oceanswims - nov 27-28, '10

The season of 2010/11 started for AquaGirl yesterday, a little later than usual, but started all the same. At this time last year I had already competed at the 3 km Hazelwood Sauna swim and snuck off to Shepparton for their "open water swim" (?????) to trundle through 1.5 km of dirty fresh water, stirring it up for the try-athletes who were competing the next day. But this year...life has bitten in, the mojo had taken a while longer to kick in and I found myself at a segue. How was I going to make this year different from last?

Going by the quote "If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always got" I knew it was time to trick it up a bit. And so, as I completed my entire season last year in a wetsuit (much to Mr Oceanswims' disgust), I'm going to complete this season sans suit. There is a more than obvious divide between Victorian swimmers and northern state swimmers and the line between us is usually 3mm thick neoprene. Many a sledge has been slung regarding this over social media outlets and it seems that in order to quash some of the myths and see it from the other side, I've got to take a risk. The challenge has been set ..... There's much to lose and plenty to gain.

Little did I know that when I bought the loudest pair of cossies I could find in Byron Bay last year (insert potential sponsors name here { ..................} ) at the Winter Whaler's swim that I would be setting in motion phase one of .... Confessions of A Lycra Lover. Being an over thinker, I'll be honest, I have lost a little sleep over this decision but the need to spice the swimming "career" up has outweighed the negative thoughts. So what are the pros and cons? Let's discuss....

1. I live in Melbourne and the water does tend to be cold...not icebergers cold but cold enough to take your breath away and give you an ice-cream headache.

3. Money does buy speed.... large companies like 2XU and Orca are not large because they just look pretty

5. Bit more wear and tear on an injured body..more time to be spent in gym strengthening core and nursing "ticked off" parts of bod post race

6. No comparisons now from one year to another between races.... Times will vary a lot this year... How will I know if I'm getting better?

AquaGirl pleased with her 'newd' experience, despite having a fashion crisis with clashing swim suit and cap.

2. Interstate relations may improve upon crossing to the dark side... Maybe I'll be taken seriously now?

3. At one with nature, despite swimming with a tight chest reacting to the cold.

6. Not being mistaken as a seal in a flurry of arms and legs (cue Jaws theme music)

7. Freedom... The holy grail of open water swimming experience; sand inside the Lycra, salt in between the wrinkles and sun actually warming my back.

"So what's the big deal?", some may ask. Not a lot to most I suppose, but for the past eight years that I've been competing as a weekend warrior in open water swimming, I've swum in a cocoon, a lovely 3mm security blanket and now I'm going to learn to go it alone.

And so.... in the spirit of the Olympic games that I'll never compete in..... "Let the (fun) and games begin!". I'm looking forward to sharing this season with the thrill seekers of the oceanswims family. Send me your thoughts and feedback via the oceanswims.com blog or on twitter (@AquaGirl72)....I'd love to hear from you.

We're very proud of you, Aquagirl72!

Chapter One: Confessions of a Lycra Lover

Edithvale to Aspendale 1.5 km Swim

Melbourne and rain go hand in hand and this weekend is no different to any other. Grey skies, threatening wind and an off shore breeze were ominous when I arrived at the Aspendale Life Saving club to register for my 1.5 km straight line race between two small life saving clubs .Thankfully, no "Act of God" affected proceedings today and, as usual, the two clubs ran an efficient race.

This race is usually runs at the later part of the season but organisers made a smart decision to schedule this race at the start of the season. Conditions compared to last year couldn't have been any different, with the beach last year resembling a surf beach, not a quiet, ripply bay like this year. Capped at 500 competitors, 210 people raced, according to the "race tech timing" stats, 50 shy of last year's numbers. It's sure to grow again next year.

Favourable conditions meant great times, for the two fastest male and female swimmers. Mark Thompson (40-49) taking out the $300 prize money with a 17.00 min finishing time and Belinda Bennett (18-29) representing the sisters in 18.33 mins. I could only ever dream of times like these.

