Wednesday 1st December – Welcome back! LETS GO!

Finally… those magic words at the magic hour of 7am!

joy was everywhere this morning!

 

Water temp – 19.8 degrees!   its SUMMER!

Air temp – 20.2 degrees at 7am

wave action – a few little wavelets otherwise fairly smooth

Energy & stoke – off the charts!

water clarity – murky – possibility of bio luminescence tonight!

 

For some reason “Dont you forget about me”, the title song (by Simple Minds) of the movie “the breakfast club” was running through my head today …  it feels like after over 18 months of “detention” we’re finally free – officially –  to be together again.    Since this song is epic, I won’t butcher it so I’ve settled on “the night before [summer] to describe today (hopefully did it today justice!)..

 

 

T’was the night before Summer, and all through the house

flames of excitement are building, too hot to douse

swimsuits are ready, bags by the stairs,

goggles, pink cap, towel, plus plenty of spares;

swimmers are sleeping, snugly in bed,

dreams of joining the group again, firmly in their heads;

suddenly, in no time, the sun appears

time to leap out of bed, dress, and towards Manly to steer;

down at the beach swimmers start to gather

waiting for the clock to tick over to 7am, timing matters;

the welcome desk is finally back

to greet new swimmers, and provide swim caps to all, even those who forgot to pack

a warm welcome speech, tears from all, from far and near,

encouraging, inclusive, heartfelt, some shed a happy tear

then into the water through the waves we dive, wade and walk

energised, excited, champing at the bit to swim, lots of animated chatter & talk;

waiting at the point, already feeling the energy and flow

and then, the long awaited magic words of John Kelly (JK) ring out “Lets GO”!

cabbage tree bay becomes a sea of pink & white foam;

what must our friendly acquatic creatures think, of us speeding through their home?

en masse the flotilla of pink caps, arms and legs straight lined to shelly

careful not to get too much of the beautiful but murky pink algae in their bellies

stop at shelly Beach, buzzing with energy, waiting for all to arrive

then a second “lets GO!”, a cue to return, energised, feeling alive

over the last 18 months, the B&B community withstood everything mother nature deployed

even captured on film – their sheer salty joy

after separated for so long, the Bold and Beautiful is swimming again as one

united in spirit, friendship, cameraderie and sheer salty fun!

 

JK – was sooo excited to start the swim with those magic words “LETS GO!”

 

and for the first time since March 2020, the B&B crew exit the water en masse, buzzing with excitement!

 

the smiles and joy were contagious!

 

Mermaid and manmaid magnificence

Happy birthday Helen!  (second from left) have a wonderful birthday festival!

 

Senior Management!  very happy with procedings today!

happy smiles from sarah!

 

fellow new bronzie kate with lainey!

 

Mermaids striking a pose – awesome ambassadors for Budgy smuggler!

 

Senior and middle Management – VERY pleased to be leading the charge again!

 

and the Ray appeared at the point!

 

Bindi was happy to see the whole crew again!

 

and chance waited for coffee…

 

I hope this morning energised you, and the joy and energy gets you through today – the first day of summer!

welcome back, stay safe & take care of each other,

Jocelyn

 

And now –  some public service announcements for our amazing B&B community!

SUMMER BADGES As the Summer long distance swimming season approaches, we look forward to a return to our normal summer swims. Three long distance swims are on offer, all of which will earn you a badge: The 6 km swims are held every summer Saturday morning generally starting at 7 am. The first 6 km swim will be on Saturday 4th December. There is also a 10 km swim once a month over summer, also generally starting with the 7 am swim. Dates for these will be announced in the blog. If these swims are too long for you, you can try a Triple Manly to Shelly swim any day during Summer (distance 3.5 km) from 6.30 or 7 am. By popular demand, we have decided to retain the summer challenge and super swimmer badges which were both well-received last summer. This year we will have the following badges: Summer Challenge – swim 30 times over summer, and swim in at least 7 different weeks Summer Super Swimmer – swim 50 times over summer In order to be eligible for any/all of these badges you must log your swims in i-Log. If you don’t have a log-in, please sign up HERE. All swims must be at Manly (unless we have further lockdowns). Covid swims will cease on 1 December. HAPPY SWIMMING.