Who would have thought it? It’s Saturday morning on the 10th of December 2011. I am standing on the edge of the grass verge where the sand begins. There is a cold wind and the sea is very rough. I do not know if it is a northerly or southerly blowing, but my guess is that it’s a northerly.
Although it is now only just gone 8am, I have both heard and seen people return from the beach in their wet suits and making an awful noise as they squidge and splash along.
As I stood on the beach front I was surprised by how few people (so I thought), were competing in the ocean swim race. I could count, maybe 40 people only in the water.
But then as we passed along some tents selling wet suits and others selling coffee, I found a small crowd of people hovering around a make shift notice board. On this board print outs of swim timings and results were stapled up. Judging by the number of sheets up there I came to the conclusion that they must be sending people deliberately out in smaller groups. These groups were no doubt separated by age and then seniority levels.
This ocean swim event is supposedly an annual event, and anyone interested in competing can sign up online at http://www.oceanswim.co.nz
Alice Letts 