Coogee Island Challenge Ocean Swim 2012: Remembering Estelle Myers

Lining up for the 1km swim at Coogee.

Happiness. Isn't that what we all crave? 

Well, today I had a moment of grace as happiness consumed me. It happened while I watched the bubbles flow through my fingers during the Coogee Island Challenge Ocean Swim.

The last time I visited Coogee wasn't such a happy occasion. I rolled up to the Coogee Surf Life Saving Club after work on October 9 to attend a memorial gathering for Estelle Myers. 

Estelle was the mum of my dear friend Jody. The Myers' are eastern suburbs born and bred. Jody and her sister Michelle grew up at Coogee. They were beach babies who were never far from the ocean. Today they both live on the coast.

Estelle was unconventional, iconoclastic, an ecofeminist, 'change agent', dolphin advocate and a pioneer in the water-birthing movement.

Sadly, she died in a car accident near her home in Ballina on September 21. She was 75 but had the energy of a 25 year old.

I thought of Estelle when I got to the beach at around 9. I think she'd had a word to the BIG MAN and WOMAN UPSTAIRS. 

Perfect water temp: 19 degrees; perfect air temp: 29 degrees; perfect everything else: Coogee, sort of being a bay, behaved like a bay should behave. And the water... you've just got to feel it on your skin and marvel at its clarity to know what it's like. You had to be there. 

Precious Princess is more photogenic than me.

For those who couldn't make it, here's the wrap from my water-logged POV. 

My eldest daughter Precious Princess came with me today. I registered for both the 1km and 2.4km swim but decided against doing the 1km. I wanted to relax and bob about in the ocean for a change. Instead of thrashing my way through the 1km, PP and I ducked and dived and played around before the main swim at around 10am.  

We checked out Wedding Cake Island, a clump of rocks about 1km out from the beach (I researched this for my post from last year's swim and I'm too lazy to double-check the distance - correct me if I'm wrong).

Conditions as flat as Mr Very Big's personal-trainer toned abs.

The idea is that punters swim clockwise around Wedding Cake Island and back in to the beach. The course was well marked - my favourite gi-normous cylindrical cans (for blind people like myself) were located at the main turning points but there were also smaller orange witches-hat cans in between to keep swimmers on-track. 

I found these smaller guide cans useful because I have a habit of heading off on my own meandering journey - I'm  a snail that leaves a wiggly trail. It's time and energy wasting as I'm always playing catch-up.

There wasn't too much chop today. I can't remember a lot about last year's swim (the water was colder) but usually you get caught around the back of the island. Today it was possible to strike out and find a rhythm. The choppy bits weren't too challenging. There were jellies before the island and I enjoyed poking my fingers through their squishiness. 

Getting back to shore was pretty cool, too. Two massive cans spoke to me, SWIM THROUGH US LOVELY LADY. 

Whatevs. 

Afterwards, I caught up with several die-hards who reckon the swim this year was more like 2.5km. Dunno. I did get tired towards the end but I always do. And it did seem long but it always does. 

All in all, a tremendous day with Estelle's free spirit flying high around us.

Score out or 10: 7.5

Value for money: $40 for one swim and $50 for a combo of the two is pretty good - you could have also entered the two Coogee swims in April (total of 4 swims) for $90 all up. Well-marked course and loads of water safety. Swim started right on time.

Any gripes? WHERE IS THE FRUIT? We got one bottle of water each - it was being rationed out at the end of the swim. 

Ocean swimming a sport that is growing in popularity, even as I type. I couldn't believe the number of people lining up for the 1km event. 

There's gotta be a little bit of money left over for a piece of fruit for the poor sods who empty their pockets every week for this caper.  It costs a bloody fortune to support this good cause.

Some smart pants should get the local green grocer on board. Seriously, if the Balmain Waterpolo Club can turn it on, why can't a much bigger surf life saving club that gets a much bigger turnout manage a banana? 

PS: Whale Beach. on the northern beaches, was closed today because of SHARK SIGHTINGS. It's gonna be a doozy of a summer. 

 VALE ESTELLE MYERS 

  

 

  

Dawny's Cockatoo Island Swim 2012: a kick start to the ocean swimming season in Balmain, Sydney

Dawn Fraser Pool & Cockatoo Island in the background.

IN another life I lived in Balmain. The first house I ever owned was just up the hill from Elkington Park and the Dawn Fraser Pool. It was a cute semi-detached with two bedrooms, lounge, eat-in kitchen and bathroom.

If I hadn't made the mistake of getting married I'd probably still own that house today. But that's another story. 

