Yes, yes, Glistening Dave was at Avalon and, like every good economist, he took the broader view, then ...
... homed in for something more detailed, then ...
... really got into the macro of Avalon.
oceanswims.com house photo drunk Glistening Dave, always on the lookout for something to pull apart, told us later: "Actually the day was too noice, no blue bottles, no surf, no sharks, a well run event with no obvious cockups ...just really noice, and in a
way the pics reflect this".
"Tell me, damn you! ... If you don't, I'm dunking you again ...!!"
Normally, our druidish peloton is in awe of the surf, but sometimes the surf bows to us.
Give a pollie a microphone at your peril! Then try getting it back from them. This was Bronwyn Bishop on her 3rd rendition of "My Way".
Avalon Beach is the home of the IRB, the Rubber Ducky rescue craft. It was invented there. And we all know what that led to, don't we! The introduction of petrol heads into the break. Now, with petrol heads ensonced in surf clubs all round Stray'a, thanks to Avalon, you also know what the introduction of little all-terrain vehicles have done for surf life saving, too: Yep, the introduction of burn outs on our beaches.
You'd think they could at least look as if they're having fun.
Git gets in way of camera.
And there's always an attempt at drama when they know that camera is pointed at them.
Out for a lovely day, having a great time ...
Yes, it's the boofheads wave, which means, Watch out for those swinging arms.
This is what it's like out there.
Reaching very deep down.
The shore break was in command.
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It’s all relative.
I’m not holding back, straight in there…. this was the best ocean swim I’ve ever done. It was the summer sunshine, the great crowd, the rip that carries you out over the rocks and the rolling swell that roller-coasted you down the outer leg. On top of that it was about feeling really good in the water, feeling the swells push and pull and carry and drop, feeling part of something much bigger and really knowing there’s not anywhere else you’d rather be than 400 metres off Avalon heading south.
Pheww, waxing lyrical but that’s how it felt. ‘Though not for my swimming buddy on the day, Rowena Bennett; she found it tough, no real reason just one of those swims that doesn’t click, that’s more of a struggle than the rest (last month’s Long Reef was my swim noir).
Guess it’s all relative.
Beach macarena. And you'd think someone could wait ...
The morning began with the usual ambivalent feeling about an ocean swim…. Mmm, do I really want to be doing this? Not sure, stop thinking, just get on with it. Pick up Rowena, whose husband and my swimming buddy of old, Glen O’Brien, has moved on to bigger and better things in the form of Half Iron Man training. Boy, times change. Two year ago, Glen was busting himself to knock out 10 laps in Freshie ocean pool, now a 1.5km swim isn’t long enough. It’s all relative. (Keep it up Glen, I’m secretly just jealous of your commitment, something I lack as you might tell from my pre-swim motivation level.)
Usual drill. Park, register, get the hat and number (what’s the secret to getting texta off your arm?), then find James ‘Marathon Man’ Goins and Nicolee for a chat.
Ran across a few people I wasn’t expecting to see. Hello to Ant Hearne who’s swimming for the CanToo charity and getting anxious about the Palmy to Whale Beach extravaganza, and H. I occasionally work with H. He never does ocean swims but has a mate high up in Avalon SLSC so came along ‘for a laugh’. He clocked something like 24 minutes… wish I could just rock up and swim like that for a laugh. Well done H.
We've heard that ocean swimming is attracting cult status, but this is the first evidence that that's spread outside oceanswims.com and our own associates.
Hobbled up to the north end of the beach (hobbling courtesy of some debris left in my foot after losing an argument with a big splinter). Had a pre-start dip and loved the feel of the water. The temperature was glorious and I was starting to feel good. Watched the elites and the youngies fire off and then it was the lime greens (not gonna miss us in the water with those techno-colour bonnets).
5-4-3-2-1. Off with the throng, the ambitious, fast and the two-working-footed diving into the water before I’ve got the toes wet.
This is my second Avalon and it’s a lovely race to start. Here’s why:
- From about 5 metres in the water’s deep enough to swim so there’s none of this wading out through the shallows for what seems like half the course.
- There’s a nice little rip that pulls you along; good speed, minimum effort… you’re feeling deceptively Thorpe-like until the rip runs out and the first can is still a long way
- It’s very picturesque swimming/skimming over the rocks with the weed reaching up to caress your fingers and wish you well on your way.
