club to club ocean swim forster cape hawke 2009

Club to Club Swim, Forster
Sunday, March 15, 2009

Growing into a late-season epic ...

Event

Club to Club Swim, 3.8km, Pebbly Beach Swim, 1km

Date, times

Sunday, March 15, 2009, 8.30am (1km), 10.30am (3.8km)

Registration at Forster SLSC, Main Beach

Organiser

Forster SLSC with Cape Hawke SLSC

Major sponsor

Course

Two swims on offer here: a shorter, introductory swim from Pebbly Beach, around the headland, through dolphin territory, into Forster main beach; then, later in the morning, the main swim from One Mile Beach beneath Cape Hawke, around the big headland, along the cliffs, the rockshelves, past Pebbly Beach, and into Forster main beach.

The longer swim will grow into one of the season's epics. A spectacular journey out through a beach break, along behind the break to the headland, then along the cliffs, towering above, through dolphin territory and into Forster main beach.

This swim is a ripper. It will come to be known as one of the late season classics.

Storm conditions in the days leading up to the swim last season meant it could not be held, but that's unlikely to happen two seasons in a row. This is one terrific swim.

Conditions

The shorter swim negotiates what is often a gentle break out from Pebbly Beach, then undulates with gently rolling swell around the headland into Forster main beach. It tracks through reefs and often offers plenty of sea life to watch along the way.

The longer swim follows coastline northwards then west from Cape Hawke to Forster. It's along a north facing coastline, too, so it generally misses the worst of the weather and the swell.

Whilst organisers say this course "normally (is) flat, (with a) slight wash off rocky coast", of course, this would change if conditions are heavy.

The main swim follows a rocky, cliffy coastline pretty well all the way. Once you're around the point from One Mile Beach, you're following the cliffs for c. 2km before the shoreline lowers into Pebbly Beach. Then around the headland, as with the Pebbly Beach swim, into Forster Main Beach.

Years run, starters last time

4th year as a public swim. Not run last season due to weather. The year before, there were 98 punters in the longer swim, 52 in the shorter.

These swims deserve many more. The longer swim, particularly, will grow into a genuine, late season classic.

Prizes, categories

Mens and Womens winners. There may be age groups as well. There is no elite section.

More info

Marshall Callow - phone 0402 904 811 or email.

Water safety

Forster SLSC and Cape Hawke SLSC

Min. age

Open
15-19
20-29
30-39
40-49
50-59
60-69
70+

All categories separate Male and Female.

Minimum age 15 (3.8km), 14 (1km)

Now also including a Back of the Pack division for swimmers with aids, eg wetties, fins. Back of the Pack division does not qualify for prizes or places.

Hahn Super Dry Fine Ocean Swimmers Series 2009

The Club to Club Swim is Race 4 of 9 in the Hahn Super Dry Fine Ocean Swimmers Series 2009.

The series uses a handicap system to event out the bumps amongst ages and between sexes, producing based on your performance in each event of the series. You score just by entering an event in the series (click here for full series details).

To be eligible to win the series, you must swim in at least 5 of the 9 events in the series, of which 2 must be country swims. We don't take just your best swims of the series: we take all your swims in the series. So the more swims you do, the more points you get.

The series encourages you to do more swims and to do more new and start up swims and more country swims.

os.c says

We loved this swim in its first two public outings, and we were monumentally disappointed when it wasn't run last season. This time of year - autumn - is notable for its swims along north coast, north facing beaches. It's such a wonderful time of year to swim: the oppressive heat of summer is gone from the air, replaced by a crispness, but not a coldness, yet the water still is warm, and will stay so, usually, well into June. Other swims in this category are South West Rocks (March 29), Pacific Palms (April 12), and Byron Bay (May 3).

Entry

Main swim $30 pre-swim day, $10 for the shorter swim. Race day entry fees TBA.

NB: For online entries, we accept only Mastercard and Visa. Attempts to enter using any other card will not succeed.

NNB or maybe NBB: When you enter online, you will receive an email confirmation of your successful entry (provided you have entered your email address correctly, and provided your ISP doesn't divert the email into your Trash or Junk or Deleted folders). Please print this email and bring it with you on race day. It includes not only your Registration ID number, but also your transaction number, which allows us to trace your transaction should problems arise.

On-line entries close midnight, Friday, March 13, 2009

Online entries have closed.

Click here to check progress entries on-line.

Click here to download entry form for more info and mail entry.

Click here to download event flyer for more info.