3 Points Challenge, North Curl Curl, Saturday, December 1, 2007
Bumpy ride through wind & rain
... but it's nothing for Killer

Report by Phil Johnston ...

Saturday the 1st of December, the first day of summer, a great day for my first Ocean swim of the season. Waking at 6.30 to the sound of the rain on the road made me think that it mightn’t be quite the day I’d anticipated.

To be honest I’d been ambivalent about entering the race. A week away, long hours at work and (to be frank) a bed that’s hard to get out of for 6am laps meant I wasn’t feeling at the top of my game. Memories of last year’s North Curly ocean-swim/washing-machine weren’t filling me with confidence either.

As I got ready to cycle down there (I’m lucky to live near Curly) my daughter asked “Dad, do you have to do it?” and there’s the real nub. No, I don’t really have to do it, do I? But if I don’t I’ll feel like I’ve really bottled it and it’ll be harder to think of a believable excuse for the mates I’m meeting there than it will be actually do it. So off on the bike then.
Coming into the car park at North Curly I get my first glimpse of the ocean and my heart sinks. Chop everywhere, white-caps and no discernible set coming in at all. I like getting through the break to where it’s generally smoother out the back…. today there is no apparent break, there’s no ‘out the back’ to get to and it’s definitely not smooth. Reminds me of the Atlantic Ocean that we used to gamely play in when I was a kid in Ireland… not inviting.

While mentally asking, “should I, shouldn’t I”, I meet James Goins and his better half Nicolee in the car-park. James admirably swims every swim going and Nic’s getting well into it too. However, it turns out he’s not competing in the North Curly swim (‘though he’s doing 10km at Penrith that afternoon so it’s not like he’s slacking off) as he’s in the water taking snaps for the Oceanswims website. Nic’s doing it so my decision’s made for me; how am I going to feel if Nic does it and I don’t? Fill in the form, number on the arm, another fetching rubber cap, hand over the cash and I’m ready to go.

Watching the ocean from the balcony of the surf-club doesn’t soothe my feelings of trepidation. It looks like the sort of conditions where no rhythm of stroke will be possible and it’ll feel like a battle the whole way round. I’m told that North Curly Surf Club has 5 rubber duckies, 3 jet-skis and 15 rescue boards monitoring the swim. That’s a relief. I don’t seriously believe I’m going to drown out there but it’s always good to know there’s help close to hand should I (and anyone else) need it.

Probably best to point out that I’m not a very strong swimmer. My ambition with the ocean-swims I’ve done over the last two years is firstly to finish and, secondly, not to come last in my age group. So far I’ve achieved my ambitions.

Looks like Alex Prendergast and, judging by the look on his face, he's feeling that knee reconstruction. That'll teach you to kick, Alex.

With 5 minutes to go it’s down to the beach with Nic and Rowena. Rowena’s a mate and a sponsor of the North Curly club and this race through her business, Warringah Home Loans (shameless plug). Between you and me, I reckon she sponsors the race for the pleasure of all the fit, young blokes who compete in the Dash for Cash sprinting straight up the beach at her as she tantalisingly holds out $50 bills which they fight for the privilege of snatching from her. She’d probably not admit that should you ask her.

Down to the water to get wet and sort the goggles out. The water feels warm and the comparison to the frigid Irish Atlantic ends. A bloke beside me mentions it’s his first Ocean-swim and I think ‘Jeez, it coulda been kinder on him’ but of course don’t say so. Whilst reassuring him with a ‘just take it easy’, a ‘you’ll be right’ and a heartfelt ‘good luck’ we fall under starters orders. Just like the horses returning to Randwick today… similarly out of match-practice but with a wet, enthusiastic crowd cheering us on.

The hooter blasts and we’re in. Exactly how many swimmers were in the race I don’t know but would guess over 100. The numbers made for an easy start as it wasn’t the usual thrash towards the first buoy. It wasn’t like you could get a good rhythm going, the chop sorted that out, but at least you weren’t bashing arms, legs and other assorted bits as we all tried to sort out a little space for ourselves. And also there wasn’t a big break to contend with.

Hang a right round the first buoy (about 150 meters straight out) and it’s into the long haul to South Curly. There was a big can halfway down the beach and a series of assorted smaller orange ones every 100 metres or so but the choppy up and down made buoy-spotting about as likely as spotting a happy Liberal party member in Bennelong. So instead of an estimated 2km (where’s the bloke with the built-in GPS who gives us an accurate swim-distance when you need him?) I reckon I zig-zagged at least an extra hundred metres on the long outward leg.

