Prediction: The Cole Classic is going to be a bun fight as 5000 punters head to Shelly Beach

This weekend The Cole Classic is on at Shelly Beach in Manly. Traditionally, the 2 km swim runs from the sheltered, still-water Shelly Beach around to the ocean beach, South Steyne.

For the past three years, inclement conditions have led organisers to move the course so it starts and finishes at Shelly. This is a nightmare as Shelly is a narrow arc of sand that isn't particularly well suited to a big ocean swim. At any one time there might be a couple of thousand punters squished onto the beach and spilling over onto the promenade that winds its way back to South Steyne.

It looks as though this weekend might have the same surf conditions as 2010, with huge swells predicted for Sydney's beaches on Sunday.

This will pose a major challenge to the Manly surflifesavers and Fairfax, which now runs the event and theoretically gets to take home a hefty profit after the whole shebang is over.

For the first time the swim is sold out, with 5000 entrants at mostly $49 (early bird entrants) and $59 a pop.  I know a lot of the swimmers will be competing in the 1 km event, but that doesn't change the fact that it's gonna be mayhem in the water if organisers don't make the ocean entry points and exit points clear to swimmers. Many of the swimmers are novices and have no idea about ocean swimming etiquette - NO BREASTSTROKE! And a lot are bad swimmers who can barely swim 500 metres in a pool, let alone in the ocean.

Even though the 2 km swim starts at 10am, I don't expect to get into the water until 11.30am (fingers crossed). That's a long wait if the weather is as brutally hot as it has been in Sydney for five days in a row, where temperatures have peaked in the 40s Celcius.

And to make matters worse, I'm without my swimming partner and driver, Davo, so goodness knows how I'm going to get to and from Manly on the day.

I really don't know why I'm doing it. But who knows, I could be wrong. 

Let's hope so.

PS: I am on my way to creating a separate blog for my writing as I find the swimming and writing do not work well together. My writing blog, a work in progress with only two posts, is over at Wordpress. It's at http://www.shaynesands.wordpress.com The plan is to eventually move this blog over to Wordpress, too. We'll see what happens. Or what doesn't.

Ocean swimming story in The Sydney Morning Herald and we're off to do Gerringong on Sunday

Today's edition of The Sydney Morning Herald has a story on 'the allure of ocean swimming' in its summer supplement. The story is first and foremost a plug for The Cole Classic on February 6, which is sponsored by Fairfax - which owns SMH.

However, it's not a bad read and does have some interesting observations from die-hard ocean swimmers. It also warns people about the sport's inherent risks, including my worst-case scenario - swimming into a pack of bluebottles.

And it points out that ocean swimming is becoming hugely popular and poses the question: will this affect the camaraderie in the sport? The journalist asks this at least twice, but never gets around to finding an answer. (This is just me niggling. But, if you set up a premise for a story, shouldn't you then follow it up?)

And here's me just niggling again. The man behind http://www.oceanswims.com/ Paul Ellercamp is interviewed for the story. Funny that, I thought he was deadset against the commercialisation of The Cole Classic, with its exhorbitant entry fee and raft of prohibitive OH&S rules that have led to the swim being re-routed to and from the calm waters of Shelly Beach, rather than finishing at the surf beach South Steyne, since Fairfax took control two seasons back. Ellercamp could've talked about camaraderie in relation to The Cole Classic!

I guess any publicity is good publicity... Here's the link, if you're interested: http://www.smh.com.au/executive-style/fitness/swell-of-surf-swimmers-20110106-19hmy.html

There's a swim at North Bondi this Sunday, but The Hiss and I are heading to the South Coast, where we plan to enter the Gerringong swim with Davo. It depends on the weather (raining today in Sydney) and, more importantly, ocean conditions. I hear this can be a challenging course. At the moment I'm up for it, but at the moment I'm dry and warm as toast and about to have a cuppa.

Have a good weekend.

Photo: The surf at South Steyne was deemed to be too rough for the organisers of last year's Cole Classic, who redirected the swim back to its starting point, Shelly Beach.

One, two, three - four metre swells, work and writing life

1. For the past couple of years the swell has been dirty and dangerous around early to mid-February. I know this because for the past two years the organisers of the Cole Classic have been faced with dangerous conditions, which have forced them to move the swim from the traditional South Steyne (Manly) to the sheltered Shelley/Shelly (is there an 'e' in it or not?) Beach, just around the corner (check out map above).

Today the swell at Sydney beaches was 4 metres and reports claim many surf beaches will be closed to swimmers tomorrow.

I wonder what conditions will be like on Sunday for this year's Cole Classic, which is to start at Shelley and finish at Manly? Wait and see.

2. I've been at work meetings this week in preparation for my return to the coal face next week, but I haven't yet got my act together. This is because of 3.

3. I've been writing, getting together my entry for the RWA's First Kiss comp and also, foolishly, taking on a challenge to write a book in three months (that won't be possible, but I'll try to nut out the bare bones).

This is just another unpleasant example of how work gets in the way of life.