With registration completed in record time and my new Club to Club t-shirt safely stowed in my race kit, I allowed myself the usual ten minutes to gear up and consequently, slashed my previous time to a whole one minute. No need to fight with a wetsuit today, or need to vas up, or blow up (fill wetsuit with a puff of warm air from a close friend ,straight down the sleeve to position suit in all the right places.... I will miss this delightful exchange.) Seems I have another pro and con to add to my list.

Bag checked in to secure holdings, I started to make the 1.5km stroll down to the Edithvale club with my favourite deaf swimmer and swim group member "Smokin' Jo" ( smokin' hot , that is.), me now shrouded in a towel (yes I was still wrestling slightly with body image issues and a touch cold.) Jo lip reading and me facing her most of the time as we walked, meant we had issue with slipping on the washed up jelly fish along the shore line, multi-tasking not our strength, but very entertaining to both of us as we ambled along. Add another con to the list....more likely to be stung in the race without a wetsuit. More anxiety growing as we got closer to start line.

As usual, race briefing was succinct and straight to the point, the course clearly marked out with two red tall buoys and three yellow tall buoys in between. I listened to the race briefing announcements, facing Smokin' Jo , telling her what I was hearing. She and I do this often pre-race and to her credit, apart from this routine, you?d never know she swims in open water without one of her major senses guiding her.

The wind swung around to an onshore 2 mins before the 60+ warriors started their wave but no major disadvantage was felt. Five minute wave start times meant that there was very little waiting around. A quick race is a great race. No need to drag this out unnecessarily.
Normally I'd have quite a long warm up before a race, but today I re-assessed. The water is roughly 15-16 degrees and the benefits of warming up would be lost waiting around on the start line. I bolted straight in, flapped about quickly to raise the heart rate, stood on start line for 2 mins and chatted about coloured bathers with my fellow girly competitors. Yes, I stood out like a sore thumb, hard not to in a sea of black. "Aren't you cold?" was the first question. "Not really," I said, convincing myself I wasn't. But I was, despite the extra winter insulation I had put on. I pushed that thought straight out of my mind, along with that of the jelly fish.

As far as races go, this was a good one for me. A bit of argy-bargy with the boys and girls at the start, tight chest straight away and a few quick gasps of breath as the cold water met my skin. One arm after the other, stroking long and strong. "What would the stroke doctor think of my technique now?" I caught myself thinking, "I think he'd like it". I felt comfortable, kicked along quickly and felt surprisingly high in the water, despite the lack of neoprene. "This isn't bad at all." Half way did trigger another wave of coldness and a little stiffening of large muscle groups. I hadn't considered cramps before now, but luckily I didn't have to either. Jelly fish had stayed at bay, a few sting rays were sighted and an overall feeling of pleasure was sneaking in. How can this be so? Pleasure and racing were supposed to be the arch enemy of each other.

I rounded the last buoy and spotted my destination. The minute I hit the shallows and stood up, the first voice and clapping sound that I heard, was that of Smokin' Jo, encouraging me every step of the way. My deaf friend making all the noise, it was music to my ears. I ran across the line to be met by her with a big smile and a quick post race assessment : "Oh, hot red shoulders," she said, touching them, "You raced hard." I never thought to look at them as an indicator of effort, something else I had learnt about myself sans suit. The list was growing.

Presentations were quick, with loads of spot prizes being given out and medals for the top three placegetters in each age category. Smokin' Jo came second, living up to her nickname. I did, retrospectively, compare my time to last year's, one minute slower. Am I going to agonise over loosing time or revel in the satisfaction in knowing I did it all on my own? I'll get back to you on that when I've decided.

