The day has dawned with fresh snow on the hills and a hint of frost. Hardly encouraging. On the positive side, it looks like a clear, sunny day. By the beginning of the day there were 188 people signed up, so it looks like a big opening night. A swim of about 800m is planned for the the long event, …
Final night – prizegiving
Final night – a fitting culmination to a near-perfect season. After the relay and barbecue we recognised the achievements of swimmers and those who made it happen. The Samoa Swim series prize was won by Clark Ambrose, who has waited since the opening swim, when he was drawn as the first person to go into the swim ballot. Here’s photos of …
State Ocean Swim, Akaroa, February 15
Nelson swimmers had a great time in Akaroa on Sunda Here’s some pics from Bryony and Keller Marriott Featured photo – Margaret Johnston, silver medallist in F60-64 Nelson results in 2.8km age group race: Luke Kelly 34.15 2 (2nd M15-19) Kirstin Ramsay 41.32 41 (1st F30-34) Lionel Padial 41.44 43 (7th M45-49) Barry Thomas 42.44 56 (1st M55-59) Christina Harris …
Port Nelson Sea Swim 14, February 12, 2015
It’s hard to imagine the season could ever get any better. We had sunshine, semi-high tide, not much wind but enough so it wasn’t boring, warm water, good friends and tonight we broke all sorts of records: The biggest attendance ever in 28 years – 194 swimmers. Probably the longest short swim – more than 600m Probably the longest long …
Swim tips #5
Swim Tip #5 – Get connected! Many if not most swimmers paddle and kick whilst allowing their mid-section to sag and wallow. This disconnection between the arms and legs leads to a drag inducing fishtailing effect as the swimmer attempts to move forwards. When you were young and had to choose a stick to throw in the river in the …
Port Nelson Sea Swim 12, January 29, 2015
Lovely swim – one of the best – about 1400m. 188 swimmers – second biggest turnout of the season. Featured swimmer, Murray Tewnion. Murray is one of the hard men of long distance triathlon, with some seriously good Ironman results to his credit. Last year Murray raced in Kona and placed well in his age group (M60-64). For most people, …
State Ocean swim, Capital Classic, Jan 25, 2015
It couldn’t have been a more perfect day in Wellington, with high tide, not a breath of wind or a cloud in the sky, but millions of (harmless) jellyfish. Luke Kelly (pictured) started alongside the 15-strong elite field, paced himself with them to the 2km turn at the Pt Jerningham lighthouse, then moved away with the leaders to place 8th …
Swim Tips #4
Swim Tip #4 – Drive your arm deeper. The vast majority of swimmers, even relatively good ones begin their stroke with their hands too shallow. With the hand at or too close to the waters surface any downward stroking pressure forces the swimmers body out of the ideal horizontal position thus creating heaps of drag. The resulting solid feel of …
Swim tips #3
Swim Tip #3 – Relax your hands. The latest in a series of swim tips from Nelson coach Lionel Padial The picture above says it all…. here we have the most successful swimmer that has ever lived swimming at speed and as you can see, his fingers are open! Surely he would go faster with his fingers together and his …
Swim news, December 3
This week’s Thursday high tide is at 9pm at 3.9m. Swim time at 6.15 will be with an incoming tide approximately mid-cycle, so we should have a moderate flow up the harbour. Both courses this week will head south from the ramp against the tide so it will pay to stay in close to shore. The short course will turn around a …