Pacific Jules

Lovely 9km swim!

Over 100 Bold & Beautiful swimmers, probably a record for a harbour swim!
(full stats will be uploaded later on today or tomorrow as Jules is away)

5 swimmers did the 6km swim
19 swimmers did the 10km swim
Brendan did 13km! 2 early trips to Shelly + the 10km

Nice conditions (that is if you pulled out before the last km!), flat in the harbour, cloudy but warm outside and water was very warm too.

Let's first start by thanking the angels of the day, Maureen Rath and Annette Willow for the picnic and the logistic, and Robert and Karen Grozier and Yasmin Maksut for escorting the swimmers, and finally Dave for leading the pack! You guys did a terrific job and we all thank you for looking after us so well!

Maureen & Annette:

Karen & Robert:

There were over 100 swimmers who did the 1.5km to the Little Manly point and back to the East Esplanade. This is a little longer than the Shelly swim, so well done to all!

7:00am start:

 

24 people then decided to keep going, 5 of those did the 6km and 19 carried on to complete the 10km. It was a great swim, the harbour was flat and the water so warm.

Swimmers arriving at Quarantine Station beach:

 

Annette and Maureen were waiting for us at Q Station beach with plenty of drinks, food and smiles!

Video:

 

 

Did I mention the water was warm? Was it really Sheri?

 

Dave was in charge today and as per the photo below, the instructions were very clear "Try not to get to close to the ferry!" Dave you did a wonderful job, thank you!

 

Last kilometre under heavy rain, thunder and lightenings...

 

There is a river running across the beach!

 

Well done Champions!

 

The only incident to note today is Brendan's injury. He was mauled by an oyster but kept going for 2 hours. Geez it is true what they say about the harbour, after James and his urchin encounter last week, we have Brendan and an oyster today!

And if you think you think you had a miserable last 30min of the siwm under the thunder, lightenings and heavy rain, check out what misery really looks like:

 

 Air Temperature: 24
 Sunrise: 6.05am
 Sunset: 8.07pm
 High Tide: 7.28am
 Low Tide: 2.15pm

 PS: if you noticed some frenglish sentences in this blog, it's just because I (Gaetan) wrote it while Jules is away :-)

20/01/2012 - What A Difference A Day Makes

Over 142 Bold & Beautiful swimmers.

20 swimmers enjoyed a lovely early Bolderdash up to Queensie and back with 4 swimmers stretching out into Freshie.

They had a new kinda companion this morning with a low flying helicopter over head.  I wonder if they took any photos ?? ;-)

The sunny morning and calm seas encouraged everyone out for a lovely relaxing swim including 15 new swimmers, welcome all. 

A nice free seaweed exfoliation to finish... some people pay for that you know and it's all just in a morning's swim for us ;-)

As a reminder the regular 7 0'clock, 6 and 10km swims will all be in the harbour tomorrow due to an enormous amount of 'traffic' on the ocean side with the Manly Carnival.  So please feel free to gather straight at the harbour end of Ashburner St.  Some of the guys however, will wait in the regular spot until 7am to make sure no-one gets left behind, the swim will then start as soon as they all arrive.

 Water Temperature 23.0
 Air Temperature 20.5
 Sunrise 6.04am
 Sunset 8.08pm
 High Tide: 6.30am
 Low Tide: 1.21pm

19/01/2012 - Snap...

Over 94 Bold & Beautiful swimmers.

Big seas, a snapped board and a closed beach saw most of us complete a biathlon this morning ;-)

With nice walk round to Half Way, a swim to Shelly and back, with Bruce taking some for a little extra distance extending out to the point and back, and then a nice walk back to Manly.

We also got to enjoy watching the experienced surf swimmers go through the break from the safety of the point. 

The dusky's were out and about, they were a little deep and the water clarity's not great but there is a photo for you none the less.

Mary said the only thing missing from today's swim was her washing ;-)

Thanks for the splashingly good photo at half way beach Stephen and great job in pulling out the heavy duty plastic sheet from today's swim too.

I don't think we had any early swimmers this morning ??  Now that's a first for a while.

Check out this great on tour photo from Lindsay Carpenter and Richard Glover, from their Christmas trip to England.  They had a great swam on Christmas Day at Hatchmere in Cheshire, and Rydal Water in the Lake District on New Years Day with some folk from the Outdoor Swimming Society.

There are more photos for you to enjoy on the B&B on tour webpage.

Our next monthly Manly Wine sponsored drinks & nibbles is Tues 24th Jan with a new start time of 7pm.

It would be fantastic however, if we congregated earlier to show our support & gratitude to Manly Wine by taking advantage of their Sunset Session, where they offer a selection of $5 drinks and $10 share plates that we can purchase prior to our sponsored nibbles.

