Still swimming

 Hi there

I'm still winter swimming at Hataitai Beach, my 15th winter-swimming year.  

Jay, The Young One, and I swam together for ten years . For a few years after my swimming friends' lives had gone in other directions, I swam in the lonely cold winter sea all by myself.

But then Covid came and the whole country was shut down. No swimming allowed.

Freedom came in the month of March and, suddenly, the beach was crowded.  Under normal circumstances swimmers would all but have given up with the onset of cooler days.

But this time, many never stopped swimming.  It was as if having lost their freedom during a covid summer, they were going to make up for such an outrage by swimming through the winter. 

Today, there are lots of swimmers, all of them bubbling away with the joy of a cold winter sea.  And me?  I'm getting jaded because of ...

being dictated to by the tide times, and the sea and air temps;

the gradual  disappearance of the sun on the deck;

the winter shadows that completely cover the water in the bay;

the aching coldness of the sea;

the absolutely freezing changing sheds where after a swim my fingers are so numb I can't hook up my bra, do up buttons or zips, or pull up sleeves, and all this forces me to  stay longer in the shed, getting colder by the minute;

the bone-chilling cold that is often inside me for a couple of hours post-swim if I don't make it home fast enough for my hot shower, 

and

the fact that I have to give up so much of my ordinary life because I'm ruled by my swims...

Hey ... Do you think I will be swimming next winter?

sorry for moaning...

Swimming at Hataitai Beach

Hi there

So far, I'm 12 swims down for this month at Hataitai Beach.  And today my swimming friend J, The Young One, Thong Man, and myself were all in swimming.

When we three ladies got out from the water we plastered ourselves against the outside changing shed wall to get the heat from the boards!  Then - wait for it - we popped in the water for a second little swim, this time without our lightweight t-shirts that we wear on really cold days.
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Recently J and her personal paparazzo were staying in a motel.  J's personal paparazzo told the motel manager that J swam in the winter.  "In the sea," he added.

"They call them polar bears," said the motel manager.

"They call them a few other things as well," J's personal paparazzo said dryly.

Packing for the beach (in winter)

Hi there

It never ceases to amaze me how much stuff my friend, J, and I  take with us for just, say, a one hour Hataitai Beach visit in winter.  I take more with me to the beach than I took to Las Vegas for a fortnight. 

We approach the beach with almost-bursting backpacks on our shoulders and the overlap bundled up in our arms.  Hopeless.  Next week, I may take a suitcase.

We are longer getting changed out of our bathing suits than we are swimming in the water.  When we're dripping wet, freezing cold, with numb fingers and toes, and with umpteen warm clothes to put on, it takes forever.  Sweaters get caught up in a damp roll on your back, bras can't be clipped because of fingers that can't be felt, and knee-high woollen socks refuse to go over icy cold feet.  I won't even mention the trouble of putting on knickers and long pants.  Well, yes, I will mention that actually because it is soooo difficult hopping around the puddled floor trying to put soaking wet calves into the proper pants leg.

What about the ceiling-high slatted open window that draughts down on us?  Oh, and have I ever  mentioned the floor of the Hataitai Beach changing shed is comprised of wooden boards with gaps between them? - the wind roars up your nether regions like an antarctic gust. 

It is usually at this point that I swear never-never-never am I winter swimming ever-ever-ever again.

Below pic:  today's bag prior to leaving home... 

P.S:  below picture was taken after today's swim.  Seventh for the month.

. 

What?  Cold?  Moi?