31/08/2012 – Last Winter Swim for 2012 !!

101 Bold & Beautiful swimmers celebrate the last day of 2012 winter swimming – yippee !!

As predicted the sea was calm, peaceful and very inviting.

With people excited to be celebrating the last day of winter

But perceptions can be deceiving

How cold was it !?

 

Blooming cold !!  15.2 degrees kind of cold… the coldest water temp we have had in years !  But clearly it’s still not ‘that’ cold as 4 swimmers continued on for a double, 2 without a wetsuit !

It doesn’t matter what the temperature is you always need to spit in your goggles to make sure they don’t fog, hey Jenny.

 

Deb was wondering what was under the water at we gathered at the point

Plenty of plankton was the answer, which was glowing beautifully in the sun.  None of it was the stingy kind you’ll be pleased to hear.

There was lots of large schools of tiny fish too.

 

Gosh we’re tough swimming through winter 😉

• 

It really was a beautiful swim, thank goodness the sun was shining !

Congratulations to all 197 swimmers who qualified for their 2012 ‘Cold & Beautiful’ Badge !  7 of whom like living on the edge, as they qualified today 🙂  One of which was Rob Boylan who rushed back from the Gold Coast last night especially for his badge.

Rob is also one of our great new sponsors from Ilchester, who believe in leasing for lifestyle.  Check it out here… If you’re looking to lease office space in Manly, it really doesn’t get any better than this !!!  Just think, you can swim, go for brekkie and then it’s a casual 1 minute stroll to your office with a view, very nice 🙂

Well done to all 700 people who swam at least once during winter !  To the 197 who qualified for their ‘Cold & Beautiful’ badge, 68 of whom swam without a wetsuit enabling
them to also qualify for their ‘Winter Without Wetsuit’ Badge !

Winter Badge Ceremony will be held at Whitewater with a $10 brekkie straight after the swim on Sunday 9th Sept !  Everyone is welcome… Bookings are essential though for catering purposes, so please book here asap, thank you.

Make sure you get the SMH today and go to the centre page of The
Sydney Magazine !!  You will find a gorgeous two page photo of Anna with
a whole bunch of us in the background along with a lovely article on the importance of B&B to Anna personally.  You
can also see it online here
Thanks
to all the wonderful people who swim with us, B&B is so important
and special to each of us in many different ways 🙂

A reminder that it’s Collie’s last swim with us tomorrow before he leaves to take on the English Channel solo   !  So please come down to great a farewell human arch for Collie to swim through as we enter the water tomorrow to wish farewell and a successful channel crossing !! 🙂   Ben’s farewell swim will be on Saturday 15th Sept.

Good luck to all our Hawaii swimmers, Adam Moore, Bruce Baird, John Bond, Richard Agius, Simon Cowell and Stephen Coulter who are competing together in the 16km Maui Channel swim tomorrow !!!  Peter Collins is also over there competing in his pink cap for one of the City Tatts teams, and Annette and Paul Willows and Krytsyna Weston are on the side lines cheering them on ready to join in the Waikiki swim on Monday.

B&B have a team entered in the Manly Relay for Life to raise money and awareness for Cancer Research by walking around Kierle Park for 18 hours on 15th & 16th September.  We had a great time at our fundraiser in the Rocks last night which was kindly organised by Jenny Menzies and sponsored by the Australian Hotel.  If you would like to support this great cause and sponsor our team please click here

 

Until next year, cheerio winter, see you in 9 months 🙂

For you lot though… see you all tomorrow for the first day of spring !! 🙂

Water Temperature 15.2
Air Temperature 9.0
Sunrise 6.15am
Sunset 5.36pm
High Tide: 7.55am
Low Tide: 1.47pm

To read Michael’s tips on how to stay safe in the surf please click here