the time I was herded into a holding pen with my mauve-capped cohort (why do they always give the old ducks mauve caps?). I was tired, hungry, thirsty, hot and sunburnt. I felt like a refugee in Speedos. 

The holding pen for each wave of swimmers

 

What about the swim? It was OK, I guess. I've had better. There was lots of chop, much water swallowed, I didn't see any fish and as I turned at the buoys my teeth were nearly kicked out by swimmers doing breaststroke.

After the swim I caught up with my 'crew' who had sensibly abandoned me early on. They left the hullabaloo at Shelly, preferring to snorkel at Cabbage Tree Bay. So much for support! 

Next year I'll think twice about the Cole Classic. It is a corporate event and not all the money made goes to charity or the local surf club. It's a profitable event for Fairfax. Otherwise, why run it?

On the other hand, it's fantastic for those swimmers who are starting out in ocean swimming. The course to and from Shelly is pretty much risk-free. Also, the buoys are clearly marked and there's heaps of support out on the water.

At least my peeps bonded.

Next week's swim of the week is at North Bondi. 

Speak soon.   

PS: At lunchtime yesterday Manly Beach was closed because of dangerous surf. Today 23 Sydney beaches were closed.

*the words of the nice girl employed by Fairfax Media

**ailing newspaper, radio and online organisation of which 13 per cent was recently procured by Australia's richest person, the adorable mining magnate Gina Rinehart

Manly LSC Blue Dolphins Swim: a shark sighting but no sign of Leonardo DiCaprio or Bill Gates

Manly Beach

After a week of big surf and on-again off-again rain, the Great Spirit in the Sky took a flexi on Sunday. The surf was relatively flat and the sun crept tentatively out from behind its grey blanket and managed to warm the sand underfoot.

Miss Hissy accompanied me to the Northern Beaches for the Manly LSC Blue Dolphins Swim. I did this swim early in 2011 but the club has moved the date to December to avoid doubling up with other ocean-swimming events during the height of the season.

Manly has got the goods which would be one of the reasons why Fairfax Media latched onto the Cole Classic, held in Manly on the first Sunday in February.

It's a stunning location and the swim follows a course that takes punters over the most beautiful ocean 'terrain'. 

While the Cole costs $52 for earlybird entries and now starts on the calm foreshore of Shelly Beach (because the organisers had to take into account novice swimmers) the LSC Blue Dolphins Swim costs $25 and begins on the surf beach in front of the steps that lead to the shopping precinct, The Corso. 

After Miss Hissy ran into the surf with her cohort - Under 20s - I sized up the conditions and decided the swim would be 'easy peasy'. That was before my goggles got knocked off because I failed to notice a wave coming in as I was swimming out. Initially I thought I'd lost my goggles and contemplated retiring early. I then decided to swim without them. "I am a legend." But that feeling didn't last long - I discovered my goggles sitting around my neck. "I am a goose."

This was time wasted and my cohort - the old and infirm - were but a blur in the distance. I adjusted my goggles, gritted my teeth and did what every trooper does - forged ahead with a heavy yet determined heart. 

It was 600 metres to the first can, then I chucked a right and cruised*  into the picture-perfect Shelly Beach before heading back to South Steyne via Cabbage Tree Bay. 

During the swim I saw schools of fish pottering over the reef and scuba divers lounging underneath me, their bubbles tickling my skin. Afterwards one of my swimming mates said he saw a 'shadow' glide under him, and it wasn't a scuba diver. The area is a nursery for the the dusky whaler shark and there have been sightings of up to 14 babies at once, each about a metre long.  Port Jackson sharks, wobbegongs and hammerheads have also been spotted in this marine life reserve.

The 1 km swim started at Shelly Beach and finished at South Steyne

Here's a link to a YouTube video where sharks scoot below unsuspecting participants in the 2011 Cole Classic as the swimmers head around the can at Cabbage Tree Bay. If you can't be bothered with the whole 4.38 minutes, the sharks make an appearance just before the 3-minute mark. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_pOb-4LmAM

There are no more organised swims before Christmas but there is some training at the beach. I'll keep you posted. Have a good week. 

  *I like to make it sound easy. I was swimming my little bum off in order to catch up to my peers.

(AN ASIDE: I'M SITTING HERE AT MY DESK, HAVING JUST RETURNED FROM WALKING LE CHIEN UNDER A LEADEN SKY, AND IT'S STARTED TO RAIN. THIS UNSEASONAL WEATHER IS DRIVING SYDNEYSIDERS MAD. ACCORDING TO THE WEATHER BUREAU, IT HASN'T BEEN THIS 'BLAH' SINCE 1960. I LOVE THE RAIN BUT A FEW DAYS OF SUN WOULDN'T GO ASTRAY, EVEN IF JUST TO IMPRESS LEONARDO DICAPRIO AND BILL GATES AND FAMILY WHO ARE VISITING SYDNEY, THE FORMER FOR THE GREAT GATSBY AND THE LATTER FOR A HOLIDAY) 

Swims and snorkels at Fairy Bower in Sydney: spring has finally arrived

Manly is a stone's throw from Fairy Bower

I don't enjoy swimming in freezing cold water but yesterday I was tempted to dive into the ocean for the first time since June when I last swam at Byron Bay (a dreadful admission from someone who has the temerity to call herself an ocean swimmer).

I met Ms Onyabike and Mr and Mrs Snorkel at Fairy Bower, the only place in the world you'd want to be. As I waited for them to arrive a carefully groomed, 30-something bloke strolled past with another couple and a small child (the must-have accessory after the cockadoodle whateveritis spaniel combo). 

He said of the shimmering scene before him: "It's all very Euro."

You can see Shelly Beach from Fairy Bower

He's sort of right but not. Fairy Bower is in Cabbage Tree Bay, a stone's throw from the calm waters of  Shelly Beach and the surf beach at Manly.

I'd say the 30-something bloke looked at the sparkling bay and saw the colours of the Mediterranean that are Photoshopped in tourist brochures - aquamarine, turquoise and indigo on the one palette. 

There's no sand either, just smoothish caramel rocks and a small man-made harbour pool. The walkway from Manly to Shelly is bustling with human traffic, people walking dogs, riding bikes, pushing strollers and jogging. A whitewashed cafe with outdoor seating could be in some little village on The Riviera but I bet the coffee's better at FB.

On the rocks. Look at Mr Snorkel's skinny old pegs

To me this Sydney in a nutshell. 

When my friends arrived we did go for a swim. I don't have a wetsuit so it was in (brrr!) and swim - no time to think about the cold. After I got used to it, I can't tell you how wonderful it felt to be back in the ocean again, especially since the swim takes you over a shallow reef that is home to an abundance of sea life. As Mrs Snorkel noted, there were lots of nice looking "eating" fish hanging at the Bower. 

My guess is the water temperature was 17-18 degrees Celcius. The air temp was more like 26 degrees.  

Simply Perfect. Simply Sydney*.

* Simply cliched!