Apr 23-May 1, '11
Tilbury Classic, Nowra Culburra, Easter Sat'dee, April 23
Rock to Rock, Pacific Palms, Easter Sundee, April 24
Coogee-Bondi, ANZAC Day, April 25
Port Macquarie, April 30
South Curl Curl, May 1
Byron Bay, May 1
Close, but no Sausage
The Coogee to Coogee 2011
Not Coogee, but the cliff along from South Curl Curl. It was a chunderous day.
First thing we thought when we considered this swim was, well, it sounds like a great swim, but we're not really sure why anyone would want to get any closer to Bondi. By any means of travel. The Bondi to Bronte we can understand. It gets you away from Bondi. We can even understand the Bondi to Watsons Bay, although it seems a bit extreme. Bondi to Coogee, should it ever be proposed, we could understand, too. But going from somewhere else, in fact just about anywhere else, to Bondi? Nope, we just didn't get it.
And then the genius of the organisers dawned on us. It must be the parking. Let's face it, if you drove to Bondi, parked, and swam to Coogee, by the time you got back the car parking fees would take you to the verge of bankruptcy. And what about the traffic? On a good beach day you might as well swim to Bondi, you'd get there faster. So, once we understood the genius of the organisers, we were sold.
So we should have been prepared when the powers that be decided it would be better just to swim around the bay at Coogee than it would be to swim all that way just to get to Bondi. Prospect of seeing Nigella Lawson notwithstanding. But we weren't. Nor were we prepared for the hour or so of standing in the freezing wind and rain in nothing but our budgies. After all, we'd been training for the swim, not for some kind of Antarctic weather torture.
Now, we're not privy to the decisions of the powers that be, so we're not going to speculate on the reasons why the swim didn't go ahead as planned. We'll leave that to the oceanswims blog. We will say that we were a bit surprised, given that swimming to Bondi with 300-odd very experienced swimmers and a bit of a southerly swell and wind to push you along doesn't seem that risky. We suspect that freezing in one's budgies for an hour is worse for the health. Be that as it may, we were very glad to get a swim at all and we offer profuse thanks to those amongst the powers who managed to get it organised.
 When we finally got into the water it was bliss. It was like getting up at dawn in the middle of winter and running into a hot shower. It was sooooooo warm compared to where we had all just been standing. We struck out on that first leg and, as expected, got hit straight in the face with that southerly groundswell. It didn't look like much from the shore, but Coogee can be deceptive.
After much arm wrestling and water swallowing and the occasional face plant into the next wave, we rounded the second buoy. Couldn't see the third one at first, but we had a moment of genius when we considered that the worst place one could put the third buoy would be directly into that south-easterly wind, and that the second buoy would be trying to travel directly away from that wind. So we followed the buoy line until it disappeared below us and sure enough, we were on the right heading.
Wind notwithstanding, that second long leg out towards the southern arm of the bay was truly enjoyable. Coogee Bay really does have a nice bottom, and watching the sand ripples slide along below, then rise up to become the strange white sandstone blocks that make up the reef was worth the wait in the rain. By that stage many of our fellow swimmers had disappeared (mostly ahead) and we found ourselves pretty much alone in a beautiful expanse of open water, with only the long-suffering water safety for company.
The third leg was awesome. It only took one stroke past that third buoy and we could feel that southerly groundswell push us along. It pushed us along all the way back to the first buoy, which somehow didn't seem nearly as far as it actually was.
The strange thing about that third leg was that somehow, in all that expanse of water, we suddenly found ourselves swimming inches away from someone else. Someone who had a very different idea about where the next buoy was than what we did. They edged towards us, on whatever weird trip they were taking; we checked that we were still on the right heading (we were) and edged back. They edged us, we edged back; finally, we gave up and let them swim past, then went back to our heading. Next thing we know they're back, edging us the other way from the other side! They even managed to give us a dirty look. Well, we think it was a dirty look. It certainly didn't appear to be a "thank you so much for pointing me in the right direction" kind of look.
And after the third leg, we did it all again. Sans edger, who in the end was faster than us, regardless of their navigation. And it was equally as great.
The start in Tilbury Cove, en route to Culburra on Easter Sat'dee.
We ran out of the water to discover the sausage sizzle was still in Bondi, so we had to find somewhere else to get our post-swim meat and bread. But it didn't matter. We felt great.
Big, big thanks to the people who got us a swim and to the Coogee SLSC for letting us stand in their boat shed for a while. Big, big thanks to the incredibly patient folks in the back of the truck, who managed to find my bag amongst the 300 others so I could phone my family and tell them not to meet me at Bondi. Big, big thanks to Ms Y and chauffeur, for turning up in the wind and rain with the jumper that we'd managed to leave at home. Ginormous thanks to the water safety crew, who were never far away and who were probably a lot colder than we were.
And finally, huge ginormous thanks to Jo the organiser, who we've never met, but who we sincerely hope keeps going with this swim. We really, really wanna swim the real Coogee to Bondi next year. After all, when all is said and done, it's about the journey, not the destination.
Glenn Muir
Coogee to Bondi, but the swim didn't get there.
The size of your success is measured by the strength of your desire; the size of your dream; and how you handle disappointment along the way.
