Pacific Jules

31/12/2011 - Last Swim of 2011

Over 156 Bold & Beautiful swimmers.

Brendan and Gaetan enjoyed an early Bolderdash and 17 swimmers, kindly led by David Adams, continued on for the 6km Summer Badge Swim up to Freshie and back with plenty of swell but no breaking bommie so all in all a good fun swim which saw Brendan finish the year with a solid 9km swim.

We had a fantastic turn out for our last regular B&B swim of the year to Shelly and back, and what a terrific swimming year it has been for all of us too :-)

Over 1100 new swimmers have joined us during 2011, which sees our current total number of B&B participants at 2117, until tomorrow that is ;-)

Many people have gone on to swim the furthest they have ever swum, be it one way from Manly to Shelly, the return swim of 1500m, a 3km Bolderdash, a summer 6 or 10km swim, an ocean race, a triathlon, or the English Channel.  All are fantastic personal achievements, but most importantly, regardless of any swim, we have all made new friends and what superb friends they are too !

I reckon, not only are we the largest daily ocean swimming group in the world, we're also the best bunch of people in the world !! ;-)

Our year was beautifully culminated in a lovely post swim celebration for Bruce Paterson, our most senior swimmer.   Bruce certainly had a wonderful morning amongst his very dear, hugely appreciated and much valued B&B friends.  Thanks for playing chauffeur Bella.

Thanks also to the staff at Manly Wine who danced out a cake and sparkler just for Bruce which you can see below, courtesy of Stephen.

As Anna so eloquently put it in a comment for us yesterday: "Life's short, let's enjoy it."  So if you couldn't make it this morning, you may as Anna suggested, wish to shake Bruce's hand or say hi to him next time you see him.  He definitely will appreciate it. 

Let's hope 2012 is fun filled, with happiness and good health for all of us, jam packed with lots of fantastic 'pink' swims and a whole bunch of fantastic new friends who will hopefully come and join in the fun, fitness and friendship with us too.

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE ! 

Please note that tomorrow morning, New Years Day, Manly Wine will be open at 8am rather than 7, so please take your time in catching that body wave to finish or a little longer in the shower and it should then be coffee time :-)

One of our swimmers is looking for a small fully furnished unit to rent, in or close to Manly.  If anyone knows of anything ??

 Water Temperature 22.6
 Air Temperature 20.5
 Sunrise 5.47am
 Sunset 8.09pm
 Low Tide: 7.39am
 High Tide: 1.42pm

Lastly... did anyone loose the flipper featured in the last photo this morning, size 10-11, found by Eco Diver Dave Thomas between the Half Way and Manly.

30/12/2011 - Neil Has Landed...

Over 171 Bold & Beautiful swimmers.

20 people enjoyed a beautiful Bolderdash this morning, kindly 'led' by Robin, thank you.

One of whom was Neil Cowin who has arrived at South West Rocks !!!  The first swimmers to complete the first leg in our Pacific Challenge. 

Congratulations Neil, you have swum nearly 400kms and only missed one morning's swim in the last 6 months - seriously impressive !!   No time to stop hey, off to the salty blue yonder...  Thanks for the sensational postcard, courtesy of James Goins.

To see where you are on the Pacific Challenge click on the icon to the left any time or here now

The conditions are absolutely stunning right now, with beautiful warm, clear, calm seas full of pink ;-)  

It was great to be joined by 35 new swimmers, including one from Denmark and quite a few children including at least two 7 year olds on their first swim; Savvanah and Kane featured in today's photos. 

Thanks to Stephen for a few great photos today too along with this great little video.  It's worth a look, there's a good chance that if you swam this morning you might just find yourself in it... :-)

6km swim tomorrow for anyone who is keen to give it a go.  We wait in the water off the point at the end of the Shelly swim - re-group and then continue on.  It looks like it's going to be great water for a leisurely long swim :-)

We have a change of plan for Bruce Paterson's little get together and celebration of Bruce himself, the special fact that he is our most senior participant and an early birthday get-together for him.

Instead of people bringing a plate to his place on 7th Jan, Bella is going to collect him tomorrow morning, bring him down so he can watch us swim and then importantly join us for brekkie.  So if you would like to be part of the celebration of and for Bruce, please come along, bring a cake too if you wish, to the post swim Brekkie at Manly Wine tomorrow !! 

