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oceanswims.com's Little Bay movie (click here)...

Glistening Dave's Little Bay pano... "Cracker of a day, cracker of a swim, often ocean swimming is about 'place'."

Glistening Dave's pano 2... "... And what a place".

Whose footprints?

GD: "Leave the Mary MacKillop symbolism caption to you. Would this be the loaves and fishes in the foreground?"

GD: "Full marks to Murray Rose and his crew, the swim went like clock work, and it must not be easy to have the registration at one beach and the start at another, it just worked really really well. Plus all the little things that made the swim so special, lotsa safety, the face painters for the kids, the music, HG and Mike Westdorp also on the mike, the music, the sausage sizzle crew, the sound system all over the place at 2 beaches, and a little touch which I loved was all the brightly coloured balloons everywhere, all added to a magic swim indeed".

Shade was at a premium.

Toughs from North Bondi and Germany... Peter Fox is the organiser of the two North Bondi swims. How refreshing to find another swim organiser who swims. Pete's cobber is German, Dave says. Sorry, not sure of his name. Wie geht's, Klaus?

Happy faces.

The world looks different from this angle.

Some balloons just won't be controlled.

Confessions of a Wettie Wearer Chapter 7
They changed the course on Aquagirl at Half Moon Bay, Cerberus

The wreck of the Cerberus offshore stand into a stiff breeze -- and water temp at 22 deg C! -- organisers decided conditions mitigated against a safe swim on the regular course at Half Moon Bay.

Much little chop, but it's very hard to swim into.

What’s your pre-race ritual? Most of us have one, I do. Mine has never failed me yet; pack the race kit the night before: two towels, race wetsuit (but don’t tell os.c that) drink bottle, sun screen, sports watch, goggles, spare goggles, bathers and favourite t-shirt. Nothing special in what I do.

On the morning of the race, I rise early, eat and drink, check the web and look for the weather forecast but there was really no need to do that today. I knew exactly how it was going to be without sighting the big blue; it was going to be hot and have lots of lumpy water. And so, I had to make my decision about the wedding rings....leave them on if I’m comfortable and know the water well, take them off if I’m worried about rough conditions, surviving, or sharks. No use a predator chewing up the family heirlooms, right? I took them off plain and simple and dropped the “See you later, wedding rings are beside the bed” line, before I walked out the door. My peeps are well used to this by now.

Some races just give you the willies, and this race is one of them, along with my 4km horror known as “Brighton Swim for Your Life.” .It’s hard to explain why, maybe the depth of the water, seeing the white water tumble over and over again against the old HMAS Cerberus warship or the thought of lurking marine life (although AquaGirl has gone on record saying “If you’re afraid of sharks.....you’re a wuss!”) I don’t know, I just felt a little wired driving to the race today. (Pity the bevy of Lycra clad riders was sparse today, due to the 1.30 race start ) The view from road side confirmed my suspicions and the race organisers were also right onto it. No racing out around the back of the warship today, in the interest of “swimmer safety”. It’s a shame though...the very fear that makes me take my rings off before hand ,also makes me go “WHOARRRRRRR!” with excitement once it’s all over.

They break the bad news. Not happy, Aquagirl.

Numbers were considerably lower today compared to last year, two hundred and twenty-five less in fact. It was the last of a series of six races too, so if you were on the hunt for last minute points, this was a race not to be missed. Half Moon Bay run a very smooth operation, they’ve done it year after year. You can tick off all of the great race requirements except easily visible buoys. The new course started two hundred metres up the beach and sent swimmers off in a rectangular shaped course. Head out straight out into the waves, motor home with them behind you. The two large red 2XU buoys are very easily seen, but coming back there was only one large yellow guide buoy to point you in the right direction. I’d suggest an improvement if this course was to be used again. Water safety people on boards are okay, but they tend to move about and are unreliable as directional markers, particularly if they are off to save someone.

Despite my willies, I had what felt like a great race. Sometimes you just feel like you’re out there on your own and nobody can stop you. I felt free, loose and strong. My mind was clear, I wasn’t counting my strokes, which usually leads me to switch off and cruise. I wasn’t perturbed by the murky water or the rocks .The jelly fish made me swim that little bit faster, and the rougher water excited me. Somewhere along my swimming journey, those rough water pre-race butterflies have converted to adrenalin, for every time a see a rolling set of waves, I feel like a frog in a sock just waiting to jump out. I just can’t stay away from a swim that scares me. Strange how that happens.

Get out of our way!

The largest age group today was the 40-49 year old category, and as you’ll see from the photos, they don’t hold back at the start of a race. It’s every man, woman, or thrill seeker for themselves. This age group were within a minute of posting the fastest times too. I can’t wait till I’m forty! The water temperature was a delightful twenty two degrees (yes, I can hear Mr Oceans screaming now...”TAKE THOSE WET SUITS OFF, IT’S TWENTY-TWO DEGREES!!!!!!!!) and I’m pleased to say there were more “newd” swimmers than usual. (They were the level headed, sensible ones, considering it was well in the thirties, with a strong northerly wind.)

Well Thrill Seekers, I’ll leave my report here, quite frankly I could keep raving on about this fair sport till I was blue in the face. Lovely to meet more new swimming friends on the beach (Hi Ken from Dromana) and on the twittersphere, (Ben from Melbourne...how did you go?) Don’t be shy, if you spot me around somewhere, come and say hello.(amongst all of my fellow wetsuit wearers I am a little bit hard find, might have to start wearing a distinctive t-shirt?...I’ll work on it.) Was thinking about doing a few roving interviews on the beach at Pier to Perignon, you know... asking the real people what makes them tick. What do you think? (Wouldn’t be hard to do a better job than Eddie McGuire at the Winter Olympics.) Have a great week frolicking in the big blue, where ever you are.

I’ll leave you with this ...“Don’t wait for your ship to come in, swim out to it.” (Author Unknown) (Unless they change the course, that is!!)

Nicole Chester (AquaGirl72)
Follow the adventures of Aquagirl72 on her tweets (click here)

Get out of our way, still!

Trainee codgers are the hardest starters.

Aquagirl72 finishes at Half Moon Bay.