Australian Cycling Forums - Bicycles Network Australia

Hey guys, what's good? Everything all right? How's the kids? Hope everything's all right.

Anyway, I was wondering about open water swimming the other day, since my new Blueseventy wetsuit came in. I'm scared to hell that I'm gonna drown. I don't wanna die. My girlfriend will inherit my motorbike, and my sister will steal my skateboard. That really sucks. So I was thinking of getting some kids floaties, folding them up and putting them in either my swim cap or wetsuit, so if something went wrong and I started drowning, I have a backup plan - just blow them up, and I'll (hopefully) be all right....

Is this the most ridiculous thing you've ever heard?

No.


Last weekend there were 2 x 5 metre whitepointers 50 metres off the beach at Rotto.

Drowning is the least of your problems.

C'mon champ! How many people die because of speeding bastards and drunk drivers each month? I'm assuming less people die every decade from shark attacks. Plus, I don't think this wetsuit tastes like tuna..

Nothing stupid about having a back-up plan.
Mine is to swim jump in off a point, like Snapper, and swim around the coast, to be only 50 -100m out at any time. Works for Byron too.
I know there is a long social swim at Byron every Sunday, about 2km, and I'm sure there a plenty of others around the traps. I have not done it, but they probably have a safety vessel of some sort.
When I run or ride, I tend to maroon myself with the first part of the ride, forcing myself to keepmgoing to get home. Hard to think about doing that on a swim.
D you have a mate with a paddle ski or kayak etc who could be your safety boat ?

Yes.
You will be fine, you can't worry about every little thing.
Lean to swim and be able to do a km freely. join a squad. Try your wet suit in the pool first to get used to it. Lubricate it around the neck. Wet suits have buoyancy anyway. Nothing more fun than swimming in the open water. Try and do the ocean swims in summer.

Get one of these.

Nobody messes with the Enterprise and comes out ahead

Ken Ho wrote:When I run or ride, I tend to maroon myself with the first part of the ride, forcing myself to keepmgoing to get home. Hard to think about doing that on a swim.
D you have a mate with a paddle ski or kayak etc who could be your safety boat ?

Oh yeah, I do that too.I don't have any friends that swim, and I don't really wanna abuse my girlfriend to bodyboard out, when she swims worse than I do

Redbull wrote:Get one of these.

err... excuse me, but really? a redshirt? Didn't wearing a red shirt in the original series mean.. well.. you know.. 'guess who'se not coming back from this away mission'?

edit; holy crap; those are actual wetsuits :O MUST HAVE

Maybe no yellow ones cause those are the first guys taken out

Didn't the Taylors years ago show by tossing dummies into a bunch of Great Whites that it was the suit colours that were the real problem? (Black equalling seal to an ancient creature with a lot of instinct and little intelligence)

Yellow could be looking good again for you ...

clackers wrote:Didn't the Taylors years ago show by tossing dummies into a bunch of Great Whites that it was the suit colours that were the real problem? (Black equalling seal to an ancient creature with a lot of instinct and little intelligence)

Yellow could be looking good again for you ...

Clacker.. you really are a clacker Maybe I'll just leave the tuna flavoured sunscreen at home

The amusing responses to this thread remind me of my desire to take up trail running despite being quite a bit scared of snakes. So someone like me posted on CoolRunning asking for reassurance and they just got inundated with scary anecdotes & blurry pics of disturbed reptiles. Sigh.

But in my experience with ocean swimming the worst part is accidentally gulping down salty water and not gagging too much. Your wetsuit will provide some bouyancy and there's no shame in stopping, taking a deep breath (relax) and looking around to make sure you're not heading off to NZ.

Going to do the Byron swim tomorrow, Wategoes to Main beach. Or maybe Snapper to Kirra.
I'll let you know if I get eaten or drown.

Ken I rolled the dice/bones/8-ball and decided that you will live to tell us about it.

Not dead yet.
Sooked out a bit with the swim, stayed in close. Don't have that much swim in me yet.

Ken Ho wrote:Not dead yet.
Sooked out a bit with the swim, stayed in close. Don't have that much swim in me yet.

I've got a whole 150m freestyle in a 25m pool amount of swim in me. You've got more than most

kellyu wrote:

Ken Ho wrote:Not dead yet.
Sooked out a bit with the swim, stayed in close. Don't have that much swim in me yet.

I've got a whole 150m freestyle in a 25m pool amount of swim in me. You've got more than most

I am pretty crap. Never did get taught much as a kid and I'm not keen on pools. My son drowned in one, and I have a deep seated aversion. I'm OK if it's hot and sunny, but as soon as it's overcast or anything, the bunyips come out.
I've started using an interval timer though, which works well for my running, so we'll see how that goes.
The ocean is getting really nice here now, after being a bit cool in spring, so more ocean swims are on the schedule.

there are heaps of small swims in sydney... if you're THAT worried go to a beach and stroll up to the lifeguards, tell them exactly where you're swimming (ideally just swim 50m out from the flags, 50m across and 50m in to start) and if they could possibly keep an eye on you.

do you know anything about beaches? if no, perhaps best to do a "surf safety" course to learn how to read a beach, understand rips etc...

bracko wrote:there are heaps of small swims in sydney... if you're THAT worried go to a beach and stroll up to the lifeguards, tell them exactly where you're swimming (ideally just swim 50m out from the flags, 50m across and 50m in to start) and if they could possibly keep an eye on you.

do you know anything about beaches? if no, perhaps best to do a "surf safety" course to learn how to read a beach, understand rips etc...

clackers wrote:Didn't the Taylors years ago show by tossing dummies into a bunch of Great Whites that it was the suit colours that were the real problem? (Black equalling seal to an ancient creature with a lot of instinct and little intelligence)

Yellow could be looking good again for you ...

there is quite a lot of evidence that sharks are actually very intelligent on the scale of apex hunters.

bracko wrote:there is quite a lot of evidence that sharks are actually very intelligent on the scale of apex hunters.

Don't be silly. Everybody knows that sharks are crazy. They swim around hell-bent on eating and killing everything in their path. All the time!

Look how crazy he is! Haha...

So since November, I grabbed a wetsuit and somehow i can float in it. First race in it, got 500m in 8 minutes. Next race was a no wetsuit swim, 17 minutes.. and I sunk. Alot. Can't float without it My body fat in calipers was 2mm. The Exercise physiologist said i had the lowest score in lower body fat he's ever seen, and there's no wonder i couldn't float. In it, I can swim indefinitely, but without it, barely 100m... Anyone have a similar experience?

oh, speaking of rips, I got caught in one at Bondi. I didn't even know, I was just paddling and paddling and not getting anywhere (I thought it was because the waves kept going over me), until the life guard came out on his surfboard and told me I'm not getting outta there without him

only thing i take with me on an ocean swim is a tourniquet, i get them at work and they fold up to about the size of a piece of Lego,and sit in the back of my speedo's, if by some bad stroke of luck myself or another competitor receive what is usually a test bite (to see if your worth eating) from a shark, its the loss of blood that does you in, so it could make all the difference. people might laugh, but if your the poor bugger that's bitten swimming next to me, you will be glad that i'm there. and lets be honest,id be glad that your there too, because better you than me