Friday 25th March

No, I'm not dead.  Just a bit laid back about blogging when there's nothing to report.
The last set of tides (11th to 15th March) came and went with the wind in the Strait seldom dropping below 15 knots.  I am now one of three in the queue.

Next set of tides is 26th to 31st March and I'm told a Spanish woman is first up.  Looking at the 7 day forecast there's nothing likely to happen until the last 3 days.

My training now consists of a hard week (40+km  including a 6 hr swim) in the week after a missed set of tides then a taper to the next set.  Last week I did the beach series Tuesday, 3km Wednesday, 6hrs on Thursday, 3hrs Saturday and a 4km race with Hibiscus Tri club on Sunday (won it).

This weekend Saturday I will do the Mount Maunganui Ocean swim (unfortunately to be run in Pilot Bay because of the weather)   and then a series of 1 hr swims through the week while I psyche myself up for a possible Strait swim later in the week .

You will see from the chart 2 days ago that temperatures in the strait are a bit chilly at present but they have been fluctuating between 14 and 19 since my original set of tides in January and they should be up again next week with a bit of Northerly weather.

There are probably 2 more sets of tides before the Strait gets too cold.

Watch this space mid next week

Friday 4th March

Well, as you will have gathered from the silence Wellington weather put paid to any crossing attempts during the set of tides last weekend.

Philip Rush told me he got one swimmer across a couple of days before the last set of tides but she was very quick (7hrs 8 minutes) and had the speed to overcome deteriorating weather towards the end of the swim.

The next set runs from approx 11th to15th March and I've got my fingers crossed.
In the absence of a Strait swim last weekend I did the State ChristChurch fundraiser swim at Milford on Saturday plus a return trip from Takapuna - 7.5km. 
On Sunday I did 2 trips to cable buoy plus Takapuna to Castor Bay - approx 11km. 
Tuesday was with the usual suspects at the Beach series and yesterday I did 6 trips to the Takapuna Cable Buoy.  It was great to have company - Richard Rice for the first leg, Helen Adams for legs 2, 3 and 4 and Hamish for the last leg.  Average speed by my estimate 3.2 kph.

Today is a rest day as is tomorrow (going fishing).  Sunday I will do the ACM Bays Swim and probably a return trip to the start.

Next week I'll be winding down to the next set of tides.

Next posting will be mid next week

Cheers

Geoff