Thursday 12 July 2018: We swim with a bunch of crazies, oh yes and England lost!!

I’ve come to the conclusion that we swim with a bunch of crazies – people that do abnormal things, always pushing the boundaries and don’t we love following their adventures.

Yesterday we had the pleasure of going out on John Lehmann’s lovingling restored yacht ‘Seabird’ to see Captain Matt Hayes, Sailor Syd Seymour and Sailor Nicky Kukulka sail our of Sydney Harbour on ‘Influencer’ as they head to Darwin for the start of the Arc World Rally.  John’s shot shows Bryon keeping a watch on festivities. More on that later.

So just who are the crazies we swim with – these two are out before dark most mornings, returning as the sun rises to embark on their day.  These guys are tough, no wetsuit, no worries about conditions, just get in and get it done.

Not quite as hard core, but still crazy nonetheless are our 6.30 bunch. In winter the numbers are a little down, and particularly this morning as there was some type of sport being played in Russia.  Some game that involves a lot of pretending your opposite number imposed serious damage each time they come near you.

They left just as the sun was starting to to come up.

We have some crazy fashion trends, which generally involve swimmers or a wetsuit and ugg boots to keep the toesies nice and warm.

This crazy sums up the result this morning – lovely Elaine who represented as so well at the weekend on Channel 9 was so disappointed that England lost to Croatia in a penalty shootout.

Just before 7am Lainey was finishing as many English supporters as she could to commiserate with.

See LesBubs I can take an okay photo of you!!!.

I swam with Edwina today who found another crazy laying on a rock near the point.

Jacqui has a crazy collection of swimsuits, she’s pictured here with members of the WOW’s.

And yet another group of crazies who braved the 16.6 degrees this morning.

Yesterday we had some crazies as well – this bloke kept popping up around us.

Back to those crazies yesterday.  There was a great turnout of Bold and Beautiful swimmers at Darling Harbour where the team on ‘Influencer’ departed from, at North Head waving as they exited the heads and on the water.

Here’s a few pics taken by myself, Pauline Forster, John Lehmann and some stolen from Facebook.

And this morning we got a note from Matt “Thanks guys for the great photos and videos as we left Sydney Harbour. We are currently just off Seal Rocks having survived our first sunset and sunrise with flying colours!”  We understand they have even seen whales.

You can follow their progress by downloading the app YB Racing or on the link
https://www.worldcruising.com/world_arc/world_arc/eventfleetviewer.aspx

Note their rally involving Matt and the Influencer team starts in September from Darwin. 

Safe sailing and may the winds be in your favour.

Myrtle the Turtle

Management news:

Temperature: 16.6 degrees
Newbies: None
Regular crazies:  143

WINTER BADGES:

The Winter swimming season is finally here!

Although the water temperature may be a little colder than you might like, there are several advantages of swimming in winter, including flat seas, good visibility and no bluebottles.

Perhaps the biggest advantage is that you can also qualify for a winter badge by swimming a minimum of 20 times between 1st June and 31st August.

You must also swim in at least 7 different weeks. If you manage to do all of your qualifying swims without a wetsuit (or other thermal enhancing equipment), you will also qualify for the coveted WWW badge (Winter without wetsuit).