So chapter one draws to a close as a positive experience in my quest to beat the suit and earn respect. Despite more muscle fatigue and a fashion clash of red cap and pink patterned bathers, I'm really stoked at my maiden voyage. All credit goes to the Edithvale and Aspendale Life Saving Clubs, working together to run another great race that is certainly worth the effort, not just for the prize money and for the place getters medals, but because of their friendly manner, efficient team work and of course beautiful water to swim in. These clubs have set a high standard for other clubs to aspire to. Congratulations to one and all. Next week will be interesting with a taste test for me of the second Mornington Swim. Let's hope they've the same high standards as this early season race.

Wetsuits are easier to take off in the water, not that I need worry about that any more.

James T, Tomahawks split! Killer swim tuneless!

This is a fantastic effort from one of the `little' swims on the calendar up this way. A few blow-ins come down from north of the border but mostly it is a locals event that is the major fund-raiser for one of the smaller surf clubs in this region, the Fingal Rovers.

The `super' surf clubs in Queensland would turn their noses up at this sort of money. But this is ground we've covered before (ie the Queensland surf clubs don't run ocean swims as fund raisers because they nearly all have poker machine money and a dollar-for-dollar state government subsidy).

To keep a swim going over such a period when you only ever get around 200 punters shows devotion to the cause. And it looked like raining for a while so numbers were nowhere near 200 this year.

So how will they donate anything to the surf club? Well Killer got his mate Chubby involved (I am not making these names up) and Chubby convinced his bosses at AMP to sponsor the event naming rights sponsors or platinum sponsors along the lines of promoting a healthy lifestyle and good insurance risks.

A couple of big names were missing this year. James T has split with the Tomahawks so were not available for the apres-swimming activities on the deck of the Riverside Hotel. And Colin Braund, the world's fastest Scotsman was not there. Braund, if you remember from last year, started in the 2.5km wave five minutes behind the 1km field. He not only won the big race but beat all but one of the 1km folks.

And no Olympians this year which save Killer from embarrassing himself again. You can't have a trip to Murwillumbah without a new Killer story. And this year it was getting his new neck installed. One of his so-called mates said new neck? How about getting ``a'' neck installed. That's actually pretty funny when you know Killer is a former prop forward and spent 20 years putting his head into scrums.

Nevertheless, out came the battered and worn out C3 and C4 vertebra, replaced by plastics or ceramic ones, new in-between bits and he's now six feet and half an inch tall.
A lot of interest each year centres on the quality of the Tweed River water. This year, it was once again the best ever, officially rated deep bone with a hint of aqua.
In other words, you could see your hand at the end of your arm. I can't imagine you would want to see much further. You certainly would not want to be able to see the bottom of the river.

The smooth surface and only a tiny downstream drift from the out-going tide was a great relief for the folks who had done the new Redcliffe swim the previous weekend. Well organised they said but everyone was battered by the dreaded Moreton Bay chop.

So it was a smooth, fast track. And after the swim, a highlight of the presentations was the recognition of the 10-year veterans. This is a personal touch you would not get at a `big' swim. In the lead-up to this year's 10 anniversary event, the organisers wrote to everyone who had done all previous nine swims to make sure that got along this year.
There were 10 of them, including Killer and the 'other' lesser known chief organiser of this swim, Marc Vining. They all turned up and were presented with a sports bag with their names embroidered.

PS: I banged into someone at the start and didn't stop to apologise. So sorry. I was looking the other way to see where my good mate and great rival John Townend was.
PPS: Which reminds me that in response from Sydney inquiries, I did ask John if he was related to Peter Townend, the first ever World Champion of International Professional Surfing in 1976. Yes, first cousins and they went surfing at the southern end of the Gold Coast all the time until John's family moved to Brisbane.

Cool at Coogee...

The story of Coogee - punters being hauled back to the beach. There were 788 who finished the longer swim at Coogee, and 438 who finished the shorter, but there also were over 100 pulled out and over 100 treated usually for hypothermia back on the beach. The water safety and medical staffs did magnificent jobs. Not easy for them, to be sure.

Check out our Coogee photo gallery... be aware, there are two pages to this gallery, so when you have come through the first set, click the next link below to go into the second. Otherwise, you'll never finish the swim.