Stanwell Park Ocean Challenge

A Scottish lad with an Irish legend at Stanwell Park

I remember last year at Stanwell Park when a  mother of a wave attempted to brutalise me. After it had done its best, I managed to suck in two seconds of sky before another mother of a mother punched me in the head and took me down for round 2. I thought I was a goner. I think there might have been a round 3 but I've blocked it from memory.

So, dear readers, it was with some trepidation that I signed up for this year's CoalCliff to Stanwell Park massacre. 

I was lucky enough to con Mr Very Big into driving me down the coast and through The Shire to this lovely part of the world. He brought along his beautiful wife, who sat like a bloody saint in the front seat while I squawked over her shoulder for a good hour until we arrived at the beach via a picturesque winding road.

The surf surged in to the shore at a manageable height and with at least 10 seconds between each wave. Time to breathe. 

It was such a beautiful day, and the heat of the sun warmed our backs as we waited for the shuttle bus to take us up and over the hill to CoalCliff. 

CoalCliff has a pretty beach with brown granular sand. It's different from the city beaches, with their fine golden grains. The organisers warned us about avoiding the boulders in the shallows at the swim's start. 

I guess Mr VB and I were a little nervous considering yet another poor bloke was killed by a shark off the Western Australian coast 130 km south of Perth yesterday. His is the fourth shark-related death in WA waters in seven months.

Here's a link to a story: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/west-australian-shark-victims-brother-saw-dark-shape/story-e6frg6nf-1226315592658 

Already the shark haters are screaming out for great white cull. What a bunch of moronic dickheads. 

"Let's teach that f****** shark a lesson."

"Kill his f****** mother, brother, kids, wife... that'll show him."

I digress. 

The shark plane, which resembles Snoopy's Red Baron, flew over just before the swim started. I guess the pilot gave the thumbs up, his red scarf streaming behind him in the wind, because minutes later the first wave was in and racing. 

I was in the last wave (blah). 

The course is supposedly 2.3 km long (it felt longer) and follows the cliffside - hence the name CoalCliff - in a northerly direction before heading back in to the surf club at Stanwell Park.

I started out feeling pretty damn good (might have had something to do with the coffee I'd gulped down earlier).Then Mr VB arrived and we went stroke for stroke for around a kilometre before he peeled off and sprinted away. I was breathing left and had a chance to admire the scenery - cliff mostly - before I started to peter out and asked myself: "Are we there yet?" 

I think Mr VB led me in the wrong direction because I followed him for a while and noticed we were both off course. I'd missed sighting the second-last buoy and had to swim back out to sea to get around it. 

Coming in was a joy compared to last year's swim, except I got stuck in a rip that had me going nowhere. And when I tried to get out I was pulled down the beach and away from the finish. 

I muttered more than a few choice words when I finally made it on to firm sand and then had to run back up the beach to get across the line.  

It was tiring but worth it. Afterwards another swimmer started chatting to me about her awful experience last year - very similar to mine. It was like we were old war veterans sharing stories of struggle, hardship, survival and courage. 

A rare breed indeed.

Next week it's back to Bondi. 

Speak soon. 

Stanwell Park Ocean Challenge

Bad week + bad back = bad mood.

That summed me up this morning. As Davo drove us down the coast to Stanwell Park, I carried the tension of my dark mood in my lower back.

Fortunately, it was your typical perfect Sydney day (sob all you poor sods who live in farwaway lands afflicted by foul weather) so when we arrived my spirits lifted somewhat, though my back still killed me.

But to the swim.

The Stanwell Park Ocean Challenge starts at Coalcliff beach and runs a fairly straight course 2.3 km north to finish at Stanwell Beach at Stanwell Park, a pretty oceanside 'village' tucked into the southern edge of the Royal National Park.

As usual, Davo and I arrived nice and early. This gave me time to part with $40 (late entry fee) and for us to catch the first bus to Coalcliff.

The town gets its name from its coal cliffs! Doh! Apparently, the Illawarra Coke Company has had a site here for over 97 years. You can't see it from the beach.

The exciting part of the event for me was that we were going to swim past the cliffs, which look stunning in photos.

The swim started on time at 10am, though there was a bit of confusion as the surfwatch plane was meant to fly over before the starter horn went off. Minor glitch.

The horn blew out of 'honk' by the time the 40+ group surged into a very swimmable surf.

I enjoyed the swim, despite my back. My goggles filled and fogged, I stopped and looked around and still continued to swim wide of the buoys. I am seriously over myself. I'm sure I added another kilometre onto the distance today because I always head out to sea and away from the peloton. Someone help me!

Highlights - as I turned my head to the left, every so often I glimpsed the cliffs rising from the water like the walls of an ancient fortress. The water was gorgeous, and sometimes I could see all the way to the ocean floor.

Lowlights - I got tired (same old story), followed in the person who swam too wide of the final buoy (same old story) and my time sucked (you know how the story goes).

But that's OK (it's not really, but I am writing this season off just because...).

I think Davo did an excellent time, though he couldn't find his result on the board.

The ocean swimming season is slowly drifting to a close, but there's still more to come. Stay tuned to this blog.

PS Back still bad but mood slightly better.