Wednesday 22nd December – the day after the longest day and the shortest night of the year.   Water temp: 23.3 degrees – kind of like swimming equivalent of warm beer & jelly soup! air temp at 6:30am 22.1 degrees – warmer in  than out! conditions: flat, clear, loads of sea lice and jelly blubbery...

Sue and Heather in front of a Sandman! Yesterday’s photo I admit but the snowman made from sand with a carrot nose was such a lovely, christmassy sight, (reminded me of Birmingham…well maybe not quite!) It was a stunning swim today with much clearer, flatter water and a few gentle waves. Water temp 23.3! Happy...

water temp 22 viz 7/10 Festive spirit: peaking   The silly season is truly upon us with everything lining up very nicely for a festive few weeks. Faint tones of Mariah and Bieber can be heard floating over the sea breeze… Everyone is in high spirits, smiles are in abundance and that warm fuzzy feeling...

Guy with light & thermometer@5:18am.     Longest day of the year is tomorrow. Hasko Patrick & Kenny@5:38. Jane Jo & Danny@5:41am.   Boys@6:30am.   Lucy’s Brad (gun swimmer)@6:32am.   Fiona & Sophie (neighbours & swim buddies).   Derek with board.   New swimmers can now be greeted & registered by Ann as well as...

A south-easterly swell with a gently northerly wind sounds the perfect combination for a long swim, right? Possibly, but the conditions weren’t particularly gentle today. However a large group of keen swimmers were not to be denied their 6K badge. More on this later Some disturbance this morning in the form of a charity sausage...

How good were they? FFF* were doing ins and outs in them and the bodysurfing on display was SO GOOD that I went into the waves on purpose.   So many bags on the wall. What a turn out. As end of year approaches people’s minds turn to swimming at Manly Arriving for a swim...

It was a beautiful swim today – the water was warm, visibility was better and no sea lice / bitey things in the water. Clouds to the West   Sun to the East I didn’t see many fish today, but the jelly blobbers are still around. Last Saturday Anne Edwards led 11 of us on...

Bit of a wave but mostly flat, warm water, blue sky and lots of swimmers and paddlers about. It felt like summer today. I arrived close to 6 am with the intent of getting the early swimmers into the blog. Imagine my surprise when I saw Shaun Ken and others emerging from the sea having...

There was a great happy, party-like atmosphere down at the swim this morning! Two birthdays and Jo Gregory clocked up her 3000 km swim. Great to see a nice group at Shelly bathed in sunshine . The water was fairly calm, clearer than the last few days and the temp was up to 21.2! Jo...

This morning I left Manly at 6:45 am and drove to Canberra to see our son Adam and granddaughter Matilda. So it’s a remote blog from me.   BNB swimmers and readers of the blog are an international bunch. I was fortunate enough to spend a year living in New York and still introduce myself...