Goggles at Dawn

  Wednesday and Friday morning swims at Freyberg Beach remained part of the programme through July and August too. The mornings became lighter, but still, we experienced the gamut of conditions: northerly gale and big swells/white caps, icy southerly whipping up a thousand tiny ripples and freezing your arms every time they left the water (we had a few swims where the air temperature was approximately 3-5 degrees – made more frigid by the Wellington's speciality wind chill – while the water was a balmy 10-11), and the most radiant mornings when the sea turned to gold. Distances varied between 1.2 and 1.8km for most of these, with an occasional turn around the 1km buoy. Rebecca and I return from a chilly excursion around the 3rd buoy, caught on camera by Eliza (who was sensibly heading to the pool) We also had a few Saturday morning swims around the lighthouse in less than delectable conditions. SwimIrishKiwi experienced her first lighthouse swim in 10-degree water and turned the mo

 A couple of days after returning from Auckland and the not-so-cold Iceberg, a new adventure presented itself.  WRAC, where I swim on Tuesday and Thursday mornings with Bonobo Squad , would be closing for its five-yearly maintenance, meaning that the squad would move to Thorndon Pool during this time. Not only would this mean swimming in an open-air pool during the two coldest months of the winter at 6am, it would also mean getting dressed in the very 'well-ventilated' changing sheds. This sheds, picturesque and well-loved as they are, can be cold in summer, so 7.30am in the winter would be quite the experience.  I was very fortunate that our patient and forbearing coach, Timon, was happy to collect a few carless swimmers from outside WRAC at 5.45am on swim days, and I was very grateful for this! However, getting up at about 5.15am instead of 5.30am – alongside starting a new job for a term – proved surprisingly tiring. The first two weeks were a grind, and while I love Thorndo

 A daily shiver-by-shiver report of winter outdoor swimming would probably become tedious, so now, well into spring I'll provide a digest of some of our winter swimming. First of all, a winter race. In July I went on a frivolous trip to Auckland to swim in the Iceberg on Waiheke Island. It was a big expedition for a <30-minute race, but a really great day out. And it’s always fun to go on a ferry. I stayed with Geraldine, Alayna, and Franke the Schnauzer in their AirBnB: one large room over a garage but commanding million-dollar views.  The race had a very civilised afternoon start time, so we had a leisurely start to the day, had time to eat plenty, and make sandwiches (almond butter and apricot jam!) before heading to the beach and taking in the scene. After many cold mornings in Wellington, winter on Waiheke with bright sun and no wind felt glorious. The water was apparently 12.8 degrees. Getting to the start at Little Oneroa Beach involved a cliff-bottom walk through the sh