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

Sunday 20th Feb

My apologies that the posts have been a bit sparse of late (in fact none).

The last set of tides (15thy to 18th Feb) came and went with the Wellington wind consistently over 15 knots.  Maximum for a strait swim to start is a forecast of 10 knots variable or better.

I am now second in queue for the set of tides from 25th Feb to 1st Mar.

I will not be travelling to Wellington to wait and see if I get a swim but will wait and see when the allocated swimmer goes and then be prepared to travel down on the late flight that day if conditions are still good on the following day.  I am unlikely to know for certain until about 7pm the night before the swim.

The consistent easterlies we have had in Auckland lately have been hard work but good training and I have been trying to keep swimming 40km + /week. this is usually made up of 10k Saturday, 10k Sunday and 20k 1 day midweek as well as the beach series sprints at Takapuna and Kohimarama on Tuesday and Thursday.  These usually end up about 4km each including a bit of a warmup.

Last Saturday was the Bean Rock swim (3.1km) in very rough conditions and I was quite pleased with 7th place overall.

To set the record straight the Helen who has been pacing me on many of my longer swims is Helen Adams and not my wife Helen.  My wife Helen thanks all those who have commented so favourably on her new found swimming prowess.

It's The Corsair Classic at Christchurch on Saturday 25th and (Wife) Helen and  I will be flying down on the Friday.  If all goes well we will be returning via Wellington.

Monday 7th

It has been a bit quiet on the blog front over the last week but I have not been resting. 

I got in 4km Tuesday, 3km wednesday 20km Thurday 6km Saturday and 10km Sunday.  Thanks to all of you who paced me on these swims, specially Helen who went well beyond the call of duty doing 3 laps on Thursday
It was frustrating not getting away on my set of tides but looking on the bright side as you will see from the temperature chart the surface temperatures in the Strait have risen 2 to 3 degrees over the last week.

I am second in line for the next set of tides which start Thursday or Friday this week.  I will not know until 7 pm the night before and will be hopping on the late flight to Wellington for a (probably) early morning start.

It is now in the hands of the Wellington weather.

I plan to do the beach races on Tuesday and Thursday and a longer swim on wednesday evening.  If the swim doesnt happen in the weekend I will probably do the Bean Rock swim.

Watch this space

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.