Goggles at Dawn

 A forecast for a northerly suggested that Days Bay and environs would be a calmer place to swim on Saturday 23 January, with an 8am start (my inspired suggestion) so that we'd be finished before the wind got ... windy. A fairly large group rolled up to the Days Bay car park, with some people planning to swim to Pt Howard (3.2ish km), some planning a Point Howard return (6.5ish km) and Jeremy, Rebecca and I intending to do a Point Howard return before zipping over to Eastbourne wharf and back (making a tidy 9km). For me, the swim from Days Bay to Point Howard always seems endlessly long. It takes ages to get level with the Pt Howard wharf, and then it takes ages to reach the beach. Even though this stretch of water receives shelter from the surrounding hills, it feels as if something is pushing you back the whole way.  Still, we reached Point Howard fairly swiftly, according to some local swimmers who set off before us and were surprised we arrived so quickly. After quickly refuell

 The meteorologists' forecast suggested, on Friday morning, that the following morning would feature light winds and pleasantness: perfect weather for a long swim. A plan evolved to do a course of 12.5-12.7km: Hataitai Beach - Freyberg Beach (around the lighthouse, of course) - Hataitai - Balaena Bay - Hataitai. We were a large group: three of us intended to do the full swim, while another section of the group decided to swim to Freyberg then do another lighthouse lap. We set off at 7.40am, noting that despite the predicted 11km/h breezes there seemed to be a lot more wind. Sure enough, while the bay at Hataitai was calm, as soon as we turned the corner at NIWA the chop commenced.  I enjoyed pitting myself against the slightly sloppy waves being propelled into Evans Bay by a persistent northerly. Once at the lighthouse things became smoother, and we zoomed into the beach.  After some snackballs, dinosaur lollies, and a drink, the rest of the group had either arrived or were nearly