Robert Kiyosaki,
US self-help author and motivational speaker
Disappointment. Sooner or later it's something that all ocean swimmers have to deal with. That's whether it's missing a swim, not finishing or a last-minute change of plan by the swim organisers owing to conditions.
Such was the case on a wet and blustery Anzac Day at Coogee. The 4.5km epic up the coast to Bondi wasn't to be.
Swim organiser and race director Mermaid aka Joanna Kyriazakos made the right call and changed the course to twice around a triangular circuit within the confines of Coogee Bay. The total distance was a bit under 4km, maybe closer to three.
A southerly overnight brought the seas up and the swell washing back off the coastal cliffs that line the route north to Bondi after Gordons Bay would have made for a very choppy event. It would not have been for the faint-hearted.
Even though the swell was from the south and would have been of great assistance to the peloton, the size of the chop would have made it very hard for the water safety crew to spot everyone. Throw in the occasional rain shower limiting visibility and it's easy to see why the course was changed. Not to mention the struggle that tail-enders would have found in the conditions. Not everyone has had the luxury of a decade of ocean swimming in all kinds of conditions.
At least the water was warm as was the Coogee SLSC gear shed beforehand.
 Sure, there were some things that could have been done better and it wasn't her fault that conditions meant the Volunteer Coast Guard boats were late - but please remember Mermaid is a one-woman band and has run the swim for the past few years pretty much on her own, albeit with North Bondi club member Craig Swan blazing the way in 2002 and 2003. But if you want to make constructive suggestions, help her out next year.
In this age of instant everything where the individual is king, it's easy to forget that ocean swims aren't just another consumer product. It's still a swim in what can become a hostile environment. I can think of the Wedding Cake swim at the very same Coogee this season when about 100 or swimmer had to be pulled from the water and treated for hypothermia. And what of the Tama swim, with its nasty break and the club members who guided the way for each group. Sure there were grumbles from the punters. One person complained about the prizes afterwards. Is there no pleasing some people?
But don't forget the people on water safety who have to stay out there the longest in those conditions. Having provided water safety for the Tamarama to Clovelly swim for the past few years (on a rescue board near the appropriately named Shark Point) you see things from a different perspective.
Ocean swims are about easing into your environment and commanding enough mental discipline to enjoy what to 99 per cent of other people (ie non ocean swimmers) would be their worst nightmare - a grey day, punching into a choppy sea a long way from shore. That aspect of the swim I enjoyed, as did many others. But it took me to the farthest buoy off Wileys Baths to get into a rhythm and relaxing pace.
Around the headland at Culburra. Beautiful swim.
Ocean swims, at least in Sydney, has become the victim of its own success. There is pretty much a swim on every weekend between November and May. Some swims now have their own websites, forgetting that it was Mr Ocean Swims and has website that made it possible for the huge growth in swimmer numbers over the past decade. (That's very kind of you, John. Thank you: os.c)
The sport has evolved with the mega swims, if you like, Bondi to Bronte, Palm Beach and maybe Wedding Cake at the start of the season. Then there's the swims with smaller numbers towards the end of season, and those out of Sydney.
Many know that the Byron Bay Winter Whales swim is coming up next Sunday, but unless you're a keen watcher of this site, you may not be aware of a new swim on the Sunday of the June long weekend at a little coastal town called Evans Head, about a half hour's drive south of Ballina.
I have a vested interest in this swim. Evans Head Casino-SLSC, which is running the swim, is where I gained my bronze medallion and where I patrolled for three seasons as a callow youth those oh so many years ago. It introduced me to surf lifesaving as a teen, and to which I have returned in the past few years. Ocean swims was the link.
I recommend making the trip north, or south (depending where you live) for the Evans swim on June 12, they're a fine mob, and I'm sure will put on a good swim.
I'm not in the habit of quoting motivational speakers (Depak Chopra et al) and I'm really not sure who Robert Kivosaki really is, but his quote sounded good. The strength of desire and size of one's dream can apply to ocean swimming. It's an evolution from the pool, to the beach to longer swims. Coogee to Bondi is not for the faint-hearted as is The South Head Rough Water Swim from Bondi to Watsons Bay (usually done as a relay).
Well, with the exception of a handful of swims, Byron Bay, South Head, the postponed Bondi Swim in May and Evans Head and Mona Vale Cold in June, the season is drawing to a close. It's been a La Nina year, which has meant a wet summer season, unseasonally cold water at the beginning and big seas towards the end.
Mermaid's swim was to raise funds to aid the Volunteer Coast Guard, other swim raise funds for their own surf clubs. There has been an element of creeping corporate involvement in the swims and with it higher prices. It's up to the swimmers to support the swims and the surf lifesaving clubs that run them
John Macleay
Nowra pics above by Martin Brannan Jr, Curly/Freshie pics by Sevadevi. Check out her South Curly (Freshwater) photo gallery... click here
Glistening Dave at South Curly (Freshwater)...
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os.c at South Curly (Freshwater)...
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Glistening Dave at Pacific Palms...
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os.c at Pacific Palms...
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Credits
 Pics by Glistening Dave (David Helsham) (Dave's are the really good ones), Sevadevi, Martin Brannan, James and Nicolee Goins, and oceanswims.com.
oceanswims.com uses Olympus cameras, this time the Tough 8010 and PEN E-P1 (and an iPhone 3G).
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