Now, one of these courses (focus on the white lines, not the red, since the red lines are the tracks of the swimmers who carried our GPS in a prophylactic, and the less said, the better -- it was Jane Gillings at Sydney Harbour this year, and she's an artist, and it shows) anyway, one of these courses is 1.6km, swum in 2007, and the other is 2km, swim in 2008. Now, which is which?

We don't have the actual track of Mrs Sparkle from Sorrento Pier to Portsea (left to right) for, if you believe the oceanswims.com GPS-in-a-prophylactic, it was 267 km. Google Earth tracks it (the white line) at 4.02km, or thereabouts. The current makes it seem far shorter.

Waiting for the start at Sorrento, we stood about 30 metres out before the peloton in knee-deep water, waiting to capture pitchers (as Glistening Dave likes to call them) of the start. We found ourselves next to an old codger who insisted on engaging us in conversation. Insisted? Not that we mind a chat ourselves, but he was one of these characters whose got to whinge with each sentence uttered. The announcer would announce: "Just 4 minutes to go to the start ..." And the codger would hold his arm up and pronounce, "3 1/2 minutes by my watch ..." "Have you done many of these?" he asked us, by way of initiating the chat.
When he found we were from Sydney, he became the expert. Such as with the tide, which appeared to be near high, judging by how far up Sorrento beach it was. But, oh, no! "It's low tide," said the codger. "Won't be any current out there," he said, referring to the ferocious tide which makes the 4km of the Pier to Perignon go like 2.5km. "It's right down low ... it'll be coming in by the time we get out there!" Anyone who's done this swim knows that swimming it against the tide is pretty well impossible.
"There's the one-legged bloke out there," he said, pointing out towards a white-capped head bobbing in the bay beyond the end of the pier. "Bloody amazing, what he does ..." "Three minutes to go ..." says the announcer. "2 1/2 minutes by my watch," says the codger. We turned towards the start line, looking for photo opportunities, as the pollies call them. And we turned back, and there goes the codger, a minute or so before the start ("Start time by my watch," he'd have said, no doubt), running, as fast as a codger can when clad in skin tight wettie, out into the bay. We never saw him again.

They're off, at Sorrento.

... even more of them than we'd thought!

The bar at the Sorrento Hotel is a magical place on an autumn evening.

Warming up.

On the eastern beach at Geelong, a silent sentinel watches over the city's heritage.

Off to Portsea.

In to Portsea.

We love the culcha of the Victorian swims. They celebrate their milestones, such as through 10-year awards for ten swims swum. And on the 20th running o fthe Pier to Perignon, they pegged on the line 15 of the shirts done with original artworks. They're all collectibles and one day will turn up on The Collectors.

Lazy late summer in the east beach pool, Geelong. (Lovely toes.)

Tough start.

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Waikiki? Why is Waikiki in here? Because, later this week, we'll b releasing details of our travel packages to swim in Hawaii -- off Maui and Waikiki -- in early September. We just wanted to draw your attention to it. Keep your eye out for details, later this week. This will be a fantastic trip. Below is one of our favourite experiences: sunset from the Shore Bird on Waikiki, so close to the water, that it's literally a dozen steps from the bar into the water. Where the sunset is so glorious that it draws applause from the assembled mob. With Hawaiian bands playing in the background. Sigghhhh! Hawaii! Watch this space ...