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

Bondi postponed, Long Reef cancelled: what's a girl to do with no ocean swims this weekend?

Memories light the corners of my mind... Long Reef 2012

What a difference a year makes, 12 little months...

Long Reef 2012

Long Reef 2012

Sometimes the Bureau of Meteorology can get it wrong. It had predicted that a massive low travelling from northern NSW would bring with it rain and inclement conditions for the whole of last week. This weekend was going to be a doozy: big winds, massive swells and continuous rain.

Turns out, the bureau was a week out but spot on for the weekend.  

Last week held up surprisingly well and Sydney was lulled into that "she'll be right mate" false sense of security. Yesterday the wind picked up and all day was a guessing game. Would it or wouldn't it break?

Late Friday, the Bondi swim slated for Sunday was postponed. And this morning I checked out the oceanswims website - Long Reef CANCELLED.

The bureau predicts a combined sea and swell height of 4 metres for tomorrow, with winds roaring in from the south-east. This extends north to Byron Bay, where it eases off, and south to Batemans Bay.

Surfing websites say the surf is messy and currently around 6-8 feet.

http://www.bom.gov.au/forecasts/graphical/marine/nsw/sydney.php

So it is with an OCD twiddle of thumbs and wringing of hands that I consider my other foul-weather options: washing clothes, vacuuming, cleaning bathrooms, dusting everything...

With The Princess finally back from her extended tour of southern Asia - three months to the day - there will be more than usual to deal with. I'm already feeling the pinch as the Princess now adds "Penniless" to her moniker.

With no ocean swims on the calendar for the next two days*, it is indeed turning into a tres miserable weekend.

Reality sucks.

FYI, my brother-in-law Davo, who many moons ago used to be my swimming partner, sent me this link to a story in The SMH about crazy people who swim in icy waters.
 file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Owner/Local%20Settings/Temporary%20Internet%20Files/Content.IE5/GD7VK9KT/Ice%20maiden.htm 

February rain: backyard with Hills Hoist

 PS: There was a swim on today down south at Wollongong, a two-hour drive one-way from my place. No way would I tackle the hazardous road conditions - factor in semi-trailers overtaking in the rain (with diminished visibility) - to get there by 10am. And then there's the drive back. Stress by the bucketload.

Long Reef SLSC Ocean Swim: superfish women of a certain age

Swimmers finish the 1 km event at Long Reef Beach

I can't EVER win when, in my potentially decrepit age group, Female 50-54, there are so many amazing swimmers. I use the word 'freaks' in the most complimentary sense to describe them. 

Here are two examples: At the Long Reef SLSC Ocean Swim held yesterday, Jenny Whiteley completed the 2 km swim in 25:16. She was the FIRST female to finish and came 10th overall out of 309 swimmers*. Of that number, 104 were women. 

Read this story and you'll find out why. http://northern-district-times.whereilive.com.au/sport/story/the-day-i-beat-legendary-gould/ 

If you can't be bothered, the story basically reports on Whiteley's medal sweep at the Masters Swimming national titles in 2010, where she beat former Olympian Shane Gould in 10 out of 11 events. Whitelely holds more than 14 world and national Masters records in the 50-54 age group.

Second across the line was Sue Kearney in 27:00. She was the fifth female to finish and 24th overall. When Jenny's not around, Sue takes her place on the winner's podium.

Phew. 

I dunno if I'll ever be free of them. Maybe I could befriend them and then do something evil to prevent them from swimming. I recall the scandal surrounding American figure skater Tonya Harding, who was involved in a plot to break the leg of her rival Nancy Kerrigan way back in 1994... 

I'd have to break a lot of legs to take line honours. Back to the drawing board.

Here's how I fared. I crossed the line 10 minutes after Sue Kearney and finished 9th out of the 14 competitors in my age group.

However (drum roll for the BIG EXCUSE) I'm sure I could've knocked a couple of minutes off my time had I not mistaken the red Streets ice-cream tarpaulin used by the surf lifesavers for the finish line. 

I'm serious. I started swimming towards it because I couldn't see the white banner with FINISH in huge red letters screaming at me from the beach as I turned at the final buoy. And because I breathe to the left I didn't notice all the swimmers streaking past on my right-hand side. It's pretty pathetic. I'm not proud, just blind. 

Not to worry.  

There's always Freshwater this Sunday. Before I head off from the start line I'll check out the colour, shape and size of the finish-line banner.

Long Reef Beach

 

BTW, the day was beautiful and I felt pretty good, considering the 3.8 km journey the day before. Not so good was a woman around my age who I met just before the swim started (ocean swimming is like that - you chat with anyone who'll listen and no one seems to mind). She told me she'd been to a school reunion the night before and she and her school mates drank "consistently" from 3pm until 1am. 

I hope she made it.

FYI: In case you wanted some facts about Long Reef, I lifted this from the SLSC website:

Long Reef Surf Club is located at Long Reef Beach on Sydney's Northern beaches.

It is the northern half of the 1.8 km stretch of beach that runs from the base of Long Reef headland to Dee Why headland.

The beach faces South East and has great waves for surfing and swimming, making it a very popular beach. It is ideal for surf club activities as the beach is partly protected by an offshore reef (Long Reef).  

Speak soon! 

*The Tama to Cloey Swim was also held yesterday, which could explain the lower than usual turn-out for this swim. I'm sure there were some super older chicky babes at that one, too. 

Long Reef Beach ocean swim is a no-go while the tsunami is a no-show

When I hopped in the car to drive to the northern beaches this morning the Long Reef SLSC ocean swim was still expected to run, despite a tsunami warning issued to the east coast of Australia following the earthquake in Chile.

That was at 8.30am. By the time I got to the beach at 9.15am, all the beaches along the east coast of Australia were closed and the swim postponed.

What a bummer. The surf was gentle with no chop. The conditions were calm and inviting. It would have been a fantastic swim.

Lots of people ignored the 'Beach closed' sign and took the plunge anyway. I went in for a quick dip and, would you believe it, got dumped by the tiniest wave! How embarrassing. I just hope to god no one was looking when it happened.

It's funny though, while I was in the water it did cross my mind that if there was a tsunami I could be sucked out to sea like tapioca pearls up a straw. I blame a diet of disaster movies since my teenage years for this irrational thought.

Some of the hardcore ocean swimmers weren't scared and about half-a-dozen big boofy blokes dived in and headed north. Good luck to 'em.

Unfortunately, the Long Reef swim has been moved to April 11, the same day as the Mollymook destination swim on the South Coast. I'm heading south.

I hear that so far over 250 people have died in Chile, and Santiago looks like it's been jackhammered by 'roid-rage giants.

My heart goes out to the people in Chile.

PS: This pic of Long Reef - what tsunami? - comes from the phone of Mr Os.c, the force behind www.oceanswims.com

Go there to find out all the latest ocean swimming news.