Before I continue with this report I would like to wish a Happy New Year to everyone. I hope everybody had a great Christmas and New Year break and is still sticking to those New Year resolutions. It is now 2009 and there are three months of training left for preparation for my swim. “I’m swimming Cook Srait this year” seems a whole lot closer than “I’m swimming Cook Strait next year.” I most certainly feel a certain urgency creeping in and a renewed vigour probably borne out of a desperation to succeed.

 

Having spent the Christmas and New Year avoiding the pool and swimming between St. Heliers and the Tamaki yacht club I feel fairly confident in passing on some good news for Auckland sea swimmers. I have it on good authority (a member of my support team) that the harbour jellyfish population has packed up and gone to the Mount for the summer holidays. Feeling a little iffy about swimming amongst them, being unclear as to what they may attract, she has been doing some necessary research on this matter for the big swim. On googling ‘what eats jellyfish’ with an eye to them attracting larger predators she has reported that there are two such jellyfish consumers, turtles and Chinese, neither of which should pose a hazard in Cook Strait I would suspect. In fact I should most probably be rather glad to see either after several hours in the open sea, which works out to be a good reason why we should welcome the presence of jellyfish. A twist to this story becomes apparent however with the recent plight of a jet skier (a natural enemy of the open water swimmer) who spent many hours in the water surrounded by jellyfish eating sharks. This too could be good news in that sharks obviously much prefer eating jellyfish to people. Strange, isn’t it, that a shark would pass up such a tasty morsel in superior human form for a stingy, slimy lump of goo.

 

As mentioned some long swims in the sea over the last few weeks have presented a welcome respite from the drudgery of the pool although I miss some of the familiar faces. Sea swimming has never seemed like training to me I just love the sea, so it comes as a great relief that these prolonged swims of two or three hour duration still feel like fun and it is nice that my swimming friends are prepared to swim a little longer with me to encourage my training and in some instances take turns to accompany me.

 

The 5^th of January 2009, saw fun take a back seat yet again with some serious training taking place in the pool with coach Carmel suggesting I start 2009 with 60 x 120 metres. I believe also that medleys are back on the agenda and there is some talk of long periods of immersion in cold water as nervousness about my ability to withstand the cold creeps in with only three months to go before the big day. A friend of mine was told by a colleague that she had seen me at the pool on the morning of Monday the 5^th. When asked how I was looking she replied “like she is on holiday”. Whoops…not a good start…so I’d just like those who are interested to know that the pool no longer feels like it is filled with mud as it did that morning and I am putting a great deal more effort into my morning sessions.

 

This coming weekend myself, Carmel and several others will be travelling to Mount Maunganui for the annual harbour to surf swim which takes place on January 11th. This starts in Pilot Bay, progresses through the channel with the outgoing tide and finishes on the surf beach by the surf lifesaving clubrooms. I have been doing this swim for some years now. It is an especially ‘scenic’ swim and it is a great feeling to swim out of the channel into the rolling swell of the ocean where you can feel the change in the water. It really is a great place to be and although I am probably somewhat overtrained for a 4 kilometre swim, I am hoping that that I can post my fastest time to date for this event.