Pacific Jules

Sunday 30th August. Winter badges coming soon

BOLD & BEAUTIFUL SWIM GROUP IS CURRENTLY NOT RUNNING DUE TO THE RISKS OF CORONAVIRUS(COVID-19). IT IS IMPORTANT TO CONTINUE PHYSICAL DISTANCING AND FOLLOW PUBLIC HEALTH ADVICE. Thank you for swimming at different times of the day and please continue to stay safe and  remember to maintain 1.5m distance. Please read management notices at the end of the blog.  Winter Badge Collection 2020  Congratulations to all those who completed their Covid-19 winter swimming challenge. As we are expecting nearly 600 swimmers to qualify, the badge distribution this year will be different in order to maintain a Covid-safe environment for our volunteers. Unfortunately, only virtual handshakes and hugs from Ian, John, Anne and Pauline, and contact-less distribution. There are two ways you can obtain your badge(s) Place a self-addressed, stamped envelope in the box provided outside the surf club between 7 am and 8 am any day during the week, from Monday 31st August to Sunday 6th September, inclusive. Inside the envelope place cash for your badge/s $10 per badge for the Covid Badge and the Corona Badge. Family members/friends sharing an envelope must clearly name each swimmer and badge achieved. Please check postage rates and size of envelope required for multiple badges. Post a self-addressed, stamped envelope with payment and swimmer details, as above to Ian Forster, 6 Bligh St, Northbridge. 2063. Badges will be posted as soon as they arrive. If you have any other badges that you are missing and wish to purchase, please include cash for those as well. Please Note: We will place a New Swimmer sheet and pink caps with the collection box so that any would-be swimmers can sign up and collect a cap. Sunday Swim once more was glorious with the sun shining upon us.  Ian and Gary pre-swim, pondering the surf conditions. Water temp a little warmer than yesterday Peter and Enora looking forward to their Sunday swim Welcome back John who has been braving the chilly water at Balmoral  over the winter season Lyndal and Megan who brought Ashleigh(right) along for a post HSC trials swim. Kate who loved her swim today. We can see that in the beautiful smile. Early morning swimmers entering at their own pace. Jim loves this season as its refreshing and uncrowded There's always the picturesque option from the Bower for those who want to avoid the crowd Capless Dave taking the plunge from the Bower Gorgeous view from Shelly Beach Giant Flathead, resting peacefully near Shelly Beach Just when we thought the cuttlefish season had ended this one appeared  So lucky to see a school of squid in the shallows at Shelly Beach Enjoy your day and your last winter swim tomorrow! HRH

What a morning!

BOLD & BEAUTIFUL SWIM GROUP IS CURRENTLY NOT RUNNING DUE TO THE RISKS OF CORONAVIRUS(COVID-19). IT IS IMPORTANT TO CONTINUE PHYSICAL DISTANCING AND FOLLOW PUBLIC HEALTH ADVICE.

Thank you for swimming at different times of the day and please continue to stay safe and  remember to maintain 1.5m distance. Please read management notices at the end of the blog. 

Yes it was cold early on but the days are starting to warm up as they get longer. We are in that lovely part of the year when we still have conditions conducive to great visibility but the air is getting warmer. This morning was close to as good as it gets under the surface.

I spent a bit of quality time with Colby the Love Sponge who was oblivious to the Shower Scene behind him. He is looking stunning in his winter coat

Roz and Claire look like they had a great swim

Did you know Ian had an identical twin?

IRB training in full swing in perfect conditions.

Perfect swim conditions too.

Some of the WoWs wearing cossies designed by talented local artist Georgina Hart second from the left

Cormorant, with admirers looking on

Groper at the Point

Visibility was stunning in some places

Jacqui and I then headed to the Bower rocks hoping to see some PJs

Pretty sure this is a Crested Horn Shark, possibly looking for its favourite snack, PJ eggs.

We got lucky, so did at least one of the PJs - this is some of their mating behaviour

A solo PJ with a groper in the background

Spotted this big flathead in the Shelly Shallows

 

With COVID cases very close to Manly - including 4 Pines, remember to keep your distance, respect your fellow swimmers and don't congregate near the surf club for too long following your swim. 

Another thing - if you have symptoms, get tested right away. The test isn't pleasant but hey it doesn't last long

What am I listening to? This is Lime Cordiale, a Northern Beaches band, covering a well known Aussie song. Who says I only listen to oldies? Not a bad cover imo.

Friday 28 August 2020: Friday is Tri day

BOLD & BEAUTIFUL SWIM GROUP IS CURRENTLY NOT RUNNING DUE TO THE RISKS OF CORONAVIRUS(COVID-19). IT IS IMPORTANT TO CONTINUE PHYSICAL DISTANCING AND FOLLOW PUBLIC HEALTH ADVICE.

