Wednesday 23rd November - is it the luck of the Irish and the return to the fold of Irish mermaid Ciara Gaffney that Mother Nature brought us (almost) fabulous swimming conditions today? Even the Palmie surf boat chose our beautiful bay to train in the golden morning light !
The tumult of the last few days has disappeared (but for how long?). The westerly onslaught has kept the ocean flat, the wind is now but a whisper, the weed seems to be making its way back out to sea and the "coastal upwelling" has cooled down the water, bringing back ALL the cold water benefits (and lots of neoprene!).
Water temp: 16.5 degrees
air temp: "felt like" 6.7 degrees at 6am
conditions: Flat, almost perfect, bit murky
vibe: generally happy - lots of smiles on wonderful wednesday!
Coastal upwelling is why we have been seeing a return to "winter swimming" water temperatures and the return of neoprene en masse the last few days..... as strong gusty westerly & south westerly winds literally straight across the Bite from Antarctica push the warmer surface water out to sea, and cooler deeper water happily takes its place.
Lots of "Aye's" this week: Sue Marrinan 7000 km (wow!), Manmaid Rob and Pri said "Aye do", and the Irish eyes of mermaid Ciara Gaffney (below with mermaids!) returned to the fold.
Given we have water temperatures more akin to Ireland than manly at the moment, I thought Ciara could give the BB swimmers an insight as to what its like to swim in Ireland!!
Ciara started sea swimming at 17 in Tramore (meaning "big beach") in county waterford (yes, THAT crystal), in South East Ireland. The water temperature hovers around a balmy 14-19 degrees in summer, and 8-10 degrees in winter. So, Ciara felt right at home when she started swimming with Bold & Beautiful in 2020 with the Mermaids and Manmaids and the Lunchtime swimmers. She felt the same fear as most of us on our first time swimming in the open Aussie ocean, and she also felt the warm camaraderie, encouragement, friendship and embrace of the B&B community and learned to channel her fear into awe and wonder.
Last year, Ciara returned to Ireland. However, her love for swimming remained and she found places to swim, buddies to swim with and some awesome events like the Great Fjord swim in Galway, the 40 foot in Dublin, Salthill in Galway, Bray in Wicklow, Vico in Dalkey (for U2 fans - near Bono's house!) and the Aran Islands (yep Aran of THOSE knitted jumpers).
Ciara describes Irish sea swimming as a "daily free wim hof" experience (and no sharks! ask her about the time she swam so fast back to shore after a beach announcement in manly!). Despite the water being so much colder, necessitating a wetsuit, under that wetsuit Ciara always proudly wears her B&B swimmers or other Budgy Smugglers as a reminder of magical Manly and the friends & camaraderie of the B&B she misses, and we miss her too! if you are travelling to Ireland and in need of a swimming adventure Ciara will be a wealth of information!
The Great Fjord swim in Galway, Ireland is 9/9/2023 if you are interested! Linky thing here: https://gaelforceevents.com/en/the-great-fjord-swim-info - from Ironman (3.9km) to an enticer 750m there is something for everyone! Thats an "Aye" from me one day!
And, lastly, today, Chance Aye'd off coffee as usual......
As always - stay safe as the dreaded "virus which cannot be named" once again infiltrates our beautiful city, stay sane, look out for each other, be kind and have a wonderful Wednesday!
Jocelyn
now for the public service announcements:
Christmas Party
The B&B Christmas Party is now fully booked. If you would like to put your name on the waitlist, can you please contact Ian ([email protected]). Similarly, if you have booked tickets that you can no longer use, can you also contact Ian. Thank you.
Budgie Smuggler Random Swimmer of the Month
The Budgie Smuggler Swimmer of the Month for October is Marianne Gould. Marianne will receive a voucher for a new pair of Budgy Smugglers from the Budgy Smuggler shop. To be in the running for Swimmer of the Month, all you have to do is log your swims. The winner is selected randomly from all those who have swum at least once during the month. The more times you swim the more chances you have to win the prize. So start logging now. If you don't know how, just email Ian, [email protected].
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