Pacific Jules

21/12/2011 - Summer Solstice !

105 Bold & Beautiful swimmers.

Miles had plenty of company this morning as 23 people enjoyed a lovely Bolderdash, 5 of whom kicked off extra early for that bonus dash into Freshie and back.

David and James finally managed to get out at Freshie rock pool and do some halftime sprints.  They've been trying for weeks and finally this morning the seas allowed them access to the pool.

The sunrise was absolutely superb and the ocean was flat, calm, peaceful - basically perfect for a lovely long swim.  Thank goodness too as it's the summer solstice today, meaning it's the longest day of the year !! :-)

We were accompanied by jelly blubbers, the non-stingy kind, the whole way so you could use them to get extra grip in the water ;-)

The Shelly swim was delightful too with the bonus of snakes at Shelly... courtesy of Peter Wood and carried over there... don't ask how... by Peter and Julia Baird.  Why ??  To celebrate Michael's birthday !  Of course we had cake too :-)

Anna saved a few fish this morning too by collecting up some debris.

Loads of outstanding photos for you to enjoy today, including 5 courtesy of Gaetan and 3 courtesy of James.  Thanks guys they are just stunning shots.  Love Gaetan's brilliant fire red sunrise shots !!  Gotta love the photo of Nick TB with the shark net boat behind him and Dave at Freshie rock pool too :-)

We're currently at 1976 B&B participants !!  Very nearly at that magic 2000.  Who will it be ??

On Christmas morning, we have our regular 7am swim to Shelly and back so please come down.  What better way to start your Christmas morning than by a swim with all your happy B&B friends.  Peter Wood will have his guitar at Shelly so we can enjoy two Christmas songs before our return swim.

It will ensure everyone gets in the festive cheer and it should be a tonne of fun so please come and join in.  Please feel free to encourage your friends, family and children to meet us at Shelly and join in the sing-a-long even if they don't swim.

Plus, don't forget our BYO BBQ shared brekkie afterwards on Shelly beach.  For absolutely anyone who would like to join in.  The more the merrier so please come down.  There will be the bonus attraction of Peter's home-made Christmas cake.

Tim's fact of the day: "The average depth of Pacific Ocean is 4,280 meters (14,000 ft)."

Happy birthday to Michael Christie today !! :-) xx

 Water Temperature 21.0
 Air Temperature 18.0
 Sunrise 5.41am
 Sunset 8.05pm
 High Tide: 5.45am
 Low Tide: 12.20pm     

20/12/2011 - Wetsuit Record

39 Bold & Beautiful swimmers.

Can't remember the last morning when we didn't have someone doing a bonus early shift which is really quite impressive especially seeing as though it's not exactly been our typical summer mornings.

We had 2 early swimmers this morning; Brendan and Gaetan who enjoyed a Bolderdash.

John Lonergan observantly commented as we waited off the point just after 7, with the sun trying to sneak through for a brief second, that it would have to be a record number of wetsuits this close to Christmas !  Very true... must be global warming ;-)

It was a much calmer swim this morning than yesterday, thankfully.  A little murky but no stingers and one dusky whaler was spotted by Iain and a reasonable sized Kingfish by Attracta.  Meanwhile, Patrick was getting all the love at Shelly ;-)

No pink dolphins today too... click here or on the icon to the left to see who swam today :-)

Charlotte Butlin (along with her Mum and Dad, Debbie and Magnus) say a big thank you to Maureen Rath for her new B&B bib.  Check out the cute photo below, Charlotte looks very happy in her new attire :-)

There are still some B&B calendars available if you would like one for yourself or if you're looking for that extra stocking filler.  You can get them from me after any morning swim or order them online here.  We can post them to you or to an address of your choice too if you can't make it down to collect them.

Tim's fact of the day: "Mariana Trench in the western North Pacific, at a depth of 10,911 m, is the deepest point in the Pacific Ocean as well as the world. Its depth is more than the height of Mt. Everest."

 Water Temperature 20.7
 Air Temperature 18.0
 Sunrise 5.40am
 Sunset 8.05pm
 Low Tide: 11.09am
 High Tide: 5.04pm 

19/12/2011 - A Dog's Swim

37 Bold & Beautiful swimmers.

4 swimmers braved the Bolderdash, 3 of whom (Cae, Gaetan and James) went to the Harbour for an early forshore swim around to Little Manly and back where the clarity was even better than yesterday.  On their return trip they saw a massive 'desert camo' style wobby in full flight cruising along the rockface.  As it was just off the whiteish rocks they got a great appreciation of its colour and swimming technique.  James says: "no wonder they call them gummy sharks!"  It was apparenlty nearly three meters long !!