Just to clarify, the beverages included in the sponsored tab are:
Madame Coco Brut Champagne, Kudos Sauvignon Blanc, Villa Calappiano Pinot Grigio, Herringbone Pinot Noir, Kudos Cabernet Sauvignon, Carlton Draught, Juices & Soft drinks only.

 Water Temperature 23.4
 Air Temperature 20.5
 Sunrise 6.03am
 Sunset 8.08pm
 High Tide: 5.28am
 Low Tide: 12.16pm

18/01/2012 - The 3 R's...

Over 139 Bold & Beautiful swimmers !

Rough, Ready and Rainbows...

A super exciting morning all round.  Big seas, a fabulous turnout, a rainbow and lots of wonderful birthday cheer...

8 swimmers enjoyed a turbulent Bolderdash and 3 of the distance daemons; Cae, Gaetan and James braved an even earlier swim into Freshie and back.  Whilst they got rewarded with a beautiful rainbow they also copped a monster wave right out to sea.

Then at 7, a few experienced surf swimmers went out through the surf, meanwhile the majority of us watched with bated breath from the point before we had fun enough ourselves with our entry and exit from Half Way Beach... 

The swim itself was of course, beautiful as always !! :-)

Thanks to James, Stephen, Libby and Nick for this morning's collection of great photos.

We had a super sized group hug and a lovely birthday song at Shelly for Terry McJannet and myself.   THANK YOU to everyone who made our birthdays so special and for all the amazing cards and pressies !!!

There were soooo many cakes at brekkie too, thank you to everyone who brought them along !!  There's some leftover for tomorrow too... :-)

Now... back to business... the next big thing...

Saturday's swim will be in the harbour due to the carnival on Manly Beach.  There will be the regular 1.5km swim a 6km and a 10km swim kindly led by Dave and Gaetan.  Thanks to Robert, Karen, Yaz and Maureen we have company on craft and a teddy bears picnic logistics coordinator, so it should be a fantastic 10km swim in beautiful calm waters... if there was ever one to do this is it !!

Then... next Thursday it's Australia Day...  which is traditionally a massive swim for B&B starting with Advance Australia Fair on the beach before we head off on our very relaxed swim.  So please bring down your friends and family, but please swim with them as remember we don't have water safety.

Anyone and everyone who wants to join in on craft is hugely appreciated !!! 

Jenny Knapman and I will be rushing straight off to Manly Council for the Australia Day Awards Ceremony, as thanks to Jenny, Deb, Ian M, Anna and others for their very kind nomination I am the extremely proud and honoured recipient of a Manly Australia Day Award.  Again.... A HUGE THANK YOU to you guys !!!!

If any of you would like to follow down to Manly Council after the swim to be part of the ceremony we would love to see you there of course.

Otherwise, Manly Wine are putting on a special breakfast for us: $10 for an egg & bacon roll or muesli with tea or coffee (FW or LB) to ensure everyone gets served quickly.  They do however need an idea of numbers so please confirm here if you will be going to brekkie.  Thank you

Onto AOB... Stephen has a Phillips 24inch or so TV free to anyone who would like it.  Works perfectly, but analogue only and not a flat screen - so will stop working late 2013 when analogue is turned off in Sydney !  Please comment below or let Stephen or myself know if you can make good use of it.

 Water Temperature 22.3
 Air Temperature 20.5
 Sunrise 6.02am
 Sunset 8.08pm
 Low Tide: 11.00am
 High Tide: 4.52pm

17/01/2012 - Bodies in Bubbles

Over 104 Bold & Beautiful swimmers.

3 swimmers; Alex, Iain and Gaetan tackled an early lap up to Queensie and back to make sure there weren't any stingers for us ;-)

There was however a beautiful tropical jellyfish suspended off the point.  It sure looks beautiful and apparently they don't sting but we weren't game to find out.

It was a fun but pretty lumpy swim today so a few group hugs were shared... ;-)

Lucy and Maurern swam without flippers this morning - both inspired by Neil.  Fantastic, well done :-)

It's good to have you back in the water Stephen, thanks for today's first photo.

Thanks for today's title Sandy inspired as you swam along watching swimmers through all the bubbles ;-)

Sadly there was the head of a dusky whaler on the wall as we arrived today, obviously left by fishermen.  Very sad indeed.  A photo was taken and sent off so it has been reported.  The bay is a no-take aquatic marine reserve so if you see fisherman please report it asap before they get a chance to harm or catch any of the marine life.

Also, Fiona collected the remnants of two balloons.  As you can see below they would look like blue bottles floating on the surface to any hungry turtle, but turtles don't do so well with balloons, so please if you see balloons or any other debris on your swims it would be great if we can collect it.

