Saturday's long swim - 16 January 2021

 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 arrived, so Rebecca, John, Payel, and I  set out once more. I far prefer swimming into choppy water than having it behind me, bouncing and bending me about. It is hard to maintain propulsion and control - or so it feels to me (an informal poll on this topic reveals that opinion is divided almost 50/50 among my regular swimming group on this topic. Some like to forge into the waves, others like the push).  I became vexed by the sloshing, so for the last 2km or thereabouts I started going through all my times tables, getting all the way to the 17s and then working my way back down and backwards. While it was a grey day, it was also quite humid, and I was gasping thirsty when we reached the beach. A couple of the swimmers who'd done a one-way lap from Hataitai to Freyberg had driven back around the bays, and greeted us cheerfully!

For the Balaena lap Eliza joined us, and this infusion of new blood was a real shot in the arm (mixed metaphors and not a reference to illegal activities popular with professional cycling teams). The outward swim to Balaena Bay was a sprint against the even larger chop. Making landfall at the beach was rather like running aground, and as I'm now suspicious of stingrays, I tend to swim until my nose hits carefully-inspected sand. On the way out of the bay we met a yacht that seemed dangerously close to shore but also not willing to yield to oncoming swimmers.  Approaching NIWA I began my times tables (starting at 16 and working backwards) in between iterations of the mantra of the day: 'another stroke closer to coffee!'  I was pleased that my arms still had plenty of life in them, and there was little undue pain even after 12.7km at a constant brisk pace and some bumpy water. 

Recovery consisted of going to friends' house to visit their new puppy, and drinking several litres of water while admiring the little dog.