Meanwhile, Miles Tollan swam an heroic solo to Queenscliff and back as blue bottle detector for us and came back sting free :-)  Christine Armour and Michael Keelan also spent an hour on their boards with only one blue sighting so the 7am swimmers hit the ocean.  Or maybe it would be more appropriate to say the Ocean hit them as it was washing machine gnarly out there this morning.

Once you got past the point it had that gentle roll feeling all the way to Shelly and back.

The waves and the wash from the beach to the point were on form though providing much entertainment from the point as the swimmers headed back in.

Meanwhile Billy Boy decided a quick dip at Shelly was in order and he wasn't complaining at his post swim shower either, in fact he rewarded Peter with a lift back to Manly... ;-)

Sue McGregor doesn't usually get to swim on Monday's but thanks to Christmas holidays she swam today.  It was a very happy addition to our Monday too as Sue brought a beautiful homemade lemon sponge to brekkie to celebrate :-)  Please swim more often on Monday's Sue !

Tim's fact of the day: "Pacific Ocean is larger than all of the Earth's land area combined."

Just a reminder that Manly Wine are no longer offerening their buffet breakfast as part of any menu. Our special B&B breakfast still applies, just minus the buffet.

 Water Temperature 21.2
 Air Temperature 18.0
 Sunrise 5.40am
 Sunset 8.04pm
 Low Tide: 9.52am
 High Tide: 3.53pm

18/12/2011 - Christmas Adventure Swim

111 Bold & Beautiful swimmers.

We had our annual Christmas Adventure Swim this morning and a lot of fun it was too !!

We enjoyed the 'plan b' route due to South Curly being covered in blue bottles yesterday afternoon.  So we walked down Ashburner St and set off in idealic surrounds between all the moored boats.

It was a beautifully calm and picturesque swim as we hugged the foreshore all the way out to the toilet roll building off the end of Addison Road where we stopped to re-group before continuing around the point into Little Manly Beach.  A quick stop for a group photo before some people walked back and the rest of us swam back to our well earned brekkie at Manly Wine.

It really was a stunning swim, with quite clear water, after all it doesn't get much more beautiful than swimming along with the Manly Ferry as your backdrop.

Thank you very much to Cathie Coleman, Robert Grozier, Tim Holloway and Yasmin Maksut for escorting us on craft, to Greg Poole who escorted the ocean adventurers and to James Ley who was chief bag watcher.

To view more photos including some from Stephen Coulter please go to the website or click here

For those of you who are keen to still experience the South Curly swim we will reschedule for sometime early Jan, so please keep an eye on the blog so you don't miss out.

While we enjoyed our harbour delights 18 swimmers set off towards South Curl Curl with 8 swimmers completing the distance along with a few blue bottle stings.  We'll play that up to reassure ourselves that we made a good call with our re-route ;-)

A couple of swimmers also enjoyed a regular swim to Shelly and back and 5 of our distance daemon swimmers enjoyed a double lap of the Harbour Adventure swim setting off at ~5.30am this morning.

A magic morning all up, thanks to you all !!

A big congratulations to Alyson Payne who swam with us this morning and is getting married this afternoon !! :-)

Happy Birthday and Bon Voyage to Ragnill Stallvik today !!

Please feel free to pop into the Sable Bar (upstairs at the Manly Pacific) this afternoon from 5pm to have a Christmas drink with your fellow friendly swimmers.  Everyone is welcome so please don't be shy.

Tim's fact of the day: "Pacific Ocean covers about 46% of the Earth's water surface and about 32% of its total surface area."

Things coming up for you to look forward to:

6km Summer badge swim every Saturday morning during summer, continuing on from the regular 7am swim. 

Saturday 24th December our first 10km badge swim for the season which will continue on from the regular 7am Shelly swim.

Christmas Day 7am (regular Shelly return) Swim followed by a BYO shared BBQ brekkie for anyone who would like to join us straight after the swim at Shelly Beach.  Friends and family all welcome, the more the merrier :-)

Tuesday 27th December, we celebrate Bold & Beautiful's 3rd birthday !!  So if anyone would like to bring a cake to brekkie that morning it's the perfect excuse ;-)

 Water Temperature 21.0
 Air Temperature 18.0
 Sunrise 5.39am
 Sunset 8.03pm
 Low Tide: 8.39am
 High Tide: 2.45pm  

17/12/2011 - Sea Indulgence

120 Bold & Beautiful swimmers.

To quote James it was a day of sea indulgence this morning :-)

We had another first this morning... We had a new first time swimmer this morning; Jon Rossiter, who is getting married this afternoon.  John wanted to do something exciting on his wedding morning and he chose to swim with us !!  Love it John, we are very happy to share in a little part of your exciting day.  Welcome and congratulations.