Thank you for swimming at different times of the day and please continue to stay safe and  remember to maintain 1.5m distance. Please read management notices at the end of the blog. 

Was lovely to see plenty of people out enjoying the sunshine and calm seas this morning for their regular swim. Conditions were just perfect and the water temperature is definitely warming up.

Friday is cake day for Warringah Triathlon Club and this week it was Alex Gooch who was the baker.

This weekend Alex is competing in her first duathlon for quite some time at North Head as part of the Warringah Triathlon Club series.  A number of Bold and Beautiful regulars will also be up their for the 6.30am start.

More members of the tri club who will be racing this weekend.

Georgina and Roger post swim enjoying a coffee and chat.

Sean and Ian practising good social distancing.  Sean saw the turtle this morning but didn't have a camera to capture the moment.

Annie about to head out.

With COVID cases very close to Manly - including 4 Pines, remember to keep your distance, respect your fellow swimmers and don't congregate near the surf club for too long following your swim. 

Have a wonderful day and remember just keep swimming.

Myrtle

The conditions were just perfect as we get close to the weekend - there are just a few days left to finish ticking off your winter swims for the COVID and Corona badges.

Thursday, 27 August 2020 - Life Down Under (deep) - Fish, Swimmers and Ocean

BOLD & BEAUTIFUL IS NOT CURRENTLY RUNNING DUE TO THE RISKS OF CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19). IT IS IMPORTANT TO CONTINUE PHYSICAL DISTANCING AND FOLLOW PUBLIC HEALTH ADVICE. 

Thank you for swimming at different times of the day and
please, please continue to maintain 1.5m distance - even in blog photos!

SSDD = Same Sea, Different Day

Oh, Shaun!

Water temp:  16.9

Enjoy the last few days of winter!

 

Wednesday 26th of August - arctic weather week continues with spectacular swimming conditions

BOLD & BEAUTIFUL SWIM GROUP IS CURRENTLY NOT RUNNING DUE TO THE RISKS OF CORONAVIRUS(COVID-19). IT IS IMPORTANT TO CONTINUE PHYSICAL DISTANCING AND FOLLOW PUBLIC HEALTH ADVICE.

Thank you for swimming at different times of the day and please continue to stay safe and  remember to maintain 1.5m distance. Please read management notices at the end of the blog.

Winter swimming conditions do not get better than this! If you ignore the overall chill factor both in and out of the water - the calm, flatter-than-flat conditions welcome you in to help ignore the cold snap we are experiencing this week. Reports of a seal sighting, whales, port jacksons and cuttlefish are a plenty. So are the Jimbles so recommendation is to hug the coastline rather than swimming deep - either way it is spectacular all round.

Just look at these guys who agree!

 

A two thumbs up birthday shout out to this happy B&Ber today:

 

Safety when putting on the wetsuits is always paramount:

 

As is making sure no swimming teammate is left behind of getting into the blog!

 

Nothing like the grins of the post swim glow:

 

Or brave and happy smiles of those going in!

 

Blogger capturing a documentarian about the B&B - have you all seen him?

 

Mid swim glow:

 

Wind chill and colder water temperatures at Shelley never dampens the spirit of a B&Ber!

 

Mermaid Ariel-Juliette holding a plastic dinglehopper which she is rescuing from the sea with her Prince Charming:

 

And last but not least - enjoying that well deserved tea or coffee post swim:

 

Stay safe and happy hump day all!

25/08/2020 - Lots of Lurv in Cabbage Tree Bay

Rock Cale kissing at The Point!

BOLD & BEAUTIFUL SWIM GROUP IS CURRENTLY NOT RUNNING DUE TO THE RISKS OF CORONAVIRUS(COVID-19). IT IS IMPORTANT TO CONTINUE PHYSICAL DISTANCING AND FOLLOW PUBLIC HEALTH ADVICE.

Thank you for swimming at different times of the day and please continue to stay safe and  remember to maintain 1.5m distance. Please read management notices at the end of the blog.

 

Beautiful sunrise, calm and clear waters to welcome the birthday swimmers Jonny Schaffers, Chrissy and Dea today. Happy Birthday! So many birthdays at the moment amongst our swimmers. Certainly a lot of lurv happening in December many years ago. Later on in the blog I've got some love action with our marine creatures too!

Stunning and 16.4 degrees in today!

Jonny with his daughter Natalie and wife Di with Fiona, Derek, Tony and Lisa in the background.

Greg and Jo swam with a seal this morning at 6am. It swam under them and dove under the water by them. Greg Cole is the amazing drone photographer so see him for prints!

