The HAHN SUPER DRY FINE OCEAN SWIMMERS SERIES is on again in 2009. And this season, it's bigger and better ... nine swims, starting with The Big Swim, Palm Beach-Whale Beach on January 25, and ending with Mollymook on the South Coast on April 19.

1st prize in the Hahn Super Dry Fine Ocean Swimmers Series 2009 ... a ticket to the Mana Fiji Swim on May 30. This will be a terrific event, marking the return of ocean swimming to Fiji's wonderful Mana Island. Check out our Mana Fiji Swim page (click here) for more details of the event.

As well, the first ten placegetters in the Hahn Super Dry Fine Ocean Swimmers Series 2009 also will receive --

• A View Swim Gear pack valued at c. $100, including a Deluxe Mesh Bag to carry your swim gear, a pair of Visio V200AMR Fully Sick or Darth Vader goggles, a View Swim Towel, a pair of View Ear Plugs, and a bottle of View goggle cleaner/anti-fog spray. By courtesy of View Swim Gear. A terrific prize!
• A carton of Hahn Super Dry of your very own.

Also, we are applying a new rule to the final five events in the series for 2009, applying to cossies. To be eligible for points from these, swimmers must wear conventional "budgy smuggler" or "sluggo" cossies (for blokes, that means cossies just covering essential components of the body) and conventional cossies for laydees, ie no arms or legs. This also means no neoprene or other hi-tech material, and only one pair of cossies at a time, please. We don't want a repeat of the shenanighans in Beijing, or indeed in Sydney on the first night of the Stray'an Swimming Championships.

Subject to this cossie rule, all swimmers who take part in any of the swims included in the series automatically earn points and become eligible for the series.

The series aims to encourage participation in a greater number of swims, particularly later in the season, and in new swims and country swims. See the list of swims below ... We have one more swim to add to the series, to make up the nine swims.

As with last season, the series will reward participation and performance. We'll use the oceanswims.com handicap system to adjust times for age and sex, producing points that allow us to compare all swimmers on an equal footing.

Points will be awarded for each swim. You will need to take part in five swims to qualify for the series, of which two swims must be in country areas (ie, outside Sydney).

Swims are -

1. Jan 25 - The Big Swim, Palm Beach to Whale Beach (City)
2. Feb 15 - Malabar-Little Bay (City)
3. Mar 1 - Sydney Harbour (City)
4. Mar 15 - Forster (Country)
5. Mar 22 - Stanwell Park (Country)
6. Mar 29 - South West Rocks (Country)
7. Apr 5 - North Steyne (City)
8. Apr 13 - Tamarama-Clovelly (City)
9. Apr 19 - Mollymook (Country)

View Swim Gear is supporting the series with event prizes.

Last year's series winner was Ben "Stand and Deliver!" Hall, an unassuming truckie from Liberty Grove. Ben is in training.