The water was beautiful down at our protected southern corner, with everyone enjoying a lovely Shelly swim.

An amazing 21 swimmers continued on for the 6km summer badge swim.  A fun filled swim it was too...  As we got up towards Queenscliff the Bommie broke out to sea making a beautiful display, which wasn't however quite appreciated by all, so 15 of us turned around for a mid-swim re-route (we're getting good at those ;-)).  We had a gorgeous swim back to Manly, then into Shelly, back to Manly point, then into halfway beach to complete the distance and drop off a couple... Vicki ;-) then just for a little bonus distance the rest of us swam back to Manly and timed it perfectly with the other 6 heroic swimmer (Ben, Brendan, Gaetan, James, Mark and Peter) who continued on past the Bommie up to Freshie and back.  I think we made a good call on the re-route as they had a rock 'n roll swim across to Freshie and Gaetan coped a few nasty bluies for the team.

A fantastic effort to all 21 swimmers who qualified for their 6km summer badge this morning !  You can see who they are on today's daily attendance as they have a super six status next to their name - cute hey !

Bob, Madlen and Neil swam stroke for stroke for the whole 6km like the loyal 3 amigos they :-)

A extra special congratulations to Bob Peterson, Derek Dreyer, Madlen Altstaedt and Peter Wood who swam the furthest they have ever swum by a long way today :-)  If I inadvertantly left anyone out my apologies and please let us know.

We also had 5 distance daemons;  Ben, Brendan, Collie, Gaetan and James who set off early for a Bolderdash, they all then continued on for the 6km summer swim with the rest of us too, so that's 9kms for the DD's this morning.  Damn impressive guys !!

I think a couple of swimmers, led by Sam Evans, also continued on for a double lap after the Shelly swim too.

Thanks to Gaetan for the beautiful golden photo and to James for the other fantastic photos this morning.

IMPORTANT UPDATE ON OUR CHRISTMAS ADVENTURE SWIM TOMORROW !!!  We will have a plan b if the conditions are not favourable so please still come down.

If the conditions become clearer during the day one way or another, collectively we will comment below, so please check again later today.

Our ever social, lovely B&B Cougars have organised drinks for anyone and everyone who would like to join them at the Sable Bar (upstairs at the Manly Pacific) tomorrow afternoon at 5pm followed by dinner if you wish.  Everyone is welcome so please don't be shy !  Pop down and enjoy some Christmas cheer if you're around.

Tim's fact of the day: "The word pacific means peaceful. However, the Pacific Ocean is far from peaceful. Thousands of volcanoes rise up from the Pacific Ocean."

Please note there will be a change to the breakfast menu at Manly Wine as of Monday.  Manly Wine are not going to be doing a buffet breakfast at all (not even for hotel guests) anymore.  Our fantastic special B&B breakfast still applies but the buffet will just no longer be available.

 Water Temperature 20.7
 Air Temperature 18.0
 Sunrise 5.39am
 Sunset 8.03pm
 Low Tide: 7.32am
 High Tide: 1.45pm

Last 2 photos taken this afternoon at South Curl Curl

16/12/2011 - Summer's Here !!

110 Bold & Beautiful swimmers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

17 swimmers took advantage of the delightful conditions for an early Bolderdash and were joined at Queensie headland by the 3 Freshers on their way back; David, Cae and Gaetan - yeh - we made it, we actually connected :-)

BTW... the pink heart is back on Queensie headland :-)  If you haven't been down to Manly in the last couple of days to see it you can just see it if you click on the fourth photo to enlarge it.  We'll try to remember to get a nice close up shot of it for you over the weekend.

A couple of lovely colourful and dramatic early photos from Gaetan as well as a couple below of the masses on the regular 7am swim taken from the point.  Thanks Gaetan.  Gosh we look great ;-)

I saw the largest fish I have ever seen on the way back from Bolderdash.  It was a fish looking fish, an opaque kinda white colour with a stripe along it, but was the size of me - huge !  Maybe it was a monster king fish... do they grow that big ?? 

The Shelly swim was just magnificent.  Gotta love swimming when it's like this.  Just in time for the Christmas holidays too :-)

Lets hope these perfect conditions stay for the 6km summer badge swim tomorrow and the Christmas Adventure Swim on Sunday !!

For you distance daemons out there, there is talk of a few keen swimmers heading off on an early (unofficial - i.e it doesn't count towards the Pacific Challenge) Bolderdash tomorrow before the 6km swim.  I'm sure you will see it unfold on the comments below if you're keen.