Simon and Derek bow down to legendary Jonny. 'Doesn't he look good for 70?' Simon says. (He's 63 today!)

I heard a lot of squealing at 7.10am and there was Sterling and Scotty going in without a wetsuit for the first time! Well done girls, I mean boys!

Sally, Simone and friends come down for an early swim for a change.

It's Chrissy's birthday today on the right. Another very kind and helpful B&Ber who volunteerd her time last Summer to get swimmers more confident in the surf.

The wonderful Schaffer Family

Dea hadn't told anyone it was her birthday today but I found out. She's a very kind, hardworking and helpful member of B&B and coordinates us bloggers. Thank you Dea and Happy Birthday!

Sadly Clare's Mum died on the weekend in England so this was a special swim for Mum xx

Back to the other end of the cycle of life...PJs caught mating just off Shelly Beach

Cuttlefish canoodling and later fornicating

Back to the other end of circle of life...Cormorant chasing Yellowtail for breakfast

Cuttlefish 1 Groper 0 !!

Silky the lone dolphin did seem to be very interested in Heather ;-)

• 
• 

The baby PJ that appeared on our hands at Shelly a few years ago!

 

We think 15 degrees water temp has been cold! Some of our swimmers did an ice mile swim at Lake Crackenback at the weekend. 3 degree water! Well done Mark, Alex, Steve, Marty and their support crew! Edwina gave up her time too and supported too

https://pacificjules.typepad.com/pacific-jules/2015/08/my-entry.html?cid=6a0133ed6f68df970b01b8d143e581970c#comment-6a0133ed6f68df970b01b8d143e581970c

Above is the link to a blog written back in 2015 by our very own Ian McNaughty. He used to blog under the pseudonym Shelly and his sign off photo had him with big boobs in a blue bikini. I do know of one (male) swimmer who had a crush on her before he realised it was a him!!! The temp recorded on Surf Club was 1 degree on the day that blog was written!

 

A Roger photo... The End of Winter

The underwater pics aren't from today. I didn't swim today as recovering from a lurgy mixed with over the top birthday celebrations!

The amazing paper mache model a friend made for me for a birthday surprise. Thanks Raelene

love Lainey Loo 

Monday 24th August 2020 - Cold & Beautiful + Happy 53rd Kieren.

6.07am, H2O temp 14.9.

GOP.



My 6:13am  swim buddies.

Girls on the wall.

Jo & Captain Beck.


Bootie.

 

Proof that Jamie & Alex swam today.

Mate & Irish Alex.

Barb photographed birthday boy Kieren & his wife Jenny.

Four girls.

 

Hi fives all round.

Two boys with Manly “roll your Rs” accents.

Smiling swimmers.

Jimmy.

Warm hands.

Covid  crowd@7:13am.

Hood.


Beach below the eye brow.

 

Covid safe Roget.

Covid sage & warm.

Stunt man and his Actor.

Spot the “head stander”.

Have a safe and enjoyable week

Simon x3

 

 

The Arctic Blast of a weekend aka a 2 bottle day

BOLD & BEAUTIFUL SWIM GROUP IS CURRENTLY NOT RUNNING DUE TO THE RISKS OF CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19). IT IS IMPORTANT TO CONTINUE PHYSICAL DISTANCING AND FOLLOW PUBLIC HEALTH ADVICE.

Today's blog is a Dry Blog. I'm not quite over a lurgy which is certifiably NOT the Rona (relief!) so decided to stay out of the water and blog on land.

Seeing Lucy with her 2 bottles of hot water was confirmation I'd made the right call. Danny is probably thinking the 2 bottles strategy is a stroke of genius.

She and Fi did the socially considerate thing and made sure the water run-off wouldn't wet anyone's gear. Thank you ladies. That's WoWs for you, always considerate.

This is fellow blogger Elizabeth rocking a towel thingie made by Bommie, with Gail looking on admiringly / enviously. And previously featured ladies in the background, checking that no frozen bits had  fallen off and been left behind as treats for our marine buddies.

Lifeguard Josh getting ready for a day of keeping beachgoers safe. Thank you, Josh, love your work. As a clubby I have to say patrols with you as a lifeguard are a joy.

Michelle and Martin heading to the water

Wardrobe adjustment

An interesting invention - a padded swim cap designed to mitigate the impact of head on collisions while swimming

Couple of snork dorks. Wonder what the person in the foreground was looking at

Towards Shelly

If anyone ever wondered why Manly does so well in Surf Lifesaving competition, this is why. They train all the time.

The multi talented Belinda made me a scarf. Can you see the personalised bit of art work? Thank you Belinda, it is just beautiful!

Trying to be arty myself

On my way towards Shelly I came across a memorial. Lainey asked me to take some photos for the blog. David Adams' former partner passed away 2 yrs ago today. Here are some images of David and friends paying tribute.