Every so often I drive down the street. My old home has been in the same hands for a while now and has a second storey. It looks nice. 

My point is --- when I lived in Balmain in the mid-'80s I would be woken at 6am every weekday by the siren on Cockatoo Island that signalled the start of work for the island's employees. We're talking the mid-1980s when the island was still used as a shipbuilding site. Those were the days when Australia still had industry and manufacturing. 

I'm not about to go all soggy with nostalgia because these days the island has become a tourist destination and Sydney Harbour is much cleaner. So much so that bull sharks frequently swim around it on their cosmopolitan meanderings. YIKES. 

The good news is this swim is in its 12 year (maybe 11th, not sure) and I've been doing it for five years. No shark sightings yet - I guess there's always a first time. 

Fortunately it wasn't yesterday. The event has grown more popular in line with the exponential growth of ocean swimming. I dunno how many punters turned up yesterday but it was crowded on the boardwalk inside the confines of the baths. 

The 1.1km and 2.5km swims start outside Dawny's - in the water next to the jetty. For me, that's always the scariest part - and I've mentioned numerous times about starts in the harbour.  

Imagine this: several hundred pairs of legs dangling like bait for the bullies. I try to stamp it out of my mind while waiting for the bloke to pull the bloody trigger on the starter gun but it's impossible.

Inside the traditional harbour baths.

I was in the second wave of swimmers for the 2.5km event and started in the 'cool-ish' harbour with my swim squad mates - a bunch of competitive middle-aged codgers who don't even view me as a vague threat. I console myself with the fact that the average lifespan of the Australian female is 85 and that of men is 79.

The event started on pretty much on time and I think we got away at 9.11am. The swim starts early because of ferry and other boat movements on the harbour. 

I enjoyed the swim but still found it hard. It takes a while to get to the island - the idea is to focus on the crane on the far right-hand corner. We then swam by the side of the island and then anti-clockwise around the back. 

People camping in the permanent tents on the island snapped photos of us. It must have been a pleasant surprise to wake up to all these bloody eejits racing around the island in assorted coloured caps.

I always feel like Cockatoo Island is more square than rectangular because the sides appear to be really long. Visibility is poor in the opaque greenish water. For about half the swim we were striking our way through jelly blubbers. This happens every year. There must be thousands in the harbour. 

Getting back in to the jetty was easier this year as the sun was behind a cloud and we didn't have to deal with the glare. 

I don't know what my time was - I always forget to look. When I got out, after accepting a helping hand, I forgot that I had to walk up the jetty to get my time because Dawny's is one of the few swims left in Sydney that times the race manually. Because I stood and admired the view for a minute I will probably end up with a slower time! 

My Daughters Missy Hissy and Precious Princess did the swim, too. PP's boyfriend did the 1.1km swim wearing boardshorts. 

Hiss, Princess, The Boyfriend.

I told him that to be a bona fide ocean swimmer it's budgie smugglers or nothing! 

PS: The Hiss came third in her age group and won a pair of swim goggles. 

Value for money: It costs $35 to enter the swim online and $45 on the day. Afterwards, competitors can gorge themselves on fruit donated by Harris Farm. I'm talking delicious watermelon, rockmelon, apples, red grapes and oranges. If that's not enough, competitors also get ticket that gets them a free brekky comprising bread roll, bacon, egg, sausage and tomato - avec barbecue or tomato sauce. 

Score out of 10: 8

Any gripes? Electronic timing devices and touch mats are the way to go; after the swim it takes ages before the prize winners for each age group are announced - it's because it's all done manually! 

Elkington Park, Balmain.

 Next week is Coogee!

Malabar Magic Rainbow Club Ocean Swim: inspiring people and lots of bitey things

Malabar Bay

Yep. The red circle with the diagonal line through it was stamped on top of Malabar Beach this morning when I checked the Beachwatch website. It was the only beach in Sydney with a pollution warning. 

I took my earplugs and decided to keep my mouth shut (I just accidentally wrote 'shit' instead of 'shut') throughout the 2.4 km swim. My mouth is usually full of the proverbial so it sort of makes sense.

The day was hot and Malabar was like it always is. I think I mentioned in a post on this swim last year that sometimes you have to grow up in a suburb to love it. 

I dunno. Malabar might have four golf courses and luxury residential developments chewing up what was left of the scrubland, it might be on the coast and within cooee of Maroubra and Bondi, it might be flat and therefore good cycling territory. But it's not for me.

