BOLD & BEAUTIFUL IS NOT CURRENTLY SWIMMING AS A GROUP
SOCIAL DISTANCING IS STILL REQUIRED.
STAY INSIDE UNLESS EXERCISING. EXERCISE AND GO HOME
CORONAVIRUS (COVID)
Swimmers are coming from all over to swim at Shelly, Halfway and South Steyne. Here are Jess and Tom at Shelly. It took me ages to get in and they said it was warm in but they were both wearing wetsuits! Eventually I did get in and they were right. It was much warmer in than out
— I took photos but they won’t load so check out facebook
One Swimmer’s notes for a swim holiday – thanks Allan Bicknell for notes on a swim extravaganza in NZ which was held only in February 2020!!!
In January 2020 my family and I were lucky enough to travel to New Zealand for 10 days, I thought I would see if there were any open water swims that I could do while we were there, after googling open water swimming New Zealand I found a website, https://oceanswims.nz/.
Using this to work out our itinerary. This gave me a variety of swimming that we could do.
On January 21st we swam at Takapuna which is only 9Kms North of Auckland
This is part of the Auckland Beach Series run every Tuesday afternoon during summer.
There are 5 distances each week, 250m for Juniors 12 years and under, 500m, 1000m, 1500m & 2000m, on this day I did the 1000m race there is also beach and coastal runs and stand-up paddle board races as part of the series during Summer.
The website is https://beachseries.co.nz/event-info/swim/
On Thursday January 23rd we swam at Tauranga which is 210Kms from Auckland.
This is run as part of the “Team Shorebreak Inc Ocean Swim Series” there was a 1500m swim from under the Road Bridge down the harbor to the rail bridge.
The website is https://www.facebook.com/bridgetobridgeswim
On Saturday afternoon January 25th I swam at Blue Lake Rotorua, which was 64kms south of Tauranga.
This was part of the RATS, Rotorua Association of Triathlon and Multisports, Blue Lakes Multisports Festival. The race was as 2000m in a beautiful freshwater lake.
They take you by bus to the other end of the lake where you start on the beach and swim across then down the lake to the finish.
The website is https://rats.org.nz/events/blue-lake-multisport-festival
On Sunday morning January 26th I swam at Wellington, which was 450kms south of Rotourua, we drove down stopping at Palmerston North overnight and experienced an earth tremor at about 1am
This the Capital Classic which is part of the “New Zealand Swim Series”
I did the 3.3Km swim out past the fountain and around a light house, it was held in Wellington harbour so seeing a large container ship sail past was quite an experience, I am sure it was not as close as it seemed from water level.
The Web site is https://oceanswim.co.nz/events/capital-classic-wellington/
On Tuesday January 28th we swam again at Takapuna
I did the 1500m race this day.
On Thursday 30th we swam at Mt Maunganui, near Tauranga. This is also run as part of the “Team Shorebreak Inc Ocean Swim Series” there was a 1500m swim where they used boats as the rounding buoys, it was a well-run event.
They also run an event that is around the mountain, it goes from the beach on the ocean side around the mountain to finish on the harbour beach, it looks like one to do in the future.
The website is https://www.facebook.com/teamshorebreakincoceanseries
We arrived back in Sydney just in time to swim in the Cole Classic on Sunday February 2nd
Seems a life on another planet now! Maybe soon we will be able to make such plans.
Something to watch:
A Kiwi film-maker and outdoor swimmer based in London, Patrick McLennan, thought B&B swimmers might be interested in watching his film, The Ponds, about the all year-round swimmers of Hampstead Heath, London. We are sure it will resonate with many of our swimmers and is a nice feel good story of healthy, well-being and passion for the cold water buzz, a nice light relief movie to enjoy at this time…
Here’s the trailer: https://vimeo.com/406188620
Rent it here: https://vimeo.com/ondemand/theponds
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WHAT I HAVE BEEN READING
I have been reading a lot but I could not recommend any of the books. A Litter of Bones (JD Kirk) was an average police procedural with some illogical plot points; A Long Petal of the Sea by Isabel Allende (it is ok; I am fascinated with the passion with which tens of thousands of people from all over Europe went to Spain to fight fascism in the civil war . I don’t think I had understood that before but also I wondered if Abba’s song Fernando was about the Spanish Civil War ) and The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek (interesting as it was set in Kentucky during the Depression of 1930 and included characters taking books to poor people to help them read but it also included a character who was one of the blue people of Kentucky but the book was not as interesting as the subject matter suggested and was a bit chick-lit-like which is ok but not what I like).
2 comments
junissima27@gmail.com
01/05/2020 at 6:55 pm
Loved the account of all those swims in NZ – amazing holiday planning and sounds like great fun!
Juliette
01/05/2020 at 8:03 pm
thank you Elizabeth – your NZ holiday is very inspiring. I have recently read the biography of David Gulpilil by Derek Rielly and then ended up watching quite a few of his films, starting with Walkabout. I really enjoyed his films after knowing more about him. A fascinating life.