Friday 29th I spoke to Philip Rush. He was on the Strait ferry returning to Wellington and confirmed first hand that conditions were unswimmable and there was nothing in the forecast to suggest that Saturday would be any better. Water temperatures were down to 14C with the recent long series of southerlies.
As I discovered swimming at Takapuna through last winter low water temperatures on their own are surmountable. The problem now is that air temperature is starting to fall below water temperature. Combined with wind chill there can be significant heat loss through the back. The days are getting shorter and at my speed I will almost certainly be finishing in the dark and air temperatures drop rapidly when the sun disappears.
On the bright side the long term forecast is predominantly northerlies between now and the next tides on about the 9th May and there are signs that the temperature is bouncing back.
With that in mind I am still training and will be doing a "Final" 6 hour swim at Takapuna on Thursday morning. To those swimmers who are interested I will be swimming to cable buoy on the hour from 7am and would welcome company. To those clients who might be following this blog I will respond to messages/emails late afternoon.
As with the last 7 sets of tides I am back at the mercy of the Wellington weather.
Wish me luck
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