Just to confirm the picnic at Bruce's place the following Saturday has been cancelled.

Last day of the year tomorrow !!  What better way to see out 2011 and see in 2012 than by joining your fellow B&B swimmers for a lovely 7am swim...  That's great, so glad you agree... ;-) We look forward to seeing you all, both tomorrow and Sunday morning then ! :-)

Thank you to everyone who supported our 2012 B&B calendars - I'm very happy to report, we've SOLD OUT !! :-)

 Water Temperature 22.4
 Air Temperature 20.5
 Sunrise 5.46am
 Sunset 8.09pm
 Low Tide: 6.48am
 High Tide: 1.00pm      

29/12/2011 - Swimmers Delight

125 Bold & Beautiful swimmers.

Welcome to our 20 new swimmers this morning too !  I think that's a record.  20 new people in one day... love it :-)

 It's not surprising either, as the water is beautiful at the moment, with a lovely little wave to start and bring us home.

The water is clearing up nicely too and finally it's warm !!  So if you're thinking about coming down for a swim don't think for too long, come down and join us tomorrow, it's gorgeous.

In fact why not come down early and enjoy the Bolderdash at 5.50 tomorrow morning too...

8 swimmers made the most of the great conditions today and enjoyed a bonus double lap into Shelly after our regular swim.

A lovely photo below of our half way ladies courtesy of Timberlie :-)

Thank you to Manly Wine for another great monthly nibbles last night :-)

There are only 10 B&B calendars left, so first in best dressed.  If you want one please be quick...

Congratulations to Bec Keelan and Murray Stewart who got engaged yesterday !! Fantastic news, you guys make such a gorgeous couple.  Congratulations :-)

Unforunately Julie Cameron-Doe fell off her bike yesterday and has broken her elbow.  We wish you a full and speedy recovery Julie.

 Water Temperature 22.2
 Air Temperature 20.5
 Sunrise 5.45am
 Sunset 8.08pm
 Low Tide: 6.00am
 High Tide: 12.19pm  

28/12/2011 - The Bumps

112 Bold & Beautiful swimmers.

12 and a half people, including Claire's baby bump, enjoyed a bumpy Bolderdash ;-)

The surf has calmed down.   There are still plenty of waves around, but much nicer conditions for swimming today than for the last couple of days, at least in the Bay as the southerly has smoothed out all the bumps.  So most of us swam out from Manly and enjoyed the full swim to Shelly and back.

It was soooo clear off the point too which was great, it hasn't been that clear for ages !! :-)

Keep an eye on Sprout Daily today too as we may well feature...  Murray was down on the sand with his camera as we entered the water at 7 :-)

Our monthly Manly Wine sponsored nibbles is on tonight from 6.30pm.  Hope to see you there, please don't be shy, you're most welcome to come and join in and we'd love to see you there :-)

January's 10km swim will be on Saturday 21st January !!  Thanks to David Adams and Gaetan Guilhon who have kindly agreed to run it for you, thanks guys.  You've got plenty of time to fit in some training Bolderdash's and a couple of 6km Saturdays between now and then, so... no excuses... please go along and keep them company :-)

 Water Temperature 22.0
 Air Temperature 20.0
 Sunrise 5.45am
 Sunset 8.08pm
 High Tide: 11.37am
 Low Tide: 6.15pm

27/12/2011 - B&B's 3rd Birthday ! :-)

72 Bold & Beautiful swimmers.

Gaetan swam an early Bolderdash from half way beach to the bommie and back, solo, I think !!?

The rest of us followed his lead and swam to Shelly and back from half way also.  A fun swirly swim it was too, with a happy birthday song to 'us' at Shelly and plenty of cake at brekkie :-) 

So we're 3 today, who would have thought hey... from that very first innocent morning three years ago today when I thought I was just taking Jenny Knapman for a swim to Shelly and back, little known to me Jenny had recruited a few of her friends; Anita Keelan, Cynthia Alley and Debbie Hanson.  We had such a ball amongst all the coughing, spluttering and swearing that we went again the next day, by which time there was 9 of us.   Well what's left to say, the rest is history, we've kept growing in the same way that we started, currently sitting at 2045 participants, until tomorrow that is, and collectively we've never missed a day, and all of the 'originals' are still swimming today :-)

You guys are amazing and a big congratulations to all of us !! :-)

Talking of amazing... ;-)  there are only 30 B&B 2012 calendars left so if you would like one please don't leave it too late...  You can get them from me after any swim or online here until we've sold out.

