Palmy to Whale ocean swim: I beat Tony - again

Before: lining up for ankle timers and caps at Palm Beach

Woo! Just made it in time to post about the Palm Beach to Whale Beach swim before it becomes 'dead in the water'. 

I think I've lost the mood so let me limber up to recall the feeling of swimming out the back of the break to Little Head off Palmy at around 10.30am on a muggy, overcast Sunday feeling like I'd never ever get to the right-hand turn that would reveal a glimpse of Whale Beach. 

I breathe left, and this 2.5 km destination swim runs south from the northern-most beach on Sydney's 'insular peninsula'. This means I don't get much of a view because I breathe towards the horizon and not the headland and beach. 

After: Whale Beach. A perfect pocket of sun, sand and surf

The choppy conditions weren't as wild as the Bondi to Bronte epic (see my post from December 2011) but still challenging. Imagine the wool cycle on your washing machine. The agitator doesn't toss the clothes so much as slosh them about. I was sloshed around like an old wool jumper in sudsy lukewarm water. 

The other problem was not really knowing where I was. I didn't see the two small red cans (buoys/booeys) placed as guides on the course along Whale Beach to the finish line. Instead, I had to rely on my fellow swimmers for direction. I know this is bad form but it was hard to look and lift. When I did all I saw was chop. I swallowed ocean and at times I felt alone. How sad am I today? 

And so it came to pass that I finally made it to the breakers at Whale Beach, with the finish line in sight. The waves washed me in to shore. I am flotsam (can there be flotsam without jetsam?)

Ah glory days. An old Holden ute. I remember bouncing around in the back of one of these before it became illegal

Here's a few numbers: I finished 1035 out of 1501 competitors. Not happy Jan. In my age group I came 19th out of 37 women (not so many older chicks do it). Last year I finished 17th out of 27. Does this mean I did better this year or that other older women who are slower than me have started to compete?

Still, I did beat the leader of the opposition Tony Abbott who finished in a time of 1.02.58. Hey Tone, ya better shape up or ship out!  

The best fun came after the swim when I raided the free fruit stand for competitors, ate four sweet, juicy nectarines and pocketed another three for later. Then my swim squad friend Miss Freeasabird and I went for another swim in the blue Pacific. God, it was beautiful. 

This Sunday I expect chaos at the Cole Classic in Manly. I don't care if some of the diehards shun the event because it's gone a bit corporate - I'm excited. 

The Big Swim 2011: Palmy to Whale is heaps fun

My eldest daughter Precious Princess (PP) used to be a reasonably competent ocean swimmer. She often placed in her age group and took home medals and prizes including towels, goggles, free parking vouchers for the parking station in Manly (handy for the Cole Classic), tote bags and the occasional $$$ cheque.

After the HSC, she stopped swimming to study the fine arts of partying and nightclubbing.

That was two years ago, so I was surprised when she asked if she could join me for The Big Swim, a 2.5 km destination swim from Palm Beach to Whale Beach. I guess she must have graduated.

I registered for her online, expecting her to pull out on the day.

But she didn't.

Davo, whose arm is in a sling following his unfortunate accident on a kiddies' flying fox, drove us to Palmy this morning, a kind gesture considering he won't be back in the water for another six weeks.

We arrived and joined 1700 other punters on the start line - a higgledy- piggledy mess that had no real beginning or end. Usually, swimmers are contained in a clearly defined 'starting pen', so I'm not sure what went wrong today.

The line seemed to shift further south after each wave of competitors went off. Most figured out that the rip, with a sandbank either side, appeared to be their best option. 

The start gun sounded unexpectedly just after 10am, surprising the elite swimmers. Fifteen minutes later PP rushed into the surf with the other 12-19 year-olds, grabbing the top of her cossie which looked like it was about to fall to bits.

Davo said he'd catch the shuttle bus around to Whale Beach, where he would have a towel at the ready for PP if she emerged from the water minus cossie.

My group, the 50-59-year-old chicky babes, raced into the surf just as a set of waves hit. Bad timing. I was starting to get despondent as wave after wave rolled in. Finally, I made it through and found myself striding out to the first can at about 400 metres. Then came the slog to the headland through chop that increased as we turned the corner into Whale Beach.