It's a 'sought after' suburb in real estate lingo but ... I know what it is that makes it so wrong! There's no trees. A few but not a lot. And nothing native. Now that's sorted I'll get to the swim. 

I didn't register for the 1 km swim, which I regret because my swim-squad peeps Mr Very Big and Mr Mild Mannered did. They didn't tell me (hear the accusatory/petulant tone in my voice). 

I got down to the beach as the 1 km swimmers were coming in and was privileged to see three-time Paralympian wheelchair athlete Louise Sauvage finish along with her Canadian friend (also disabled) who swam backstroke the whole course (I bet she's an elite athlete too but I didn't find out her name). 

Louise Sauvage hugs her friend after the 1 km swim

Louise's motto is: "You never know what you can achieve until you try."  

I went into the 2.4 km swim feeling chipper. Malabar is in a bay so there's no surf though there's often swell out near the headland. 

The course was straightforward. Three yellow buoys with big red balloons affixed to their tops were lined up out the back of the bay. All we had to do was swim to the first one, chuck a right, swim past the second, and then chuck another right around the third before hitting the home stretch. 

I put in my earplugs and felt odd because, you wouldn't bloody believe this, I could hear my heartbeat through the pulse on my neck! Thumpa thumpa thumpa. I'm serious. I'm seriously neurotic too. 

The swim began and my goggles fogged so I took them off and cleared them. Then they half filled. I wasn't too worried about that because I was more concerned with the earplugs. The sound in my ears was like a gargle every time I breathed and plunged my arms into the water. I couldn't hear anything else. And then there was the ingestion of much (polluted) water. It's impossible to keep your mouth shut when you're swimming. I am laughing as I write. Sometimes I am dumber than a goose. But how dumb is a goose?

Bloody Mr Very Big (or whatever I call the Irish bastard) tugged on my leg as I swam towards the second can. Then he did what he loves to do. Put on the clappers and left me for dead. He gives me the Jimmy Brits. I hope he gets an ear infection*.  Petulant, bad loser... must think of Louise Sauvage and remain inspired.

Even though the water was supposedly polluted, it was rather clear and I saw fish. Hundreds of little ones flitted beneath me so the water quality can't have been too bad.  And the temperature was glorious. Just cool enough.

I followed some bloke in a wetsuit to the finish line and beat him over it. I felt pretty good doing that because earlier in the swim he passed me. I don't know what my time is because the results aren't up yet. 

All in all, it was a lovely day and beaut swim except for the bitey things that attacked my face, arms and torso. I've written a post about bitey things before. Everyone calls them sea lice but they're not. They're either stingy bits that fall off bluebottles or something to do with jelly blubbers - I'm too lazy to look it up and I've rabbited on for long enough.  I don't know whether I'll experience their after-effects tomorrow.

Another reason why this swim is one for the calender every year is that the registration fees go to a great cause, the Rainbow Club, a charity that organises swimming lessons for kids with special needs. There are 16 clubs in NSW and two in Victoria. 

Speak soon. Precious Princess is back from Europe this week. It's gonna be a big one. 

*As my old mum would say, "That's a joke Joyce."

Jelly blubbers, vibrant green weed and a slap in the face: a swim around Wedding Cake Island at Coogee

It rained all week. The downpour started after the Dawny swim at Balmain on Sunday November 20 and continued unabated for six days. I kid you not. Then, after a torrential onslaught on Saturday morning, it stopped. The sun shone, the clouds evaporated and it was like it had never rained at all. Hallelujah.

Sunday morning was blue and blustery. My swimming partner Davo and I drove to Coogee in the eastern suburbs and spent 20 minutes looking for a parking spot. It's a fact of life in Sydney, especially near the beach. Everyone drives and everyone feels entitled to a parking space right next to the beach.

If you let 'em, they'd park on the bloody sand just like they do in those crappy Toyota ads that are trying to sell the concept of freedom to well-off Gen Xers who like to pop those horrid 'this is my family' stickers on the rear window of their 4WDs (for the millions of readers in the USA, I'm referring to SUVs). I'm ranting and raving because I'm a woman of a certain age. BACK TO THE SWIM. 

Davo and I found a parking space about 1 kilometre from the action. We walked down a steep hill to the beach, which was decked out for the 1 km and 2.4 km swims. When we arrived the 1 km swim had started and the first finisher was almost across the line. 

The sun was fierce and I could feel my skin begging for lotion and a shady place. After a warm-up in 18-degree water (though one bloke I was talking to reckoned it was more like 17 degrees), I was ready. The conditions were reasonable but we were told it was choppy out the back of Wedding Cake Island, which is why the support crew on their kayaks were sent out there to keep swimmers well clear of the rocks. 

