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02/02/14 Where has January gone?

02/02/20149


IMPORTANT: ARRANGEMENTS FOR TOMORROW’S SWIM – Channel Ten will be featuring the B&B in the Red Feb Relay and will be filming at QUEENSCLIFF livetomorrow morning and not Manly as expected. Some of our swimmers will be interviewed on TV. To assist with this, they would like us to swim to Queenscliff and exit the water at the surf club at 7.35 am. Since this will not be convenient for many swimmers, as they will have to walk or swim back to Manly, we will swim in two groups. We will all still leave at 7 am as usual from Manly Surf Club. Those who can spare the time will swim to Queenscliff and exit there, while the rest of us will swim to Shelly as usual. More details tomorrow morning.

Welcome to the toilet roll swim!
Well I’m sure that’s what Ian called it!

So our swim this morning was in the harbour, well unless you were the three that turned up at our normal swim spot and joined the cole classic carnival – must have been a lonely swim!

I don’t know about you, but I’ve found January disappeared as quickly as you can say ‘Julie Isbill!’ But we’re still getting up at 7am and enjoying a swim!

Luckily our regulars found us, here’s Wilf and Simon strolling on up.

“I’ve never been in the blog” came the cry from this lot ……well now you have!

We even had our own shower to use.

Ian explained the route, “navigate round the boats, stop at the new point, onto the toilet rolls ?! And then back”okay then!

What a stunning array of men turned up today! 😉 thanks Jeff for being a poster boy!

A fairly small tidy group waiting till 7:05am ….yes, that’s right, we threw caution to the wind today and really mixed it up! The later start time gave any confused people a chance to catch up with us.

No half-way option for me today, so I had to power along with the group.

A short swim round the boats and a wait at some place or other (I wasn’t quite sure what the landmark was!)

I had a few close encounters with these!

Ian called the lets go….and our neat little group headed off.

Ted …..herded us along.

This ray was seen floating around. Underwater harbour style had plenty of small fish and a pile of bricks.

“Ta-da” our halfway point, some took a rest on the rock ledge, careful to miss the spiky urchins.

The rest bobbed in the waves created by the Manly ferry. I saw a few people taking photos of us from their balconies….maybe a strange sight, nearly 100 pink caps bobbing in the harbour.

Here’s the rocky ledge….prime real estate I couldn’t get in on it!

Before we knew it, we turned back…those who wanted to Bolderdash, or do a double continued on to Little Manly.

I wonder if the ferry folks could see us?

More underwater action from a flathead.

According to Elizabeth’s Garmin we swam 1.9km today! Ian, does that mean we extra km’s on our pacific challenge?
Other news….
Jill Rankin sent this photo in from yesterday’s 6km swim! Well done to you all! Looks like it was a fun swim.

 

Bottom of Blog..

Red Cap Swim!

Bold & Beautiful – turning red for Feb! Happening tomorrow!

February is Heart Research Month, which is a great cause for us to support! So as a team we are going to attempt to swim 6,000 kilometres during February and aim to raise one dollar per kilometre swum for the RedFeb Relay. Now because we have signed on as the first community partner and pledged so many kilometres the Heart Research Australia team have managed to get our ugly mugs on Breakfast TV! We have tentatively scheduled the TV crew (with Dr Andrew Rochford) to follow our swim on Monday 3rd February (at the start of Heart Research Month), so please try to be there on that day. We will have new RED caps to wear just for the day BUT we all need to share this link (here) and get our friends and family to pledge some money towards heart research before then otherwise when asked the question on live TV of how much money we have raised we won’t be embarrassed!

P.S. If any of you have any connection with heart disease and would like to share your story I can put you in touch with the Communications Manager at Heart Research Australia, she would love to hear from you.

B&B Monthly Dinner is back! – WITH SPECIAL GUEST SPEAKER!

Our regular monthly dinner is held at Bluewater Restaurant Manly every second Tuesday – This month’s dinner will be on Tuesday 11th February at 6.30 pm. The cost is only $20 a head and includes shared entrees, a selection of mains to choose (incl a vegetarian option), corkage (for byo wine only) and a little thank you for the staff. Glasses of beer or wine and desserts are also available at the special price of only $5 each. Numbers are limited, so bookings are essential:

To secure your spot please BOOK HERE NOW,

This event will sell out, so please book ASAP to avoid disappointment.

GUEST SPEAKER will be Belinda Curley, a Marine Ecologist based at the Sydney Institute of Marine Science at Chowder Bay. Much of Belinda’s research has been concentrated in our very own Cabbage Tree Bay. Belinda will present a short talk at the dinner about the importance of marine reserves for conservation, and will highlight the ‘four seasons of marine organisms in Cabbage Tree Bay’ – what we know about the creatures that live there, including dusky whalers, tropical and temperate fish recruits, jellyfish, port jackson sharks, giant cuttlefish and more.