Thanks to Stephen for most of today's great photos.

Timberlie took the photo below of Stephen and Chris on patrol yesterday morning - pretty sure it's calling out for a caption... ???

Tim's last fact of the day: "Pacific Ocean was first sighted by Europeans, in early 16th century."

If anyone has any facts they would like to contribute please email them to me.

Happy Birthday to 'us', Emily Heal & Gary Emich, one of our vacation swimmers from San Francisco today ! :-)

 Water Temperature 21.0
 Air Temperature 19.5
 Sunrise 5.44am
 Sunset 8.08pm
 High Tide: 10.54am
 Low Tide: 5.33pm

26/12/2011 - Boxing Day Test

95 Bold & Beautiful swimmers.

7 people tackled the early Bolderdash meanwhile Timberlie was taking beautiful sunrise photos for us.  They're stunning Tim, thank you.

The waves were pounding in, so for the 7am swim the majority of swimmers took the sensible option and walked around to half way beach for a fun swim to Shelly and back which was entertaining enough...  check out Stephen's 'splashing' photos below...

Plus some dramatic photos of the BIG waves off the point from Gaetan along with a captivating video of some swimmers going out through the waves... to watch it click here

Brendan did both swims and as he was swiming to Shelly today's blog title came to him... very appropriate it is too, thanks Brendan ;-)

Thanks to Miles' mum for the mince pies and to Peter for the left over Christmas cake at brekkie :-)

It's our birthday tomorrow !!!  Bold & Beautiful turns 3 !!!  So please feel free to bring cakes to Brekkie to help celebrate our collective birthday after the swim.

We are currenlty sitting at 2034 participants and it was only 2 days ago that we broke through the 2000 :-)

Tim's fact of the day: "Pacific Ocean is the largest, the deepest as well as the oldest ocean in the world." 

 Water Temperature 21.6
 Air Temperature 20.5
 Sunrise 5.43am
 Sunset 8.07pm
 High Tide: 10.08am
 Low Tide: 4.49pm

25/12/2011 - HAPPY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE :-)

126 Bold & Beautiful swimmers.

What a perfect way to start Christmas Day - a beautiful swim with fantastic friends !

Not to mention the bonus 2 Christmas songs; Jingle Bells and Rudolph at Shelly Beach played on guitar by Peter Wood before our swim back to Manly.

A magic morning, thank you !!

Off to Shelly Beach for our B&B BBQ breakfast now for anyone who would like to join us.  Hope to see you there.  If not, have a wonderful Christmas Day with your friends and family.

HAPPY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE !!!! xxx

Enjoy these fantastic photos below courtesy of Gaetan :-)

BTW... yes it was indeed David Adams' bottom in yesterday's photo, well done :-)

 Water Temperature 22.8
 Air Temperature 20.5
 Sunrise 5.43am
 Sunset 8.07pm
 High Tide: 9.20am
 Low Tide: 4.03pm

24/12/2011 - Christmas Eve Phenomenon

194 Bold & Beautiful swimmers !!

The water was beautiful, with blue skies, sun and finally warm water, no wonder we broke all of our records this morning !! :-)

What a bumper swimming day it was today... starting with a fantastic record number of swimmers swimming to Shelly and back with a mystery bottom off the point... any guesses ?? ;-)

We had lots of children this morning too which is awesome, including two of Andrew Thomas' boys; Dylan (aged 8) and Owen (aged 7) and Teagan Myerscough (aged 11) with her Dad, James who are featured in the photos below.

We also smashed the 2000 barrier, now currently sitting at 2006 B&B participants.  Congratulations to Tessa Berkeley who is our 2000th swimmer !! :-)

A significant record for our 6km and 10km summer badge swims too, with 40 swimmers setting off together, all continuing on from the Shelly swim up to Queenscliff then across to Freshie Pool.  There, 9 of the swimmers headed back to Manly and successfully completed the 6km summer badge swim.

