What a great day twas on Sunday. The threat of inclement weather hangin around just before the race, had evaporated before too long and glorious sunshine, light off shore winds, warm water and slight seas prevailed.
The race: very well run, modestly priced, straight forward instructions, and an easily read course. Although there was a little trap for younger players in the form of an unforseen rip that took me slightly off course sideways when rounding the last buoy and providing a slight head current to swim against coming into the beach at the end.
Even though twas my first time in this race, judging by the smiles on the faces of the organisers and volunteers, and the general conviviality of the atmosphere about the race I got the impression that the number of participants was up and that Huey was smiling upon them this year. Congratulations to all involved. I for one will be back, and I'll give youz a good rap to anyone I find who hasn't been up for it yet.
And the camaraderie: well as Mr OS.c states so eloquently, "it's all about the culcha." Thanks Mr O for organising the Satdy night dinner at The Riverside Tavern. His rousing speech, where he intruduced all us newboys-and-girls to Lord Ron of Riverside, extolling his and his fair Lady's efforts in organising the event over so many years. And Lord Ron's response, reciprocating praise on Mr O for standing up as such a cultural pillar of the Oceanswimming community; it brought a tear to me eye and a lump in me throat to be associated with such a great mob, even so newly and on the fringe. Twas a great evening, even though my wife and I had to make a relatively early departure on account of the slumberous requirements of our two young children. We would love to have stayed on chinwagging the night away.
And as I said before, South West Rocks does Rock! A truly lovely location. Staying in a cabin at the Horshoe Bay Caravan Park; going to sleep and waking up to the meditative sound of rolling surf; the reminiscence of childhood holidays aplenty up the coast; midnight sleep interrupted by heavy rain storms battering the thin sheet metal clad cabin, an early morning stroll where everybody says g'day to each other, chatting to the "Grey Nomads" that proliferate the park in this day and age; walking with the kids from the cabin over some immaculatley kempt grass directly to the golden sand of the beach, like it's your own private piece of paradise; and then strolling directly from the beach to the main street of the village. Sorry Mr O, I should leave the pitcher postcard stuff to you coz you do it better and you'll probly have proper pitchers in it as well.
I thought that making a three day weekend of it was plenty o time, but twas far too short. We'll be back for at least a week next year.
David Love.
P.S. I thought I might have started some trouble with my smartarse banter about the Bikies vs the sharks in the meeja with my two blob's worth last week; when the Gladiators MC turned up in all their thunderous pageantry to the Seabreeze Hotel, right in the centre of town on Satdy arvo. I didn't see any leather vests in the swimmin race the next day though.
Monday, March 30, 2009
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Insurance Companys: Land-Sharks
Aside from the dipensation of liability issues discussed on the OS Blog, why can't the SLSA give Lloyds the flick n find another insurer, preferrably a domestic one?
Surely a local biggie like IAG (not the Seppo one, AIG that nearly went broke) could come to the party. It'd have to give their Aussie icon brand NRMA a good run in the meeja by taking a risk like this into their book. They could tie it in with their whole H.E.L.P. campaign which would sit nicely beside their CareFlight activities.
Fair dinkum, how much could they really be up for if somethin went pearshaped anyway? It'd have to be no more than the change from their lunchmoney. Even if every Clubby patroling every race on their planks on any given Sundy got munched by a pack of man-or-woman-eating sharks! They're used to underwritin natural disasters like cyclones n stuff, and that's gotta be a much more expensive proposition.
Now, goin by the mug spottin that Mr Os.c goes on with, I reckon that the big end o town is fairly well represented within the ranks of the Oceanswimming fraternity or sorority. So maybe some of you bigwigs could practise a bit of digitis extractus and pull a few strings to sort it. I'm sure that something can be done, hey?
By the way, how pissed off must the aforementioned sharks be since the Bikies stole their meeja limelight? If any of youz Bikies do oceanswimmin, ya better watch out, I hear the sharks are filthy about it!
David Love.
Surely a local biggie like IAG (not the Seppo one, AIG that nearly went broke) could come to the party. It'd have to give their Aussie icon brand NRMA a good run in the meeja by taking a risk like this into their book. They could tie it in with their whole H.E.L.P. campaign which would sit nicely beside their CareFlight activities.
Fair dinkum, how much could they really be up for if somethin went pearshaped anyway? It'd have to be no more than the change from their lunchmoney. Even if every Clubby patroling every race on their planks on any given Sundy got munched by a pack of man-or-woman-eating sharks! They're used to underwritin natural disasters like cyclones n stuff, and that's gotta be a much more expensive proposition.
Now, goin by the mug spottin that Mr Os.c goes on with, I reckon that the big end o town is fairly well represented within the ranks of the Oceanswimming fraternity or sorority. So maybe some of you bigwigs could practise a bit of digitis extractus and pull a few strings to sort it. I'm sure that something can be done, hey?
By the way, how pissed off must the aforementioned sharks be since the Bikies stole their meeja limelight? If any of youz Bikies do oceanswimmin, ya better watch out, I hear the sharks are filthy about it!
David Love.
Sunday, March 15, 2009
A Crackerjack Day At Forster
Another "real" oceanswim just a week after Caves Beach. Christmas might have come late this year but its been well worth the wait!
