How could you possibly start the hottest October day ever recorded, in any better way than a B&B swim! Starting off the blog with the view of you swimming in to Shelly Beach on this sparkling, stunning Spring morning! My favourite view in the world!
Sunrise was at 6.19am this morning and ahhh…mazing it was!
The 38 Drinks Express swimmers give me a wave at The Point! (Departs 6.30am, all welcome but no head butting other swimmers.)
Next pic, John Bond has happy news for us after taking water temp! It’s 20 degrees!!!
We see whales as we congregate at the Surf Club! They are out there, we hope they come in closer and swim with us. It hasn’t happened this year yet, and does happen every year!
There it is the proof, a balmy 20 degrees in and lovely and warm out!
I had a great surprise this morning as my daughter Soleil, came down to swim with her friends Mikaela and (Renae’s daughter) Cheyenne. Hope you come back girls!
Not so many wetties at Shelly today…
And some lovely, warm and happy blog tarts! Vicky is back from Russia…
Rusty is back from England and Ros back from India and Nepal! Little Sarah manages to photo bomb yet another photo. (She is determined to get in the B&B 2014 calendar next year!)
It’s Pammy’s birthday today. Love singing Happy Birthday at Shelly!
It’s 8 year old Milly’s first time with Dad and she has the brightest smile.
Mother and daughter swim together, Renae and Cheyenne.
And we spot a wobbegong!
And swim though schools of yellowtail over by the rocks…
And will the bikini swimmers return?
A few fish pics I’ve taken in Cabbage Tree Bay over the last few days. A massouf ray, cuttlefish changing colours, groper, toadfish and sergeant baker. The marine life in our favourite corner of the world constantly amazes me!
A few words from Ian Forster
Boulderdash
The boulderdash swimming season will commence tomorrow at 5.50 am. The swim leaves from the usual spot at the Manly Surf Club and goes to Queenscliff and back. Swimmers are usually back in time for the 7 am Shelley swim. When you have completed the swim you should mark off your name in the GREEN folder, which is dedicated to the Boulderdash. Each Boulderdash swim counts as 3 km towards the Pacific Challenge. As usual, we provide no water safety and you swim at your own risk. Enjoy.
Swim Safety
With the large numbers of swimmers we now have swimming with us, the risk of collision with other swimmers is increasing. We request that, where possible, you swim with the group, either at 6.30 am or 7 am. This will reduce the possibility of injury from a collision. One of our swimmers in the 7 am group recently suffered a substantial injury in a collision with another oncoming B & B swimmer. The injury required medical attention and a layoff from swimming of three weeks. Worst of all, the other swimmer did not stop to see if our swimmer was injured. If you must swim at other times, you should swim wide or close to the shore if possible to avoid other oncoming swimmers. Also be aware at all times of where the swimmers in the regular group are. Thank you for your co-operation.
Sparkles (Michelle Sparkes) has lost her silicone cap!!! please return if you picked up by mistake! I have a ladies Manly Surf Club cossie someone gave me if you’ve lost one. Ian also has other lost property.
151 Swimmers inc a few Lemurs and 38 on Drinky Express
4 Newbies
Water Temp 20!!! Air Temp 18 and rising!
Sunrise 6.19am Sunrise 7.04pm
Signing off
Lainey Loo aka Elaine including a few of our fave swimmers on my sign off pic (including John B getting changed in back ground!)
Have a wonderful day!!! (And please somebody bring back Sparkles’ cap!!!)
28 comments
Swimmer
10/10/2013 at 11:32 am
I find it funny how there is a mention about headbutting at the point, but no one says anything about people swimming completely over the top of others!!? Some people just have no etiquette
Michael [EX CI]
10/10/2013 at 11:49 am
That is sad to hear ‘swimmer’. You must have been unlucky as I have swum with B&B for five years and NEVER had that problem even though I am quite slow!
Lucy
10/10/2013 at 11:54 am
So cool your daughter swam today, Lainey!! xx
Robbie Deans
10/10/2013 at 12:03 pm
Great blog Elaine ! It seems the etiquette is slowly disappearing. The point has shifted 80-100 metres towards Shelly especially on the weekends. If you can’t see the roof of the surfclub you gone too far! I
Slim Dusky
10/10/2013 at 12:30 pm
So cool to see my daughter there today. Hopefully she’ll swim again. Great blog E-lane!
Thanks to all the bloggers and people behind the scene for your hard work and commitment.
JK
10/10/2013 at 12:34 pm
Rusty…thanks for the ale and crisps. I look forward to enjoying them both tomorrow night after a hard week and before a hard drinking weekend. Cheers…..JK
LSA aka HKTQ
10/10/2013 at 12:49 pm
Great fun blog, Lainey!
That’s amazing – official boulderdash season starting! Lips, Lainey, Mariah, Storchy, Derek, Chris or any slow swimmer want to help me kick the season off tomorrow, willing to stay more-or-less alongside? Must be still pretty dark at 5.50….
alyson
10/10/2013 at 12:50 pm
Welcome to Soleil and he friends – come back again soon!!
