Over the past two years, ocean swimmer John Bamberry has been working on a code of conduct for ocean swimming. John doesn’t want to lay down rules; he just feels we all would benefit from discussing some principles of behaviour that would help us all to enjoy our sport even more.
John also felt that organisers might benefit from having access to some guidelines to help them make decisions in planning and running their ocean swim events.
We posted John’s first draft on oceanswims.com a year ago. There was considerable feedback on it, and John then took those responses on board in revising his draft.
Here, we post John’s revised suggested code.
It’s in two parts -
- A suggested code of conduct in point form (click here); and
- A more detailed set of guidelines for ocean swimmers and ocean swim event organisers (click here to download as a pdf file).
Some will recall a spirited debated carried on through the oceanswims.com feedback/bleedback page following the Bilgola swim on December 14 about etiquette, sparked by the issue of the wisdom of breaststroking around booeys. As a contribution to that debate, ocean swimmer Nicky Pullen devised her own set of principles …
- Ocean swimming is popular sport and you will be swimming in big crowds at
times.
- Faster swimmers will catch you and tend to swim straight over the top of
slower swimmers. This is part of the sport and sometimes means copping some
bumps from elbows, hands and feet.
- Advice for meandering swimmers: position yourself on the edges of
the peloton.
- DO NOT use breaststroke kicks when pushing through waves as there is a huge
possibility of kicking sideby swimmers fair in the face.
- DO NOT stop or use breaststroke kicks when rounding the booeys; swim
continuously around and keep legs in line with body as it gets very crowded
at these points.
- If you want or need to swim breaststroke, be very aware of your fellow
swimmers and swim WIDE around the booeys.
- Treat other people with the same courtesy that you would like them to
treat you.
- Do not punch, kick or grab other swimmers.
- Remember ... everyone has the common goal of enjoying the swim ... so ENJOY
and be Friendly and FAIR!
Nicky said at the time: “I'm fairly new to ocean swimming... This is my second season and I love the opportunity to swim the Sydney coastline in a safe environment with a bunch
of other sea lovers and also contributing funds to the local clubs. The atmosphere and the shared experience is awesome.
“I think the breaststroke thang is definitely an etiquette and awareness issue. I don't believe there should be a punishable rule around it as there are always reason for exceptions etc.
“An Ocean Swim etiquette guidelines would be a good awareness raising document for sure.”
What do you think? Click here to visit the oceanswims.com blog, to register your comment…
And Nicky Pullen wins this week's James Squire Bleedback Award for her thoughtful and generous contribution.
See you on the beach ...
|