If you know Coogee, you'll be familiar with Wedding Cake Island; in simple terms it's a big lump of rocks/reef (about 15 metres long and 400 metres wide) that juts out of the ocean about one kilometre from the beach. Check it out at this scuba-diving website:   http://www.michaelmcfadyenscuba.info/viewpage.php?page_id=34

The first wave of swimmers headed off and drifted to the left on a north-running current. My tactics for this swim were the same as for Dawny: 1. don't stop 2. try not to spend too much time looking up 3. maintain a race pace (I failed at this one). 

It was a pleasant trek past the first three pointy pink cans. My goggles half filled and I thought, 'bugger it'. It would have been too easy to stop and empty them. I guessed they'd probably just fill again and I'd get cranky and neurotic. The salt water in my eyes was manageable. 

Getting around the back of the island was difficult. The chop was full-on and slapped me around, so there was no point trying to maintain a rhythm. I wasn't sure where I was and did what one shouldn't do in ocean swimming - I followed the pack. 

I almost forgot to mention the jelly blubbers hanging around the back. Though my vision was limited, I could see thousands of them just like in Finding Nemo. Unlike the nasties in the movie, they were about the size of a golf ball, translucent and non-stinging. I sloshed through them and even pierced one with my finger. Some people don't enjoy swimming through blubbers but I like the soft gelatinous feel of them against my skin.

Another swim highlight was the reef. Because the water was clear as a bell I could see the rocky ocean floor peppered with lime-green weed contrasted against mauve soft corals. There were lots of fishies, too.            

Once I got around the island I thought all my troubles would be over but it was still a long way to the finish line on the beach and the chop was rougher than Saturday night at the Coogee Bay Hotel.

I couldn't see the big cylindrical orange can - the last marker into the beach. Again, I followed the other swimmers. Then I spotted a bloke who was easily 15 years older than me (maybe not - must look at results!). He seemed to know what he was doing and kept looking up to check the direction. I fell in just behind him and followed him home. A bad move? Maybe, maybe not. All of a sudden the orange can appeared in front of me and I pulled on my reserves for last 50 metres. There were no waves to speak of, just shallow dumpers, so the run out of the surf was stress-free. 

Afterwards, everyone said the swim was longer than 2.4 kilometres. I'd like to think so, considering my time.

Davo came in after me but he's already sneaking up on me now we're in the surf. Last week I finished 10 minutes ahead, this week only four minutes (he'll comment on that).

How would I rate the Coogee swim? It was well-run but there was no fresh fruit offered to swimmers who completed the event. I reckon that's a tiny bit stingy, since it's $40 for the 2.4 km swim. Many punters do both and pay $50 for the privilege.

Next Sunday is Bondi to Bronte. I don't think Davo is doing it and I haven't decided. 

I'll keep you posted. 

Dawny to Cockatoo Swim done and dusted

Around 100 bushfires burnt throughout NSW and the temperature soared, but for the crowd gathered at the Dawn Fraser Pool in Balmain this morning, it was all about the swim.

There was a strong turnout for what is officially acknowledged as the first Sydney ocean swim of the 2009/10 season. This has a lot to do with the growing popularity of ocean swimming. I think lots of people in mid-life crises (such as myself - in my case, the crisis is ongoing until death) are deciding a 2.3 km dip in the harbour is the way to go.

As a result, there's lots of older blokes and 'women of a certain age' taking up ocean swimming as a hobby. It beats scrapbooking.

Balmain Water Polo Club organised the gig like clockwork, with the 1.1 km swimmers heading off from the wharf outside the pool just before 9am. The 'over-56 years' boofy blokes - who look as though they drink like fish, but they also swim like fish - went off first.

I was in shortly after the old codgers.

In summary: it was fun. Visibility in the water was zilch, but I didn't even think about bull sharks as I ploughed out to the first buoy in front of Cockatoo Island.

A larger jelly blubber caromed off my goggles as I swam through hundreds of smaller single-celled creatures. I thought it would feel yucky, but in their element the jellies felt silky and soft, not slimy.

I enjoyed swimming around the island and, out of the corner of my goggles, spotted the Sydney Harbour Bridge and CentrePoint Tower in the far distance.

My dad (old codger in bottom pic), in the role of support person, estimated my time to be around 46 minutes. Fingers crossed for when the results go up next week.

The next challenge is Coogee - if the swell isn't too formidable for this chicky babe who wears the 2009 Mollymook swim as a bloody, battered badge of honour.