Lips
10/10/2013 at 1:29 pm
Great blog Elaine! How nice to see Soleil joining us today.
Always a tough act following Lesley’s award winning Wednesday blog, but you pulled it off.
Love your sign off pic with our favourite swimmers and Shaun!
Lips
10/10/2013 at 1:29 pm
Hmmm.. Pre-Lemur start. Scary. I’ll think about it.
Great photo bomb by the way! 🙂
DWTG
10/10/2013 at 1:47 pm
OI !!!!
The Real Lips
10/10/2013 at 1:55 pm
Oops, I meant to say: “… our favourite swimmers INCLUDING – especially – SHAUN”.
Adam
10/10/2013 at 1:58 pm
Dear blogger. In your swim safety section you seem to out the onus of responsibility on the smaller groups to avoid collisions. I would say it’s more the other way round. The B&B is so big now that it should be mindful of other swimmers in the ocean at the same time. As a suggestion why not stagger the starts and have 6.30, 7, 7.30 and 8 am start times or similar. That way the large numbers are avoided and we can all enjoy the ocean at the same time without frustration and in safety.
LSA aka HKTQ
10/10/2013 at 2:13 pm
I know…. scary… especially if there are waves too….
Glad you liked the bomb! Hope Rusty and Ros don’t mind the romantic shot being bombed:-)
And yes, great to see Soleil, Mikaela and Cheyenne joining us – they’ll be racing up the Pacific Challenge in no time!
Speaking of which – excited for Little Laura’s next swim as it’ll be a 100K Let’s Go! Also Sergeant Jack – another apres Boot-Camp dip and he’ll be there too:-)
Slow Ian
10/10/2013 at 2:25 pm
Unfortunately, too many start times become an administrative nightmare. I would have to be there until 8.30 at least. There are now two official start times, 6.30 and 7.00 am, which cater for most people. The reason that I have asked random swimmers to look for the regular groups is that they will always know that at our regular times, there will be a large number of swimmers coming their way. Those in the regular groups on the other hand have no idea if there are any random swimmers out there, and it is often difficult to see people coming towards you when you are in a large group of swimmers. That is why I suggested that the randoms swim wide so they don’t have to worry about the big groups so much, and no-one gets hurt.
Maybe we need to get a buoy put in the middle of the bay and we have a keep left policy??
DWTG
10/10/2013 at 3:25 pm
And thank you Ian for your diligent daily ritual of turning up early with the paperwork along with the data input. One of the many volunteers that keep us going.
(It used to be so easy to turn up, shower and tick until Ian started turning up early. ) 🙁
Don’t forget the Lemur run of 6am and the odd phantom 530am run
(when the sun rises early enough)
Great blog Lainey Loo, pity Lips made it into the photos though.
(Also there early on blog days to get the sunrise photos every time)
Absolutely SMACKING sign off pic. Well done.
DWTG
10/10/2013 at 3:27 pm
Btw, “Slow” Ian is not so slow any more!
I demand a rename!
Barnaby Juice
10/10/2013 at 5:06 pm
Who’s this Shaun then?
Barnaby Juice
10/10/2013 at 5:08 pm
wombat!
Legsley
10/10/2013 at 5:09 pm
Speaking as an expert on many name changes 😀 Ian became Slow Ian because back in the old days Channel Swimmer Iain Macgegor who swam with us, was a regular commenter on the blog. But yeah maybe we need to update his name!
AttendanceIan
CuddleIan
ummm??
Slow Ian
10/10/2013 at 5:49 pm
What about the Cuddle Fish
Tayls
10/10/2013 at 5:57 pm
maybe a solution for the ” slower ” swimmers ( which includes moi ) is as a ” sub ” group start 3 – 4 mins before the ” normal ” speed swimmers. This would hopefully result in most of us turning up at Shelley at roughly the same time & not holding everyone up for the return swim.
Just means 2 ” Lets gos ” instead of one. I’m sure John Kelly would oblige.
Drinks
10/10/2013 at 6:31 pm
Good thinking Tayls but if the 7 o’clockers start heading off early you will run into the 6.30 crew who are trying to be back on the beach by 7 and out of the way.
I guess we all love swimming in the ocean because there are no lane ropes and we are free to enjoy the beautiful Cabbage Tree Bay. Ultimately, it is every swimmer’s responsibility to have a look every couple of strokes to check your direction and look for any incoming swimmers
Our wishes go out to Tony and we all hope you make a speedy recovery and that we see you back in the Pink soon.
welovebubbles
10/10/2013 at 7:14 pm
wombat!!
Elaine de Jager
10/10/2013 at 8:18 pm
Would love to join you LSA but just can’t get myself out of bed at 4.50 which seems like 3.50am at present to drive down from Av!
Elaine de Jager
10/10/2013 at 8:21 pm
Thanks DWTG for your nice comments. Shame a couple of people had to be so negative on the blog today. They haven’t even swam with us but have used the blog to criticise.
Elaine de Jager
10/10/2013 at 8:22 pm
Well said Drinky!
Darren
10/10/2013 at 9:28 pm
Pink stack hats for new bnb merchandise? – anyone got a manufacturer in China?