Brendan is also keen to swim from South Curly to Manly before our Christmas Adventure swim on Sunday morning too.  (I think his plan is to leave South Curly at 5.30am to arrive in time to join us as we set off at 7).  We are keen for Brendan to do this too so he can let us know what the conditions are like ;-)  Anyone keen to join him ??

As you all know Ragnill flies back to her home country, Norway on Sunday :-(  To mark the occasion James Goins has created a lovely postcard today from Ragnill with a touch of Norway at Nobby's Beach which is where Ragnill has swam to so far on our Pacific Challenge !  James Goins and Peter Wood baked cakes to mark the occasion and share at brekkie, bloody beautiful they were too !!  Thanks guys.

Alex Prendergast joined us for Brekkie too, you look fantastic Alex, hope the recovery keeps going well so you can be back in the water with us real soon.

Check out Lexy below, our newest, cutest most committed B&B participant with her new pink tail... :-)

Christmas Adventure Swim this Sunday, leaving at Manly at 7am, all swimmers, land contingent and craft are more than welcome and appreciated.  If you or your partner are willing and able to participate as land contingent or craft please let me know, thank you.

Tim's fact of the day: "Near the Equator the Pacific Ocean stretches 11,000 miles, almost half way around the world."

Bruce Paterson is our most senior participant.  He turns 83 in February, but we don't want to wait that long to celebrate as we love an excuse for a party.  Bruce has done an enormous amount of renovation on the bushland behind his house.  He would love everyone from B&B to come and join him in his extended backyard to celebrate at 15 Moresby Place, Allambie Heights on Saturday 7th January from 5pm.  Please mark it in your diaries and bring a plate and your good cheer.

 Water Temperature 20.5
 Air Temperature 18.0
 Sunrise 5.39am
 Sunset 8.02pm
 Low Tide: 6.34am
 High Tide: 12.52pm 

15/12/2011 - Golden Lining

67 Bold & Beautiful swimmers.

3 guys; Gaetan, James and Miles enjoyed an early lap to Freshie and back and were accompanied for part way by Claire.

Check out the beautiful colours in Gaetan's photos taken en-route this morning.  I think that's the bommie you can see starting to work in the second one.

5 swimmers; Anne, Jenny K, Ian, Izzy and Lee also jumped in early for an early bonus lap into Shelly and back.

We were also joined by a couple of the Terrigal Tremblers for the 7am swim this morning too; Adam's father, Ray Moore and Roslyn Eathrowl.  

As you can see from today's photos the water is beautiful.  It looks like it's going to keep getting better too, ready for a Christmas holiday full of great swimming :-)

Tim's fact of the day: "The Pacific Ocean is so big it could fit all of the Earth’s continents."

There are still some B&B calendars available.  So if you'd like one please see me after a swim or order online here.  If you would like one but can't make it to swimming we can post it to you.

 Water Temperature 20.0
 Air Temperature 18.0
 Sunrise 5.38am
 Sunset 8.01pm
 Low Tide: 5.42am
 High Tide: 12.05pm

14/12/2011 - Busy in Pink

90 Bold & Beautiful swimmers.

14 people enjoyed a lovely Bolderdash and were almost joined by the 3 Freshers; Cae, Dave and James, at Queenscliff headland for the return trip... if only 'we' hadn't of got distracted and forgot to wait... Sorry guys !  Friday it will happen :-)

7 swimmers also enjoyed an early lap into Shelly at 6.20 this morning too. 

The conditions are just beautiful at the moment with no stingers and calm seas, ok well until you head north and the southerly swell catches up with you... spot Roberto's head in the fifth photo ;-)

When we have the beautiful summer weather it sure gets busy in pink with all the different shifts and multiple activities available for everyone to join in :-)

Thanks to James Goins for some awesome photos this morning and for instigating our belated birthday song for yesterday to Josephine and David at Shelly too :-) 

Lots of upcoming activities for you to mark in your diaries:

6km Summer Badge Swim every Saturday during summer.

December's 10km Summer Badge Swim - Christmas Eve, Saturday 24th December !!  If people want to do the 6km swim that morning they can, we will all swim together up to Freshie and then separate off there if necessary, but go on you know you want to do 10km !!

Christmas Adventure Swim this Sunday leaving at Manly at 7am, to swim to South Curl Curl.  All swimmers, land contingent and craft are more than welcome and most appreciated.  The kiosk know we are coming but have asked if our land contingent could please arrive early to help save tables for us ??  Thank you !!