A newsletter was sent out last night, so please have a quick flick through, it covers our Australia Day Swim, the Harbour and the 10km swim this Saturday... !!

Manly Wine need an idea of numbers so please let us know if you are planning to attend the special $10 brekkie on Australia Day, which will be an egg & bacon roll or muesli with a tea or coffee (FW or LB only) to ensure everyone gets served quickly.  To confirm please click here.

Check out the great photo below of Brendan's horse, Sunsets On Fire, winning at Ipswich last Friday in the beautiful B&B coloured racing silks !!  Congratulations Brendan :-)

 Water Temperature 22.9
 Air Temperature 20.5
 Sunrise 6.01am
 Sunset 8.09pm
 Low Tide: 9.40am
 High Tide: 3.33pm

16/01/2012 - Smiles All Round

Over 77 Bold & Beautiful swimmers.

I agree Peter, there is no happier place to be than about to enter the water for a swim with B&B at 7am in the morning...

Another beautiful swim, albeit a tad murky through the middle of the bay.

There were the usual multitude of marine life busy preparing for their day at the point plus a beautiful school of Garfish cruising past just below the surface.

Only 4 hardy souls braved the Bolderdash this morning and Anna made good use of the swim as usual with another cossie load of debris.

Another great B&B on tour photo of Simon Herfort taken on the edge of Lake Wakatipu in Queenstown.  Simon managed to get a couple of swims in the actual lake even though the temp was only 10 degrees (not bad for someone who wore a wetsuit the entire Australian winter, and half of the summer ;-))  Simon only had his speedo’s and pink cap and says "Seriously - where is your wetsuit when you need it!" 

Ragnill was walking down by the fjord yesterday, the sky was grey but the water looked so inviting - calm like a lake and super clear.  Check out the photo below, beautiful hey !

Ragnill reckons when temperature is up in half a years time, they should start a B&B branch there in Trondheim as there are already two pink caps in town :-)  I reckon start today don't you ?  After all B&B swim at the same time everyday of the year... so no point delaying Ragnill !! ;-)

 Water Temperature 22.4
 Air Temperature 19.0
 Sunrise 6.00am
 Sunset 8.09pm
 Low Tide: 8.25am
 High Tide: 2.24pm

15/01/2012 - The B&B Bounce

Over 106 Bold & Beautiful swimmers.

Another grey and drizzly morning with fun and bouncy swimming conditions.

The water was surprisingly clear though so the fish were still on show in all their glory, including Jane's first Dusky sighting of the summer !!

A fantastic swim for Neil this morning as he swam both ways with no flippers !!  Fantastic Neil, there is just no stopping you these days, well done !! :-)

Welcome back to Thor, who you can see to the left in the third photo with some of his friends and fellow Bronzies.  What a surprise to have you back, especially so soon Thor.  Congratulations on the new job :-)

Check out Jenny Holmes below holding back the waves.... and Dave Brown's feet as he is submerged by the wave...  Seems he liked it ;-)

Gerd heads back to Germany on Feb 15th so he's trying to get in as many swims (and badges) as he can before he leaves, so he and Sam did an early bonus lap into Shelly at 6.20.  I guess you will be doing the 10km in the harbour next Saturday too... hey Gerd !? ;-)

A couple of nice photos below of the 9 swimmers who set off for their adventure around the heads and the water rats, aka as support team.  Unfortunately as they got to Flagstaff Point, just past Quarantine Beach, it became apparent it was too rough and wet with limited visibility so they had to abandon and enjoyed a return swim back to the start, but all was not lost as they did make it back to Manly Wine in time to have brekkie with us all :-)

James don't you realise you're not allowed to take things from the marine reserve... Can you go and put back those sea urchin spines you have stashed in your foot please !! ;-)

Go Wilf !!!  Check out Wilf on the podium in Phuket at the awards night celebrations as the winner of his age group in the Triathlon.  Well done Wilf !! :-)

I think we are missing quite a few 'ticks' this morning so if you swam but forgot to tick please let us know so we can add you to today's attendance, thank you.

 Water Temperature 22.3
 Air Temperature 18.5
 Sunrise 5.59am
 Sunset 8.09pm
 Low Tide: 7.19am
 High Tide: 1.26pm

14/01/2012 - Rough 'n Ready

Over 137 Bold & Beautiful swimmers.

The skies are grey, but the water is still pink ;-)  The swim was beautiful with a few bumps thoughout.  It's always well worth venturing out of the doona for a swim on a drizzly morning though, after all on days like today you have the rest of the day to snuggle up indoors.

4 of the guys swam an early lap up to Freshie and made it back in perfect time for Collie to continue on to Shelly with us.