I wasn’t alone in this inability to swim in a straight line. With the Curly surf coming in at what seemed like a NE-SW angle it felt almost impossible to not get swept shoreward as we headed south and there seemed quite a few around me with similar straight-line challenges. Ploughing on, the inevitable questions surface; why didn’t I put in more practice? How the bloody hell did I get that far off course? What even bigger fish is chasing those big fish that just darted past me in the opposite direction? Why haven’t I learnt bilateral breathing yet?

Past the big middle can and who should I catch sight of bobbing up and down, waterproof camera in hand, but snap-happy James Goins. He’s had the energy-saving pleasure of a lift in a ducky down to the mid-point and is busy clicking away to get the piccies you see on this site. A quick wave to James as a swell lifts me up above him and it’s head down and back into it.

South Curly is approaching as I weave my way down my home-beach. One of the problems is trying to get a fix on something on the South Curly headland. It’s all houses and they all look the same so whenever I manage to quickly get my head up the navigational, ‘dress-circle’ landmarks really aren’t helping.

A few corrections later I’m turning right and heading in towards South Curly clubhouse. I’ve never seen it from this far out in the sea and definitely never seen it through this much rain.

Round the second South Curly buoy and it’s the home-straight… though not the 200m home-straight the nags at Randwick enjoyed later in the day. This is the almost 1km South to North Curly home-straight…. and I’m neither feeling at home nor swimming straight. Unilateral breathing takes some getting used to when you’re breathing into the incoming chop/swell so I feel less than comfortable following the turn northward and I’m still not swimming straight (see earlier).

I also realise that there are very few people behind me. Whilst I’m feeling reasonably confident that, possible cramp aside, my first ambition will be met I’m not so sure about the second. Bugger it, there are thousands of Sydney-siders still lying in their beds so whatever happens I’ll still be finishing ahead of them.

After a few hundred metres I realise that the North Curly headland gives a much bigger target than the small building I’d chosen as my directional target for South Curly and once I’ve managed to line up the headland and a buoy, my wobbling from left to right, like a Friday-night drunk, lessens.
By the time I passed the big purple, mid-straight buoy I realised I was enjoying myself. I knew there was enough in me to get me back to the finish. Slowly the looming headland of North Curly approached and with a few minor changes of direction, surprisingly quickly I found myself 20 metres off the final buoy.

Quick left and it really was the home-straight. About 150m away the beach beckoned and with a final burst I was there. Standing up in waist-deep water it was the old wobbly-legs feeling but I even managed a run to the timing-line.

First Ocean swim of 07/08 over. I didn’t come last, ‘though I’m pretty sure I was close, but that doesn’t matter. I did it, I finished it and that felt good. As Glen O’Brien tells me when we (occasionally) train “it’s like banging’ your head against the wall, feels fantastic when it stops”
But this felt much more than that . I drove past Curly at about 6pm on Saturday evening and it had dropped considerably. But I felt glad it wasn’t that flat on Saturday morning, I felt glad that I’d done the North Curly washing-machine again. I’d resisted the urge to bottle it and I reckon if I can do North Curly I can do most of whatever else the Oceanswims 07/08 season has to bring. There’ll always be the pre-swim nerves but North Curly was a great confidence-builder.

Big thanks to North Curly Surf Club who ran a fantastic swim. Well organised, great on safety, friendly, relaxed and all done with a spirit of fun. I’ve not mentioned the second, bigger attraction of the morning. The  North Curly 3 Points Challenge involves a lot of running as well as swimming; hats off to the men and women who did that, I admire you and maybe some year I’ll have a go at it when I feel less of a beginner.

Ps on that note, to the bloke who was doing his first ocean swim hope you enjoyed it and will be back for more swims. The more the merrier.

This is Tacoma Jim's bride, Nicolee, who was doing her longest ever ocean swim at North Curly. Not an easy one, either. Just 2km, but perhaps one of the bumpiest swims in many years. Impossible to settle into a rhythm. If you completed this one, Nicolee, you can handle anything. Well done, yourself, Girlie.

Here is another queen -- our Queen, Mrs Sparkle. Grinning as always, but you'd expect nothing less from what MC Glenn Slater described as "the most experienced ocean swimmer on the beach". Mrs Sparkle had a productive weekend. She scored one of Nic Auton's pottery clocks for winning her age group at North Curly, then she scored a set of champagne glasses, inscribed, for placing 2nd in her age group at Bronte on Sunday. Well done, our Queen.

Another one having a good time.

Pics by Glistening Dave, Tacoma Jim and oceanswims.com

Results still to come


Mrs Sparkle's Fairy Oddmother, Rosie Lang-Langley, embraces the legendary Killer after they both successfully -- ie, without passing out -- the 3 Points Challenge biathlon.