Christmas Day we will have our regular swim, with a singalong at Shelly followed by a BYO BBQ brekkie for anyone who would like to join in.  The more the merrier.  Bring your happy selves, something to eat and drink to share if you choose, your santa hats, champagne, what ever you fancy...  a heads up - Peter Wood is bringing homemade Christmas cake, it's well worth coming for too.

Then two days later... B&B turns three on Tuesday 27th December - there is surely no better excuse for a big celebratory brekkie with lots of cake if people feel like cooking !!

We're nearly at 2000 participants of B&B !!  Currently as of today we have had 1945 people who have swum with us !!  I reckon with a little help from our summer weather we could crack the 2000 before the end of the year !!  I will keep you posted as we go as it's a pretty exciting excuse for a celebration.  Who will number 2000 be, bring down your friends it could be them ;-)

On not quite such a happy note, it's Ragnill's last week of swimming with us as she heads back to Norway on Sunday after our adventure swim.  So please come down and have a farewell swim with Ragnill before she leaves.

Tim's fact of the day: "The Pacific Ocean covers 63, 800,000 square miles (165, 200, 000 square kilometers).."

 Water Temperature 20.0
 Air Temperature 18.0
 Sunrise 5.38am
 Sunset 8.01pm
 High Tide: 11.22am
 Low Tide: 6.01pm 

13/12/2011 - Flat is Back

52 Bold & Beautiful swimmers.

3 of our distance demons; Brendan, Gaetan and James had a lovely swim to Freshie and back nice and early as we can see from the 2 photos, thanks James.  Where were you Cae... hope that doona didn't get you again ;-) :-)

The seas have settled making it lovely for a swim.  All we need now is that summer sun...

Attracta saw our big Smooth Ray again this morning, right in near half way beach.  Apparently it was  playing around with a littler ray, swimming up vertically, they were spinning around each other so Attract got a great view of their little faces, she said it was like a three year old had drawn them on.  How cool !!!  Hopefully we can get a photo of him soon.

Congratulations to Ian Forster who has just broke through 200km on our Pacific Challenge today.

Our annual Christmas Adventure Swim is this Sunday !!  Leaving Manly at 7am to swim to South Curl Curl, it's a 3.25km swim.  Everyone one is most welcome; all swimmers, land contingent and craft are more than welcome and most appreciated !!  In fact we would like to encourage as many people as people to join us on craft as well as a couple of people via cars would be fantastic...  Chris Cameron-Doe has offered to be one logistics vehicle, if anyone else is keen that would be great... please let us know, thank you.

Tim's fact of the day is going to focus on fun and interesting facts about our very own Pacific Ocean for the next two weeks, starting with: "The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest ocean in the world."

Bolderdash tomorrow morning, in the water at 5.50am.  It's 3km there and back and 4.5km if you continue on with the Shelly swim afterwards.  A great confidence booster just before the Christmas Adventure Swim on Sunday... you agree... great, see you in the morning then ;-)

Happy Birthday to David Ingham and Josephine Kelly today !  Sorry we didn't sing for you at Shelly Jo, we only just found out from your Mum after brekkie.

Welcome back to Anita and Michael Keelan from their big holiday.

 Water Temperature 20.2
 Air Temperature 17.5
 Sunrise 5.38am
 Sunset 8.00pm
 High Tide: 10.41am
 Low Tide: 5.20pm

12/12/2011 - Stalwarts on Safari

20 Bold & Beautiful swimmers.

5 swimmers braved the Bolderdash this morning.  It was choppy az, we had more water falling on us than we were swimming in and up at North Steyne we couldn't see in front of ourselves... Wish you were there !?  Yeh I bet.  It was sooo much nicer than sleeping all snuggled up in a nice warm bed.

The Shelly swim was much more civilised with the water remarkably calm, especially in comparison to yesterday.  Plus a nice bonus group hug off the point :-)

Not sure if the oober early guys swam, hope they're not still out there... ?? ;-) 

Tony Box can be seen below enjoying a well earned rest after his big 4.5km swim in weather that can only be said is good for ducks.

The skies may well be similar tomorrow, but the sea should be magic for a swim with southerly swells and winds.  Come on down... you know you never regret it once it's over ;-)

Tim's fact of the day: "Walrus’ have balloons in their neck that fill up with air and keep their head above water while they sleep."

Congratulations to Simon Eddy who completed the Canberra half ironman yesterday.

 Water Temperature 20.5 degrees.
 Air Temperature 18.0 degrees.
 Sunrise 5.38am.
 Sunset 7.59pm.
 High Tide: 10.00am.
 Low Tide: 4.40pm.