The other 31 of us continued on around Freshie headland and into South Curly Beach for our teddy bears picnic, kindly delivered by Nick Turner.  Thanks Nick !  Also thank you very much to Nicolee Goins who followed us the whole way headland by headland and to Maureen Rath our resident Angel who as always was on hand to apply the much needed sunscreen today.  Yes we actually had sun :-)

A couple of people enjoyed the one way swim so got a lift home from Curly.  Good move, as they didn't have to face the surf that seemed to appear just as the rest of us set off on our return leg.

The return swim started with the Bee-line Bolters who only had two re-groups the whole way back meanwhile the rest of us social sun worshipers took all the re-groups we could get ;-)

The great news is that in true style, everyone who wanted to finished the 6 and 10km swims that they set out to do.  OK, well maybe that's not quite true.  A couple of people, at least Luitz and Midge completed the 10 when they had only set out to do the 6 ;-)  Pretty damn impressive when Luitz has only ever swum one 3km swim before !  Well done :-)

I'm sure you're all wondering if our Pacific Leader took on the 10km swim today... well he did... and he finished !!!  Congratulations Neil, that is a massive achievement which I am sure will inspire many others.

The cutest moment of the swim would have to be Billy Derrin's who was sooo thrilled, I think I could even be excused for saying 'deliriously happy' to have some pink caps smiling and waiting for him at Shelly before the last 750m finishing leg.

Well done to every swimmer who completed the 6 and 10km swims this morning.  Fantastic effort !!  To see who they all are please check out today's attendance and to quote Iain, "what a good way to start Christmas - in calorie deficit" :-) 

We musn't forget we also had Brendan, Ben, Collie, Daniel, Gaetan and Marty who set out early for a Bolderdash before hand.  All of them continued on for the 10km swim, so all up they completed 13kms !  A mammoth effort guys, well done :-) 

There are some fantastic photos coming later today courtesy of Nicolee Goins

Hope to see you all for a Christmas swim to Shelly and back at 7am tomorrow :-)  Plus, you're all welcome to join us for the BYO BBQ brekkie at Shelly afterwards too.

Tim's fact of the day: "Pacific Ocean is almost triangular in shape, narrow in the Arctic north and broad in the Arctic south.."

Happy birthday to Julie Speer and Neil MacLean today ! :-)

 Water Temperature 22.2
 Air Temperature 19.5
 Sunrise 5.42am
 Sunset 8.07pm
 High Tide: 8.30am
 Low Tide: 3.15pm 

23/12/2011 - A Bay of Pink Dolphins

132 Bold & Beautiful swimmers !!

It must be Christmas holidays as we're enjoying the company of some of our swimmers who we haven't seen for a while.  It's great to have you all back in the water with us !!  The more the merrier for sure :-)

28 people enjoyed a lovely Bolderdash including our 2 faithful Freshies; Gaetan and James and a few first times; John Kelly, Jon Abbott, Jon McKenzie, Mark Page, Paul Rainbow, Patrick Coleman, Robert McKenzie and Robert Sabato.  Also ~5 swimmers enjoyed an early lap into Shelly at 6.20am too.

The water is perfect and the swim was just damn beautiful.  With such a fantastic turnout of swimmers enjoying these beautiful conditions it must look like the bay's graced with a large pod of pink dolphins.  It sure makes for a great spectacle for those watching us, you only have to look at Billy watching us from his place to know that.  Thanks for this great photo James, it's just brilliant !! :-) 

It's a big day tomorrow, being Christmas Eve and our first 10km swim of the season !!!   There has been plenty of brekkie talk about it, so it looks like there are quite a few people planning on giving it a go, which is fantastic, so why not you too !!

It's far from all the perceived 'fast' swimmers, it's for everyone, so don your flippers or just your cap, togs and goggles and join us for this beautiful relaxing long swim starting with the regular swim to Shelly at 7.  We have lots of pit stops to re-group along the way so it's really very pleasant and you'll be in great company.  You also have the option of turning around at Freshie pool and doing the 6km badge swim instead if you chose.