B&B i-log

Now that the new work year has kicked in, save time and be ever so efficient, by using the B&B i-log. It’s a smart phone friendly website so no need to download, just bookmark it. There are so many good reasons to use the B&B Login – like no queues, no need for glasses to find your name, never missing the 7am call, and you can do it on the bus or ferry on the way to work.

Log your swim ANYTIME that day for an easy way to ensure your swim is recorded in the daily attendance and on the Pacific Challenge. To get started, send an email to Ian Forster (ugoboyo@gmail.com). He will check that your email address is activated on the attendance register then send you info on how to get started

Summer badge swims

Every Saturday during summer there will be a 6km swim – usual route is to Freshwater and back; then once a month there is a 10km swim – this is to South Curl Curl and back. However, the final route depends on conditions that day so it is a good idea to arrive a little early to have a briefing from the designated swim leader. Both swims kick off at 7am.

The proposed date for the next 10km swim is 15 February depending on conditions. This date will depend on final confirmation of local surf carnivals so keep checking the blog for updates.

Bolderdash

This daily swim to Queenscliff and back DEPARTS the surf club at 5.50am. As these are generally intimate groups, please WAIT for everyone in the water before heading off. Do buddy up with someone – great to be with someone who has the same pace – that way everyone is ‘accounted for’ at Queenscliff.

Staying safe

Remember that there are no badges for scaring yourself silly! While it is great to extend your boundaries, it is important to know your limits. Do read these excellent tips on staying safe in the surf. To read, or even download, click here.

Stats:

Regulars:91 (including the 3 that missed the memo and swam at Shelly)

Newbies:8

Water temp:21.5

Total km for Feb: 733km

Signing off: Snorkles (and a poor attempt at getting the manly ferry in the background!)

 

 


9 comments

  • Lesbubbles

    02/02/2014 at 12:06 pm

    It was actually a great swim… I was kinda dreading it!!! Because there wasn’t the usual staggered start ie we all started together!!! I ended up in top 3rd to arrive at toilet roll!! 🙂
    That ray I think is a numb fish?? I saw lots of little fish which is great!!
    Great blog coverage Snorks! You captured the swim well!

  • Snorkles

    02/02/2014 at 12:42 pm

    Yes….I too thought it was a numb fish …..quite a decent size!
    Quite a disorientating swim for me, I’m so used to the topography round at Shelly that I was all over the place (more than usual!) today!
    Mind you managed to annoy plenty of folk in the 840 wave in the cole classic ….it turns out that whilst you are allowed fins and a snorkel in the ‘back of the pack’ many aren’t so keen when in the water next to then 😉

  • LSA aka HKTQ

    02/02/2014 at 1:26 pm

    It’s not often that a Bangkok hotel pool swim is more exciting than a B&B swim, but the pool swim won hands down today!
    Jon and I down for our usual 6.15 dawn swim – still pretty dark and lifeguards still sleeping. Sleepy warm-up laps and then we saw it – a beautiful python over 3m long in the smaller pool which our pool flows into!!
    It had made its way there during the night from the river. It took a team about 40 mins to carefully ‘rescue’ it into a large bag ready to be transported to another spot before the rest of the hotel woke upt:-)
    Tickets for luxury hotel python swims on sale soon!

  • Elizabeth

    02/02/2014 at 2:00 pm

    A fabulous blog! Great sign-off photo too. Special mention to the pro dive boat driver who shouted at us at the tail end to keep swimming and get out of his way. Which is what I was doing until I stopped to hear what he was shouting. A luxury unit resident jumped into the water and asked where is Elaine. I pointed ahead but did she miss a swim!? It was a nice swim like usual in unusual location

  • Anna McC

    02/02/2014 at 2:27 pm

    Pythons in luxury hotel pools? Luxury unit residents jumping into the water asking after Elaine?
    Is this all a dream?
    Lovely photo of Brendon, John and Jeff.

  • Pacific Jules

    02/02/2014 at 2:32 pm

    Looks like a lovely and fun swim for u guys this am.
    Yes, that’s a numb fish.
    I’m glad to know my name resonates for a whole month 🙂
    Your swim sounds like a very unique treat this morning LSA & Jon, what a privilege to swim with a python ! Glad it wasn’t feeling cuddly 😉
    We had a ‘different’ swim this am too as we got ushered out of the water by the helicopter for a shark sighting, then the fisheries boat came and laid 5 baits in close to shore in attempt to capture the shark :-(. It hadn’t taken the bait by the time we left an hour later so hopefully it wasn’t hungry 🙂

  • Marije

    02/02/2014 at 4:01 pm

    I like your sign off photo of the ferry haha! I heard the pro Dive boat driver shouting (me and my friends actually call them Pro Die as my friend got stuck in a net while doing a night dive with them and they never noticed). Was wondering what that shouting was about. Python in a pool?! Sounds pretty scary sarah!

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