Forster was great, and I reckon Mr OS.c is too right when he says that we are just heading into best time of year for oceanswimming. The water was warm, not to windy, just enough swell to both give you a help along, but also just enough to reflect off the rocks and make things a little bumpy, and a little wave at the end to pose on regardless of your placing; as I shamelessly did. There were a few sightings of small to medium, probably Grey Nurse Sharks goin about their business, as well as other assorted marine life adding to the colour and repartee of the event.
The short course event was held wholly within Forster Main Beach with the start having been moved from the adjacent Pebbly Beach to the finish line at Forster. I'm not sure for what reason exactly, but it just may have been that the seasonally unusual early Nor'easter was making things a bit bumpy early in the morning and the organisers may not have wanted to stress out any novices that we giving it a go perhaps for the first time; which I reckon is fair enough. However we still got our monies worth. It was definitely longer than 1km, more like a metric mile (1500m) as the times will attest. While on the subject of value, I'd like to applaud the extremely reasonable entry fees: $10 for the shorty and $30 for the biggy. At those prices there was plenty of punters doin both races, yours truly included.
By the time the biggy got under way, the Nor'easter had dissipated and conditions were ideal. The water was clear and calm with a little wave breaking at start at One Mile beach. The distance of 3.8km was a good test of stamina for me, the longest ocean swim I've done so far; and I'm sure everyone who did it will agree with me that it was well worth it. The only downer on the day was the barbie got wound up early so we had to seek apre swim sustenance elsewhere, and the water was bit murky from Bennett's head to Forster and pretty weedy at the finish line. I'll leave it to the organisers to decide which one of those problems they will try to tackle for next year's race, if there is one? See the latest Oceanswims.com newsletter at:
http://www.customercommunity.com.au/communities/newsletter.asp?Issue_id=1126
Do the new SLSA rules mean that this gonna be the last event of this distance at Forster? I bloody well hope not! I know this might sound trite, but get another f...ing insurer!
Davo.
Forster was great, and I reckon Mr OS.c is too right when he says that we are just heading into best time of year for oceanswimming. The water was warm, not to windy, just enough swell to both give you a help along, but also just enough to reflect off the rocks and make things a little bumpy, and a little wave at the end to pose on regardless of your placing; as I shamelessly did. There were a few sightings of small to medium, probably Grey Nurse Sharks goin about their business, as well as other assorted marine life adding to the colour and repartee of the event.
The short course event was held wholly within Forster Main Beach with the start having been moved from the adjacent Pebbly Beach to the finish line at Forster. I'm not sure for what reason exactly, but it just may have been that the seasonally unusual early Nor'easter was making things a bit bumpy early in the morning and the organisers may not have wanted to stress out any novices that we giving it a go perhaps for the first time; which I reckon is fair enough. However we still got our monies worth. It was definitely longer than 1km, more like a metric mile (1500m) as the times will attest. While on the subject of value, I'd like to applaud the extremely reasonable entry fees: $10 for the shorty and $30 for the biggy. At those prices there was plenty of punters doin both races, yours truly included.
By the time the biggy got under way, the Nor'easter had dissipated and conditions were ideal. The water was clear and calm with a little wave breaking at start at One Mile beach. The distance of 3.8km was a good test of stamina for me, the longest ocean swim I've done so far; and I'm sure everyone who did it will agree with me that it was well worth it. The only downer on the day was the barbie got wound up early so we had to seek apre swim sustenance elsewhere, and the water was bit murky from Bennett's head to Forster and pretty weedy at the finish line. I'll leave it to the organisers to decide which one of those problems they will try to tackle for next year's race, if there is one? See the latest Oceanswims.com newsletter at:
http://www.customercommunity.com.au/communities/newsletter.asp?Issue_id=1126
Do the new SLSA rules mean that this gonna be the last event of this distance at Forster? I bloody well hope not! I know this might sound trite, but get another f...ing insurer!
Davo.
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Caves Goes Off!
Huey turned on a deadset pearler for the little journey swim at Caves Beach today. Glorious weather, lovely water temperature, with a southerly swell standing, and even breaking at times on the bombie out the back, halfway along the course. Followed by four to five foot faced sets on the beach break. Not too sucky to ride but more than steep enough to send you down the mine if you didn't time it right.
Congratulations to the organisers and volunteers on a very well run event, particularly the water safety people. Clubbies of lesser mettle would have called this one off, on account of the aquabumps. Your clear and concise directions and easily read buoys, along with a bit of help from Huey made for some pretty quick times.
I'll certainly be back next season with my wife n kids. The live entertainment, free barbie, great venue, and convivial atmosphere of this event have certainly raised the bar in the family friendly stakes. Keep the date, it's yours now.
A warning to any organisers of other swims who are thinking of going up against this one at the same time next year:
You will lose!
David Love.
Congratulations to the organisers and volunteers on a very well run event, particularly the water safety people. Clubbies of lesser mettle would have called this one off, on account of the aquabumps. Your clear and concise directions and easily read buoys, along with a bit of help from Huey made for some pretty quick times.
I'll certainly be back next season with my wife n kids. The live entertainment, free barbie, great venue, and convivial atmosphere of this event have certainly raised the bar in the family friendly stakes. Keep the date, it's yours now.
A warning to any organisers of other swims who are thinking of going up against this one at the same time next year:
You will lose!
David Love.
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