SUNDAY

My apologies for the lack of a post yesterday. As usual there was some uncertainty over the forecast and I got tied up with the Capital Classic (a 2.8k swim in Wellington Harbour). The wind dropped for long enough to make it a very pleasant swim

Friday was interesting with a swim at Lyall Bay and an interview with TVNZ The cameraman took his work very seriously and joined me in the surf to get live action footage. Lyall Bay was a bit of a shock to the system. It is a bit closer to Cook Strait than the inner harbour and by my estimate is a good 2 degrees colder.

I took the opportunity to drop in at the Worser Bay Surf Club after the swim. The Club held their centenary celebration this weekend and I was fortunate to meet the two pace men who swam with Barry Davenport on the historic first crossing of the Strait in 1962.

I got confirmation this evening that the weather tomorrow is not swimmable so this set of tides is officially over. I now take my place as second up swimmer in the next set of tides in approximately 2 weeks and of course subject to Wellington weather.

I had a short swim at Oriental Bay this morning with Jo, Megan and Helen who had been rash enough after a few wines last night to offer to join me for a non wetsuit swim. They said they enjoyed it but I think they were lying.

In the meantime I will be back at Takapuna on a regular basis and will hopfully catch up with many of you there.

Posts may be intermittent over the next few weeks. The next tide set is approx 11th to 14th Feb

Friday

Yesterday I did 3 circuits of the capital Classic course in training.

Despite a short period of calm weather forecasted this morning the decision was made not to go. 20 knot northerlies are expected later in the morning and at my speed I would be still swimming when they arrived.

I am now heading down to the cooler waters of Lyall Bay for a training swim.
The forecast isnt good for the remainder of the tidal window so I will probably be seeing many of you at the Capital Classic tomorrow

Wednesday

You will see from the GPS map that i am now resident in Wellington.
Tomorrow is the first day of my tidal window and the only place on the Met Service marine map with a gale warning in force is Cook Strait.
I had a quick swim in the harbour this afternoon (wind 30 knots onshore) to checkout the temperature. It felt good after the spa like temperatures we have had at Takapuna lately.

The long term outlook is not good at this stage but conditions can change quickly down here and we will just wait and see.

Tuesday

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This map will follow my phone during the swim.

Swam the Takapuna Beach series this evening - 2 k warmup and 1.5k race.

Off to Wellington tomorrow afternoon and into the water as soon as possible to get used to the cold again.

Confirmation of the swim Time will be approx 7pm the night before and I will post details as soon as available

Monday

There was no post Sunday as it was all a bit of a non event. The Red Beach race was cancelled due to gale force on shore winds and when I turned up at the Parnell Pools in the afternoon they were closed due to flooding. Nice to have a rest day. I Spoke to Philip Rush who counselled strongly against looking at weather forecasts and trying to second guess Wellington weather. Said it would "do my head in". Could this phenomena account for some of the decisions that seem to come out of Wellington?

Cook Strait temperatures have fallen with the recent bad weather - mental note - more rum required.

Parnell pool still out of commission today due to flooding so ended up swimming in the seaweed soup at Takapuna. Closest I'm ever likely to get to walking on water.

Saturday

Takapuna 7am and its like grand central station - nearly run (swum)down by a herd (school) of triathletes en route to cable buoy.

Second trip at 8 and I am joined by a huge group of toilet blockers. I hasten to add, the toilet blockers are a very charming group who are so named because they start their swims at the Takapuna beach toilet block and no other reason.

Forecast for tomorrow is not good - rain and strong nor easterlies. It sounds like a sleep in then a toss up between the Red Beach race and a pool session later in the day.

Friday

I Got a swim in at Parnell Pool this afternoon - 7km in just under 2 hrs. I'm still trying to get the chlorinated salt taste out of my mouth.

I will try and get a swim in at Taka early tomorrow but by the look of the forecast I will be back to Parnell pool on Sunday.

There are probaby many of you who dont know where I will be swimming to cross the Strait. The chart to the right shows the SST (sea surface temperatures) in Cook Strait a couple of days ago and the black line is approximately the route I will be taking. This line is a very optimistic depiction of my route and the real path will probably have a bit of a curve to it. The path is more East/West than North/South

The direction of the swim is yet to be decided and will depend on conditions on the day. On the chart the temperatures appear to range from about 14 to 17 degrees along the route but due to the proximity of cold deep water either side of the Strait colder patches are likely. Brrrrr

Thursday

Great conditions at Takapuna this morning at 6. Did 2 trips to cable buoy (56 and 58mins) it was a bit choppier on the second trip.
I planned to swim the 2k race at Kohimarama tonight but misjudged the Auckland traffic and missed the start. Forecast through to Monday is southeasterlies so I plan to concentrate on some speed work at the Parnell pool

Rest Day

I Had a rest day (from swimming) today and concentrated on clearing the desk for next week. My tidal window is Thursday the 27th until sunday 31st Jan. Those are the days when the tidal flow through the Strait is at a minimum and a crossing is feasible. The other condition I am looking for is a Wellington wind forecast of less than 10 knots. If you know Wellington this is a bit of an ask.
I am now eating for two (me and my wetsuit). Wetsuits are not allowed for the swim so I need to pack back on a bit of the lard I have shed over recent months.
The forecast for tomorrow is offshore winds at Takapuna so I will be heading down to swim a couple of hours before breakfast.

Background

As many of you will know I had some shoulder problems last week but a couple of sessions with Physios seemed to do the trick and I managed to complete the 10k epic at Taupo on Saturday and the 2.5k Masters championship on Sunday in mainly choppy conditions and no shoulder problems.

Taupo is a good swim. Water temp approx 20c and you can see the bottom all the way. Its a bit unnerving to see all the golf balls and know you are swimming through a driving range.

Its Tuesday night and Im off for an early night having done a 2hr swim at Parnell this afternoon. Its hard to believe that I am just over a week away from the swim.

My thanks to everyone who has swum with me and encouraged me over the last year. Between now and the swim I will be swimming solo as I need to find my own pace which is probably going to be a bit slower than the usual race to Cable buoy.

You will see a map on the blog with a small track going out from Tamaki Drive. This was my Nephew Isaac bravely paddling out from fergs Kayaks in a 30 knot northerly today to test out a tracking system which will hopefully allow you to follow my progress on the Strait.

Map tracking test

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