By this time, the last group of swimmers to enter the water, the 40-49 year-old males wearing hot-pink caps, were cutting a swathe through my purple-capped age group.

These blokes are deep in mid-life crisis and feel they have to bludgeon, kick and swim over anything in their path. Today it didn't bother me, as it allowed me to swim in the wake caused by many of them. The water was gorgeous and clear, so I had a chuckle when one of the pink caps swam past me, his belly hanging low in the water - obviously keeping him buoyant.     

Coming into the beach at the end of the swim was a chore because I didn't want to get dumped by the neatly spaced but powerful waves. I turned around to check if any waves were bearing down on me and dived back into two. They definitely weren't body-surfing material.

PP was waiting on the shore, cossie intact. She managed a respectable 40 minutes, not bad considering her lack of swim fitness. I wonder if mosh-pit fitness counts for anything?

Photo: Davo, in sling, and PP, in her five-year-old swimming costume, before the swim.

I beat Tony Abbott in The Big Swim, but I wasn't alone

After my appalling performance at last year's Big Swim my expectations were low for 2010.

In 2009, the surf was really rough and it took me forever to get past the massive dragging breakers. By the time I made it, I was so far behind the pack I decided to doddle to the finish line. I think I stopped and had a chat to every one of the surf lifesavers in the rescue craft, which was reflected in my placing in the bottom 40 out ot 1500 or so participants.

But yesterday's conditions were totally different. The surf was gentle and inviting. A practise run proved it was easy to slice through to the first buoy. My hopes rose.

This year the turnout for the event was huge, at almost 1900. My wave of swimmers went off third last. The swim to the first buoy was pleasant enough, but it was just the beginning of a 2.5 km test. There's always a swell out around Little Head, which can make swimmers seasick. I was fine, but my brother-in-law Davo said he felt pretty ordinary as he turned the corner from Palm to Whale Beach.

I did my usual stupid habit of stopping occasionally to see where I was because I tend to swim all over the place (I'm trying to cut down on this and keep swimming while I look).

There were three buoys planted along Whale Beach, but I missed the first two. When the swimmers in front of me turned at the third buoy to swim into the beach I wondered if they were heading in too early. Like a lemming, I followed. I had lots of energy left when I hit the beach, energy I could have used in the swim!

I still finished in the bottom third, but this time there were over 400 swimmers behind me including the leader of the Federal Opposition, Tony Abbott.

When I met up with Davo after the swim he said: "I whopped Tony Abbott's arse."

Not everyone can make that claim. Maybe Malcolm Turnbull should sign up for The Big Swim in 2011. Or KRudd could wriggle into a pair of budgie smugglers for maximum exposure.

PS: This wonderful photo is from http://www.oceanswims.com/ where you can find more pics and read about the swim.

Now I'm old all the fun has gone out of me - or am I just wiser?

This morning I was talking to 13-year-old Miss Hissy about ocean swimming. I told her if the waves were too big and rough at tomorrow's annual Big Swim from Palm Beach to Whale Beach I wouldn't swim it. I wouldn't subject myself to the battering I received last year just trying to get out beyond the breakers.

Miss Hiss looked at me with a mixture of disdain and pity. She said she loved the thrill of tackling the big waves.

She said: 'When you grow old all the fun goes out of you.'

I could have explained that it's more about becoming acutely aware of your own mortality. In addition, there's that question I ask myself more and more: 'Do I really need to prove anything to anyone - even to myself- anymore? Then, why the f%$# am I doing this?'

But I didn't. Miss Hiss deserves her fun, and my older and wiser perspective is a dampener.

And you know what, I'll end up doing the bloody thing anyway, in spite of myself.

See you in the surf - but please don't wave as you swim past me!

PS: I just checked the 2010 Big Swim home page and tomorrow there's meant to be a nice 1.3 metre swell and a NE wind (doesn't that bring in the blue bottles? Yikes). Overall, it's looking promising. Fingers crossed. It should be FUN.