No fish photos from today, so here are a couple from my recent trip to Lady Elliot. Can't remember if I've posted the budding occy romance shot before

 

What am I listening to? This is a folk ballad about 2 young ladies who did a really good but ultimately unsuccessful job of isolation / quarantine to avoid the Bubonic Plague. Some beautiful musicianship from Peter Knight

Friday 21 August 2020 In the know

BOLD & BEAUTIFUL SWIM GROUP IS CURRENTLY NOT RUNNING DUE TO THE RISKS OF CORONAVIRUS(COVID-19). IT IS IMPORTANT TO CONTINUE PHYSICAL DISTANCING AND FOLLOW PUBLIC HEALTH ADVICE.

Thank you for swimming at different times of the day and please continue to stay safe and  remember to maintain 1.5m distance. Please read management notices at the end of the blog.

What do you know? As a BB swimmer (having swum once or more times) you know: there are early swimmers - while 630am is early, there are earlier swimmers; there are swimmers who do a lot of kms, and varying courses - north and out to sea; the early swimmers give good intel about the conditions to the next lot of swimmers. It is far ranging in these covid times when we are not swimming as a group and people stagger swims all day. You also know that you mostly start your swim at the beach but you can also enter at Halfway or Shelly. I don't know if people who do not swim use the term halfway but it is known to the swimmers. You know that there is no water safety so you decide where to swim depending on the conditions and your ability. But you also know that if they can other swimmers will help you if you need it. You know what a jimble is and I don't think you know that until you swim with BB. Curious. You also know where to buy or repair a wet suit and to reuse plastic containers for a shower on a cold day. You know it is possible to swim year round with suitable arrangements made to suit your capacity for cold even though most non swimmers think this is impossible.   

 

I asked the Manly Hydraulics Lab about the Shelly line and this is the reply I got:

I expect this is most likely a recirculating cold current that originates from upwelling (Ekman effect) and surfaces near the shore. Seasonally, a thermocline  may form and prevent interaction with warmer surface waters until it is forced to mix as it surfaces near the beach. Without a picture or sketch though it’s difficult to say for sure.

I’m not aware of any spring and stormwater tends to diffuse quickly. I doubt the solar load over rocks would be sufficiently different to explain this. 

I am looking into this further by making a sketch using a photo and will report.

Today I photographed the area of fence which lines up withe Shelly line

 

 

 

What I have been reading:

Where the Dead Go (Gemma Woodstock) - ok but the character is unappealing and it is hard to hang in there

I Remember You by Yrsa Sigurdardottir. His included supernatural themes. This is bad because I don't like to scare myself when reading novels  but also because I read at night usually and could not do that with this book. Also, the other books of hers I read were police procedurals and this was not but no-one told me. 

 

What did you expect? Thursday August 20th.

 

BOLD & BEAUTIFUL SWIM GROUP IS CURRENTLY NOT RUNNING DUE TO THE RISKS OF CORONAVIRUS(COVID-19). IT IS IMPORTANT TO CONTINUE PHYSICAL DISTANCING AND FOLLOW PUBLIC HEALTH ADVICE.

I will be honest, yesterday I wasn’t keen on swimming or blogging today.

I had heard reports of strong winds, rough seas and cold temps....and I wasn’t the only one! Chit chat with other swimmers about bad conditions today, were only added to my anxiety. So, this was what I thought today would look like: 🥶

And this was the reality...I was delighted 😃

Had I not been forced to show up, I may have missed a spectacular swim and spending time with even more spectacular people...as seen in the pics below! 

WARNING...Dad joke alert ahead...

Gerard and Keen were not expecting such a top morning either. Keen said it was so windy at his place  that his backyard hen laid the same egg 4 times...boom tish!! 

Penny, a newbie from Mona Vale, had a fabulous first swim with us. She didn’t expect it to be as long as it was but will definitely be back! Welcome Penny! 


Well the fact that this pic is upside down certainly didn’t meet my expectations when I took it...how disappointing! But it fits with my theme so I think it’s fair to use it. Amanda (seen upside down),  knew exactly what she was walking into, she looked at the webcam! Clever ..

Everyone was enjoying the sunshine that we didn’t see coming..

 
And none of us knew what to expect as Lainey was changing out of her cosie! 😳 

Even this puppy was soaking up the sun

It was a good reminder for me that often the expectations we place on ourselves or on future experiences can be vastly different from the reality. So keep your thoughts light and drop the assumptions of what you think will happen in the future, you may be pleasantly surprised. 

Hope your day is full of unknown surprises! 

Fin Yoga x

as always...important stuff to read 👇🏼