The coldest ever, and one of the best ever!

Today as I walked to the club I thought it should be time to start celebrating the end of winter. Only two weeks left of cold swimming and air temps, and two weeks left to pack in swims to get your winter badge. The view was beautiful: calm water that was flat enough to walk on as someone else said with a sunrise peaking through clouds and one lone swimmer heading to Queenscliff.

Then I bumped into Murray who had swum, changed and was walking home as I arrived at 6.30am. He was the one who informed me of the cold water and recorded temperature of 14.4 degrees. The lowest ever for the group I’m told by Ian.

And it was true, John tried for 5 minutes to get a warmer reading, but it was the coldest recorded swim for the group today. Everyone was in shock as they checked the board and either danced in their wetsuits or wished they had wetsuits.

People were still excited to be at the swim and start their Sunday with some exercise, sun and friendship. There were 300 people today and two newbies, can’t imagine what they were thinking on the their first swim.

Above are Selma and Emmanual, a couple chatting away next to me in French who have started swimming recently.

Nothing could prepare you for the icy entry into the water, really did take a bit of getting used to and became slightly less icy once you passed the point and entered the scenic route. Partly because I swam hard to keep up with Port Jacksons on the hunt and all the fish on display in the crystal clear waters.

This group of men below were heading to Queenscliff. That’s a long swim for those like Dan who didnt’ wear a wetsuit in that temp. Mind you, they aren’t slow.

John, in the yellow cap, recently swam the English Channel.

This puffer fish was not fussed by me being so close at all.  Peter Barford tells me they’re blind, he swam near the surface quite a lot, with the PJ’s flying underneath and other fish all nearby too.

Katrina posed for a photo with Katrina and Ingrid , all three came to see what I was looking at. I was mesmerised by the clarity adn how close everything was today. Normally I have to dive deep to get photos.

Breakfast afterwards is always a treat no matter where you dine or who you dine with. Boathouse even had a small fire place to stand next to! Handy for those still recovering from the cold.

BLOGGERS REQUIRED

 Our hard working band of bloggers need help, particularly in the next few Wednesdays but also to try and ease the load on some of our single person bloggers (bloggers who do the same day every week).  If you would like to try your hand at journalism on a once or twice a month basis, contact any blogger or John or Ian and volunteer.  Get a group together and we can help you roster yourselves.  Come on, get involved and help us out.

That’s it from me today, have a great Sunday  everyone.

Edwina.