Now... is there anyone out there who would love to be part of the 10km swim tomorrow but really doesn't want to swim ??  Well, we have just the role for you... it comes with a lifetime guarantee of love & appreciation from all the 10km participants I can assure you...  We would lurrrve someone to meet us at South Curly ~8.30am ish... with a teddy bears picnic !! ;-)  If anyone is willing and able... those of us who are planning on swimming the 10km could bring a contribution to share to the start at 7am.

Of course anyone who would like to join us on craft is also more than welcome and certainly most appreciated too.

Check out our B&B Pacific Challenge today !!  Neil Cowin is soooo close to South West Rocks so Magnus Butlin has kindly updated our challenge with not only the long awaited 2nd leg... click on the link to the left or here to see where it takes you...  plus also our collective B&B Around the World Swim.  It's pretty damn cool, make sure you have a look :-)

Don't forget our Christmas Day swim at 7am followed by BYO BBQ brekkie at Shelly for anyone and everyone who would like to join us after the swim.

Also B&B's 3rd birthday party swim on Tues 27th Dec & Manly Wine sponsored Nibbles on Wed 28th Dec from 6.30pm. 

Please note that on both Boxing Day & New Years Day Manly Wine will be open at 8am rather than 7, so we'll have to take a fraction longer to get changed on those 2 mornings.

As you can see Lesley was very sad about all the debris she collected up during her swim :-(

Tim's fact of the day: "The water temperatures in Pacific Ocean range from freezing in the pole-ward areas to about 30 °C (86 °F) near the equator."

Sadly we only have 3 facts left to run from Timberlie :-(  On Tim's suggestion maybe you guys would like to submit facts, then we can feature 'guest' facts of the day.

Great idea, please send in your facts so we can keep them running, thank you !!

Happy Birthday to Tania Polin today :-)

 Water Temperature 21.6
 Air Temperature 19.5
 Sunrise 5.42am
 Sunset 8.06pm
 High Tide: 7.37am
 Low Tide: 2.22pm

22/12/2011 - Sunrise Heaven

81+ Bold & Beautiful swimmers with nearly as many at brekkie.  What a great morning !! :-)

Another sunrise sensation captured superbly on camera by Gaetan this morning.  They are magnificent shots Gaetan, I thought I had a favourite until I viewed them on the big screen and now I just can't decide they are all outstanding.  Thanks heaps for sharing them with us !!

To see a larger version of these photos please click on each one individually and that will bring up a larger image for you.  Well worth doing.

Miles came down for the 5.25 start to Freshie but couldn't find his playmates... ?  Seeing as though he doesn't get a heroes write up for going solo (have I made up for that yet ? ;-)) he thought he might aswell wait to swim to Queensie and back at 5.50 with Brendan ;-)  It must have been a beautiful swim too.  The ocean is fantastic at the moment, so calm, peaceful and finally warming up !!   Nor-easterly winds please stay away.

The Shelly swim was gorgeous and we were joined by 8 new swimmers and Vanessa saw a friendly healthy shark off the point.

We're so close to that 2000 mark guys - only 16 new swimmers to go !!!  Who's it going to be ???

If these conditions stay as they are it should be perfect for a Bolderdash tomorrow morning; 5.50am to Queensie and back just in time for the 7am Shelly swim.

Also hopefully it will last for our summer badge swim on Saturday morning where you can chose the 6 or 10km swim continuing on from the 7am swim to Shelly.  Everyone's welcome with whatever equipment you like :-)

There are still a few B&B calendars left, but they are going fast so if you would like one please don't delay as there are only limited numbers.  You can get one from me after any morning swim or online here were we can post it to any address you like for you if you choose.

Tim's fact of the day: "There are more than 25,000 islands in the Pacific Ocean, the number being more than count of islands in the rest four oceans."

How about the below for a winter adventure swim ??  It is apparently an actual swim of some swimming people who Stephen Coulter is networked with in New Jersey... !

Plus a photo from yesterday's Brisbane newspaper taken in China of a man diving from a frozen waterfall into icy water !  No thank you !

 Water Temperature 21.7
 Air Temperature 1.0
 Sunrise 5.41am
 Sunset 8.06pm
 High Tide: 6.42am
 Low Tide: 1.25pm