It wasn’t as sunny and sparkling today as last Saturday when I took the photo above, but it was a lot quieter with only 330 of us in Cabbage Tree Bay! (620 of us last Saturday). Australia Day Friday will be huge. I started swimming with the B&B on 26 Jan 2011 and there was actually a big crowd that day including Dawn Fraser who joined us. We’re expecting record numbers on Friday. (Please come with a few coins for our charity cake stall, empty bellies and even a plate of something for us to sell please!)
Murray having a stretch before his swim… He’s a lovely lad and the Baywatch crew are raising awareness and funds for youth mental health issues. Him and his friends are trying to get more young people down to the swim too, as we all know it’s the best ‘Happy Pill’ around…
I met Neeva and Ben today. Ben has just started swimming with us and is amazing according to his friend Neeva. He is visually impaired, only 15, runs and swims and is a great babysitter for her kids.
Lovely ladies, Annie and Henrietta
Lesbubbs and John Kelly were regular swimmers when I started swimming a lot in late 2011, Rainer and Wendy have been around a long time too!
Michele comes back from her early swim before rushing off to her job as head of Emergency at Manly Hospital. I’m actually writing this blog from the hospital at the moment! (Grandpa Trevor over from England is just checking out something, sure he’ll be ok…) We were looked after SO well. Thank you, thank you
A few waves today but it was a warm 21.9 in the water.
The Wow ladies were a bit late getting in today, too much chatting at the wall!
Eva and Sterling, (a couple and in lurv), with two of the 16 newbies that started today.
Maddie in the middle shares a swim with her Grandma and Aunty 🙂
Gemma and Lesbubbs try and give Lips a lift but it doesn’t work out as planned!
Our fearless leader, Sarah and Turbo. Ian had so m
Ben and Neeva again
Kyle
Dorset
Karen enjoying a swim with her lovely daughter Hoebe, whom she hopes will become a regular. Come back soon Hoebs!
Post-swim coffee with Sue, Trevor and Janet. Sue will be swimming her 2000 km on Australia Day so please be around for an arch. She goes down in history as reaching the 2000 km mark in the fastest time!
Fish photos from the last time I blogged 2 weeks ago, not very clear today.
George the Groper at the Bower about 10 days ago
Old Wives
Lesbubbs and Anne looking pretty…
Lesbubbs and Anne looking… pretty awful 😉 !!!
IMPORTANT NOTICE – AUSTRALIA DAY Weekend
As usual, Australia Day, next Friday, will be a huge event. We will be meeting at the surf club as normal but, please try to arrive early, allow time for parking, and wait on the beach if possible to avoid congestion on the walkway. At 7 am we will gather together to sing the national anthem on the beach before we enter the water. For safety reasons, we request that when you reach Shelly Beach you wait for the “Let’s go” before returning to Manly. Also, if the regular swimmers could help by ensuring the many new swimmers make it to Shelly and back safely please. Every year, we encourage swimmers to wear our national colours/flags or other paraphernalia. It should be an impressive sight.
CAKE STALL Drop offs so welcome!
On Saturday 27th January and Sunday 28th January, our swim will commence at Shelly Beach at 7 am. This is necessary due to Surf Carnivals being held at Manly SLSC. Please do NOT leave your belongings at the surf club, as they will obstruct the running of the events. There will be no 6 km swim on Saturday due to the surf carnival.
Due to the large number of swimmers expected next weekend, we urge you to take particular care in the water. Remember, we are not racing; we are here to enjoy our swim. Please be mindful of our swimming etiquette, and avoid swimming on top of other swimmers. If you do collide with someone else, please stop and make sure that they are not injured. Let’s make this a great weekend for all involved.
I was asked to put this on end of blog below
And the results from yesterday;
WOW….. We had just under 50 people attend out first beach clean!!!!
Firstly we just want to say a huge thankyou to every single one of you who came out this morning – battling through car park nightmares, hangovers, heat and long drives to do something amazing for our environment
Collectively you all picked up…
– half a bucket of bottle caps
– a quarter bucket of cigarette butts
– 2 full bags of glass bottles
– 3 full bags of general waste [food packaging etc]
– half a bucket of cutlery
– 38 straws
– Full bag of plastic cups and bottles
– full bag of cardboard
– 18 coffee cups
– 6 pieces of rope/netting
– a pair of heels
– undies
– 4 socks
– 13 hair accessories
Well done!!! You should all be so proud of the huge impact you have made on the area of Shelly beach today, potentially saving hundreds of animals from ingestion and entanglement in this debris. We will be submitting the data collected today to the Australia Marine Debris Initiative to add to the database of debris collected from beach cleans all over Australia!
Have a great day folks
Lainey
With my gorgeous friend Aly, who’s over from Germany for a couple of weeks. We used to swim together 3 times a week and swam with the whale together 🙂
4 comments
Edwina harrison
24/01/2018 at 2:18 pm
Anne and Lesley being funny! 😂 what a fun blog to read thanks.
Lisa B
24/01/2018 at 2:56 pm
Beautiful blog Lainey. It has something for everyone. I hope your dad is ok and can take it easy. Great photos!
Paul
24/01/2018 at 4:07 pm
Huge congrats to Cheryl for setting new standards of abuse on the 30 Day box with 201 km. Love your work.
Thanks for blogging, Lainey. The opening photo is a gem.
Fiona Horn
24/01/2018 at 6:52 pm
Fab blog.Hope the Indigenous flag will be flying on Oz day along with ‘the other Union-Jack one’….and maybe an acknowledgement of traditional owners? Thanks!