13/08/2017 – Surf2Shelly

What a Sunday! A total of 290 happy swimmers made it down to Manly this morning, despite an aggressive multi-million-dollar marketing campaign by Fairfax Media to poach swimmers for the City2Surf run.

 

If you don’t have much time – here’s an Executive Summary:

• Perfect winter conditions this morning
• Whales in the bay yesterday
• Julie Isbill is still in town
• Eva’s last swim today (for real)
• Elaine’s birthday this Thursday

The morning started off beautifully. Sunshine, slight offshore winds, glassy conditions.

The usual characters loitering around the surf club..

 

 

 

 

 

Welcome back Martin – testing Australia’s first mind-controlled bionic arm:

 

Here’s one for the Jimbo Appreciation Society (you know who you are):

 

And, never shy of a little competition, Jimbo brought down two good looking new swimmers from Melbourne.

Welcome Andy and Phoebe:

 

NEWS FLASH – Confirmed Whale Sighting in Cabbage Tree Bay!

Stop the press! We have now confirmation that there were 3 (!!!) whales in the bay yesterday. Unfortunately, the timing of the whales was off, so the 7am swim didn’t get an opportunity to earn another Whale Badge.

Important Reminder: To qualify for a Whale Badge, the swim must be completed WITH pink cap and WITH whale(s) between 6am and 8am. For more details, please reach out to BnB Management.

Regular BnB swimmer and free diver extraordinaire Mauricio captured yesterday’s encounter with his camera:

 

If you don’t know Mauricio, he can hold his breath for up to 12 minutes and talks to dolphins, turtles, and dusky whalers.

Here a photo of Mauricio with our resident turtle in 2015:

 

City2Surf Playing Catch-up:

In other news, Sydney hosted its 47th City to Surf run today. For comparison, the BnB marked its 3145th Bold and Beautiful swim at Manly today. Eat your heart out, Fairfax!

 

The 7am main event – swimmers walking down the ramp on-time and in orderly fashion:

 

Annie, yelling style advise to me from the outdoor showers:

 

 

What it’s all about:

 

 

 

Did I mention Julie is back?

 

Julie with Saturday blogger Megan. At The Point:

 

Over at Shelly, swimmers in the know gather at ‘The Sunny Spot’:

 

 

 

 

If you read yesterday’s blog, you will know that it was lovely Eva’s last swim with us today:

 

Last swim eva..  (okay, we’ve beaten this one to death..):

 

Apparently, Eva is flying out on Tuesday.. sounds to me like she can swim tomorrow. Just sayin’..

 

Last Let’s Go from Eva.. eva:

 

 

Did I mention Julie is in town?

 

Fun Fact #1:

On average, 2 out of 3 BnB swimmers have now completed the English Channel:

 

At some point, Julie started charging $5 for a photo with her.

Julie is still in town until Wednesday, available for kids birthdays, bar mitzvahs, and corporate events:

 

Wave of the Day

Wave of the Day went to Petra who rode this ferocious monster to shore:

 

Wow – can’t believe this just happened.. something to tell the grand-kids about.

 

 

Fun Fact #2:

Did you know that Elaine and Petra were born in the same village in the North Midlands?

 

Born elsewhere:

 

Dorset – born to dance:

 

Shane & Ted’s excellent adventure continues..

 

Same hairdresser:

 

Meg, Ghost, Dave:

 

That’s all for today. I’d like to remind everyone that it’s Lainey’s birthday on Thursday. You know how she hates fuss. Let’s keep it low key. If you feel that way inclined you can gather for a quiet drink at the Wharf Bar after 5pm on Thursday.

Also, if you would like to see more pictures of Eva, please refer to Megan’s excellent blog from yesterday. Personally, I printed it out in colour.

Have a great Sunday. Soak up the sun. Love life. Be nice to each other!

Lips x

 

The Stats:

Swimmers:    290

Newbies:      7

Water:         17.3

Whales:        None (as of 10am)