The choices on offer…. Saturday delivered

Manly was already getting busy at 06.30hrs with the set up of the volleyfest.com.au at north steyne, where selections are being made for our Commonwealth team members for next year on the Gold Coast. This man was in charge of setting up today and found me snooping around the outside!

Six newbies apparently, I only met a few of  you. Here is a selection of them, Elana and Tiffany-

John

Victoria on the left in above photo, is getting married today at 3pm and chose to start the day with  a B+B swim! Congratulations on your wedding day and hope you washed any nerves away with all that surf and seaweed!

It wasn’t the best conditions today, surfy and choppy and a bit of a current pulling forwards/backwards and sideways, with the temperature dropping to 17.9 degrees. I wasn’t complaining because I haven’t swum since the 5th my attendance history tells me. I opted for the halfway entry and exit, but enjoyed watching the 200 odd swimmers enter through the surf. I’ll give the extra 23 people to Andrew’s early group 🙂

Interesting assortment of budgy smugglers today, quite colourful:

I found a few different groups gathering today, Huw brought some friends down:

The WOWs starting to get ready and get their gear sorted on the wall:

Next door had an even bigger gathering on the wall:

Alot of people regretted not bringing wetsuits down but honestly it wasn’t that cold, just the initial briskness, then lots of other things to think about like the waves/surf/stingers/seaweed. All of which didn’t bother me because I entered at halfway 🙂 Some people entered through the surf but chose to exit at halfway, some did entry and exit at halfway like me. Others did the full swim, and I just got a message from Paul to say he and Peter did a swim to Freshwater and back! In those choppy conditions, some people are too keen perhaps. These girls planned for a colder swim:

These girls regretted not planning for the colder swim, Leveena blames her tiredness on the Midnight Oil concert, everyone who has been has given rave reviews.

Always love seeing a family swimming, if the young children can do it , anyone can, especially when it’s a bit rough and daunting.

It was still choppy at halfway and this man was helping the girls put on flippers by holding them up in the water- not easy when the waves are pushing you over.

Elaine and friends went over to the bower break where the surf was really breaking! She provided these pics of the fun they had getting into the water and at the bower:

I had a paddle with Lizzy Ecks and then we bumped into Fiona. All three of us haven’t swum for a while so it was nice to take it gently, bounce around and just enjoy the water again. Not much to see under the surface cos of the bounciness and murkiness. But well worth starting the process of getting back to regular swimming again.

As I walked back to Manly I bumped into Greg and we watched a guy get stuck too close to the rocks, he stood up for a while and tried jumping back in but each time it failed, in the end he succumbed to the conditions and went back to Manly.

Apparently Patrick’s in charge of my fan club, lucky me, nice to know some people out there love me 🙂 Never get to see some of you enough either, it’s a fly by swim some days and other days it’s jump from group to group while you’re all there mingling.

Found this guy trying to hide on the walk back to Manly.

Then I found Greg and stopped to chat, before you know it, it’s a gathering of pre and post swimmers:

Two choices if you like , should you feel like supporting worthwhile causes, one is a newbie doing the Movember thing. Cam is new to the swim group and highlighting the mens health so here is a link. Unfortunately men suffer just as much as women do from all sorts of health issues, but it’s never been discussed as openly as women chatting over coffee and discussing their various complaints. Nor has it been prominent in the press until recent years, Jeff Kennett being one person who helped bring anxiety/depression to the fore. There will be a cake stall Dec 2nd for Movember, girls and guys get baking. The WOWs are already planning.

mobro.co/cameron-daddo

The other one some of us know about- fellow blogger and early swimmer-“mother of five sons”-Nat Sengchanh: newly diagnosed with breast cancer and below is the link her husband Vira started.

https://www.gofundme.com/nats-fight-against-breast-cancer 

I”m sure either swimmer would appreciate a slap on the back hello or hug of support during their swims.

Business: Christmas party soon-Roger has kindly done the advert, love your work Roger Dodger, see below.