17 swimmers continued on after the Shelly swim for the 6km summer badge swim including a few first timers and kindly led by Chris Kiely.  They were joined by lots of non-stingy plankton too.  Well done everyone as it certainly wasn't one of the smoothest 6km swims we've had.  Collie must have enjoyed the conditions though as he clocked up 10.5km for the morning :-)

Anna collected another cossie full of debris throughout the swim.  Leading to the birth of another great idea... We're are going to try to source a few small pink mesh bags that B&B swimmers can tow on any swim, if they choose, to help collect up this debris that if left is harmful to our marine life.

A great selection of distance photos this morning thanks to Stephen, including a lovely one of the 6km swimmers with their own personal water safety vessel and the ever important apres swim coffee at Manly Wine ;-) To see the photos a little more clearly you may wish to click on them to view a larger version.

Welcome back to Lori Szambowski :-)

It's the January 10km summer badge swim next Saturday !!!  It will be in the harbour so it's a great one to do.  Lots of stops, calm water and as always fantastic company.  If anyone is keen to paddle or be the logistics co-coordinator for a teddy bears picnic mid way at Quarantine Beach it would certainly be massively appreciated by the swimmers who can give you their contribution to the picnic before the swim at 7am.

Good luck to our distance daemons who are planning a swim around North Head tomorrow, meeting usual spot at 6.45am and very kindly supported by Tony Stuart.  Most importantly guys, enjoy :-)

 Water Temperature 22.4
 Air Temperature 19.5
 Sunrise 5.58am
 Sunset 8.09pm
 Low Tide: 6.22am
 High Tide: 12.25pm

13/01/2012 - Manly Aquarium

153 Bold & Beautiful swimmers.

20 swimmers enjoyed a heavenly early Bolderdash up to Queensie and back and were met out in the water by Murray from Sprout Daily, so keep an eye out on Sprout this morning.  Anna took a picture of Murray too, so you never know maybe that well be shared as well...

It's absolutely perfect swimming conditions at the moment with terrific visibility, enhanced by the sun shinning through reflecting off all of our magnificent marine life.  There's so much out there to observe and enjoy right now.

Including unfortunately, a Heineken bottle nestled into the sand which was too far wedged in to be salvaged at that depth.

There was what seemed to be a new fish with a stunning purple tail foraging around at the point.  Plus one poor leather-jacket who appeared to have a tumour on his side which didn't seem to bother him though.  They're not great, but there is a photo of each below.

Some great photos again from a different vantage point courtesy of Stephen this morning, along with one from Michel of Stephen as chief photographer on the rocks yesterday ;-)

 Water Temperature 21.4
 Air Temperature 20.5
 Sunrise 5.57am
 Sunset 8.10pm
 High Tide: 11.49am
 Low Tide: 6.18pm

12/01/2012 - Super Sized Flat

96 Bold & Beautiful swimmers.

The southerly has certainly arrived bringing snow to Victoria, a definite nip in the air and a slight drop in water temperature here, but oh my gosh it was one of those magical swims with picture perfect water clarity and stunning blue skies.  

As for the big surf, well not for us, it was flat flat flat, like flying over the desert this morning, especially around the point.  Spectacular !

Dean Cropp was down filming all the activity on this chilly summer's morning so check out channel 7 news later today... :-)

Stephen is making the most of his 'dry days' to take some great photos for us.  Check out this mornings angle on the two zoomed in, it looks like we're swimming up near Queensie ;-)

Anna is there a message you would like to share... ??

As for the shower photo, well... lets move on...

It's only two weeks till Australia Day, which is traditionally a fantastic B&B swim, well worth participating in.

With over 600 swimmers participating last year who knows how many we will get this year ??

It's a great morning to encourage your friends and family to join in.  But... please, if you bring someone please swim with them, as with all of our swims, we don't have water safety so everyone swims at their own risk. 

It is an even more relaxed swim than usual on Australia Day.  So it would be great if all the regular swimmers could hang at the back for a nice social swim, helping to ensure everywhere has a great morning.  Thank you.

Anyone who would like to participate on craft would be most appreciated too !! :-)  Any participation counts and is 'tick' worthy ;-)

We will start with Advance Australia Fair on the beach accompanied by our very own Greg McDonagh on the trumpet before we enjoy our beautiful swim.

It will be a great morning, so please come down and be part of the fun.  You never know we may well have some celebrities join us too... !!!

Anyone who is keen to partipcate in the Around North Head swim this Sunday morning (conditions permitting), please meet at Manly Wine ~9.15am, this Saturday to discuss, so numbers of swimmers and craft etc can be confirmed.  Thank you.

 Water Temperature 21.2
 Air Temperature 13.5
 Sunrise 5.56am
 Sunset 8.10pm
 High Tide: 11.05am
 Low Tide: 5.38pm