Dawny's Cockatoo Challenge

Peeping Dave, outside...

... and in.

The boardwalk.

The homeward trail... Glistening Dave at his evocative best. You, too, can have Dave at his annual, evocative best by acquiring his ocean swims calendar 2010... being delivered now... click here...

Glistening Dave must be in training for the Sydney Tower steps climb, so enthusiastically must he have scurried up the hill behind the Dawny pool after he finished the swim -- after leaving in the first, oldest wave -- to snap this photograrph.

Planks.

Walking the planks.

We think this is Kelly McRae, whose father, Peter McRae, got lost on the way to the first booey. Wouldn't dream they came from the same gene pool, eh! It seems that Pete, well-intentioned but idiosyncratic as all get-out, headed for the final turning booey instead of the first one, then wondered a) why he was in the middle of the harbour by himself, and b) why he had to swim farther than anyone else. There is only one thing we can say to this: "Ah, McGoo, you've done it again!"

The ferry stops at Cockatoo Island now, you know.

Maybe we startled this cove, looming suddenly over him with our Brownie Starflash-in-a-plastic bag, but a a lower head might ameliorate that water sculpcha.

What we love about the Dawny swim is the tour on which it takes us through Sydney's maritime heritage.

Someone, one day, is going to have problems with their rotator cuff.

"I'm forever blowing bubbles..."

"It's called rubber wristin', baby..."

Hello, indeed. Welcome to the new season.

The Boofheads 1km start...

... followed by the laydees. Note the distance between our favourite open water swimmer, Shelley Clark, and Luane Rowe, who was a very slow starter indeed. We had a chat to her about this afterwards. Good girl to Shelly, too, who during the week leading up to the Toowoon Bay swim completed her bachelor's degree in biomechanics, or something like that. Something way beyond us, anyway. Shelly has swum full time whilst representing Stray'a in international open water swimming, specialising in the 25km, doing her degree full time, and working part-time at a coffee shop in Newcastle. How did she do it? Goodness only knows, but what a great effort.

And here's Shelly rounding the final booey in that same 1km swim at Toowoon Bay.

We think this is David O'Brien, who appeared at Toowoon Bay in much finer fettle than in previous years, having shed a bit of ballast around his midriff. He claims he did it through training less. Sure. In his 40s, David was 2nd or 3rd into the beach in the 1km. A lovely swimmer, indeed. One of the nice things about Toowoon Bay is that when the punters warm up, they can swim along the beach, just a metre or two offshore, and you can study their technique, if you're of a mind to that, which we are. Very educational.

And here's Singleton geologist John Bamberry, author of The Ocean Swimmer's Guide to Etiquette (click here), looking grand in his View Visio Fully Sicks. You, too, could look as fully sick as John whilst creating water sculpcha by clicking here...

The start of the Boofheads 2km event.

As we say, we had a chat to Luane after the 1km, urging her to put a bit of energy into her starts. She did, and was much closer to Shelly into "the break", only to lose her goggles in a dodgy dive. Must have been watching the oceanswims.com Brownie-Starflash-in-a-plastic bag.

And out they go. Despite her starts, Luane won each swim.