Then, as I mentioned, the rip runs out and you have to actually put effort into swimming. Bugger. The swim from the shore to the first can was relatively short but actually felt the longest and the hardest. It wasn’t that crowded (anyway I’ve decided I like a bit of companionship when I swim) and there was a little bit of a swell coming against us but nothing to throw you out of your rhythm. It just felt hard.
Now this should not surprise me because the swim to the first can is hard in every race I do (am I alone in this?) but this one felt harder than most. Guess it’s all relative.
Mind off the job.
But, boy was I rewarded. Turning right on the buoy we all headed southward in exactly the same direction as the swell. Was it coming from the NE? Felt like we were headed SW but I know bugger all about nautical stuff. However, what I do know is that this is where the magic of the day really kicked in. Every 5 or 10 seconds the swell would lift you from underneath, carry you forward effortlessly and then gently place you back in the waiting water.
What a truly glorious experience. I half apologise for the words I put here ‘cos they might sound pretentious. Obviously not intentional, it’s just very hard to describe the peace, unity and pleasure I felt swimming down the outer leg to the can at the southern end. I hope the six hundred plus who swam had at least some of the same experience, contentment in the gentle hands of a benevolent ocean.
Enough of that ethereal, dreamy stuff. Back to reality round the southern can where it was a bit of a bun-fight. Blue caps, fluoro lime and pink; fast, medium, slow (and flippered) it was on for young and old. Normally you don’t get so much congestion that far into a swim so who knows what was going on? Using the arms, but not kicking, slowly pulled me away from the person behind who kept banging my (sore) foot. Then it was north up the beach, round the last can and in with the hope of catching a wave to the shore. Catching a wave works when I watch the Nutrigrain Ironman on the telly, it just doesn’t work for me, so it was swim all the way in and pretty much hop/hobble up to the timekeeper.
There's something absent from this pic. No, not a point. It's a kick. What's absent is any kind of kick.
Distinctly unambitious ambition of not coming last in my category once again met, it was time for a nice bottle of non-salted water and the offer of some help from an Avalon surfie who saw me limping a fair bit. For me his kindness and concern summed up the ‘all’s right with the world’ feeling of the morning.
Rowena beat me (as she now always does), I didn’t even bother asking James as he’s always light-years ahead of me and Nicolee and I came in about even. She’s been talked into doing the Palmy in a fortnight .. in the pool yet Nicolee?
Big thanks to all involved with the organisation of this swim. From what I could see it all went off without a hitch and had nice little touches like free Vaseline and surfies roving about handing out bottled water. H told me his mate had been organising the event for weeks. If you’re anything like me you don’t think of what has to go into getting an ocean swim safely and enjoyably up and running. So from all us ocean swimmers, a big thank you.
I’ve written two of these reports now and in doing so I’ve thought about why I do ocean swims. I know I’ll never win a race, know I’ll never even come remotely close to winning my category. But I reckon you all know that’s not what it’s about. It’s about a personal challenge, the camaraderie, a little bit of fear (swim over the shark-net yesterday?), the satisfaction of finishing.
And yesterday when everything just seemed to come together it was just about the sheer, pure bloody pleasure of being in the ocean. Well, it was for me but it’s all relative isn’t it?
Phil Johnston
Avalon organiser Wazzabout Young takes no guff from anyone. He says to this punter: "Now, don't give me none of that subterfuginous rubbish, you get straight down to that starting line and get your water safet high visibility vest on. Now!"
We all know what these swims are put on for: you go through all that effort, but they are simply a scene-setter for a good old chinwag. Rosie Langley catches up with Maxine Peacock-Smith.
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The James Squire Feedback
Send us your feedback on The Avalon Beach Surf Swim, or on anything else on which you'd like to vent your spleen ... so long as it's related to ocean and open water swimming. Loosely related, anyway. Maybe someone who has something to do with the feedback swims, or swam once upon a time. Or maybe they know someone who swims. Or they might live near a beach. The feedback section is for swimmers to raise issues and make constructive comments about ocean swimming matters. It also seeks to encourage debate about events and issues of interest to ocean swimmers, wherever they may be.
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Pics by Glistening Dave, Sevadevi Glover, and oceanswims.com
RESULTS
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Beach worship.
Cyril Baldock. A modest legend.
It was an hot day at Avalon, so celebrity chef SchmellMeister resorted to unconventional means to cool down.
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