If you’d managed to pick the afternoon weather after the biblical deluge we slogged through in the morning, MetService wouldn’t just hire you—they’d hand over the keys and ask you to run the joint. It was almost as if Tangaroa and Tāwhirimātea had taken a collective breath and then held it for the entire event, and those two never get on! I think the only risk during the race was to the volunteers suffering heat stroke and sunburn! Sadly, the foul morning weather (and the potential for elevated levels of E.coli and friends) did seem to dissuade some Nelsonian swim nutters from participating in the event but none-the-less 96 of you certifiable souls decided to turn up and give it a go.  It’s also good to see that lasts weeks commentary prompted some change and the one that set’s the courses, who doesn’t swim the courses, actually swum the course….and survived…just. Again, a huge thanks to all the volunteers who give up their time (and the swim) and without, this event could not happen and to our mighty sponsors Rylock who were spotted checking out the slipperiness of the boat ramp prior to the race. Given the slipping, sliding, near broken hips, and expletives, I’d say they gave it a warp factor 10 rating.

Given there were some complaints about the long course distance in previous races, a LINZ representative accompanied our buoy setter outerers and confirmed that the course distance was in fact 1500m. Let that be an end to the challenges against our course designers and buoy boys. I can also confirm that no money changed hands. The white, green and red caps managed to all start the race at slack tide and were unencumbered by currents. Unfortunately, it did mean that the current built up over the race and created distinct navigational challenges for some. For others, the flat and calm conditions meant they could verbally express their displeasure at having their toes tickled by other swimmers, without swallowing half the ocean. The perfect swim conditions provided Nia Linyard with an opportunity to show that female swimmers are far better and faster than male swimmers (albeit rubber assisted) taking line honours in a blistering time of 19:13.0 with her male rubber assisted associate, Sam Trass, a minute behind. The perfect conditions and warm water convinced a record number of long course swimmers to shed their comfort blanket (i.e. wetsuit) and join the naturalist division but Finn Bryant continues his reign as race leader in a time of 21:36.2. Fran Harris regains her winning status in the female neoprene unassisted class in a time of 24:20.1.

Although the orange caps had to deal with a 700m short course churned up but 78 long course swimmers, their pre-race battle cry could be heard from Haulashore Island. The white frothy water start was almost as impressive as their laments at the first mark over a moving buoy (due to the currents kicking in, not our trusty buoy boys!).  Ardan Warner again taking line honours in the buoyancy assisted class, in a time of 11:30.4 with fellow buoyant cohort Keshia Linyard close behind in 11:49.3. In the ‘au naturel’ class, Cassie Taylor pipped Rodney Hansen to the line in a time of 13:57.1, showing that females are better than males in the short course too!

With only 8 races left in the season, the points table is heating up faster than a tub of margarine left in the sun! There’s barely a gnat’s wing between the top 5 in each class, we could be in for some tension, tears, and photo finishes (the eye water one not the muscle one!). We are all excited to see how it all unfolds over the next weeks of racing, and we are talking about the race results not the mental wellbeing of our points leaders. Last week’s weather forecast was so accurate I considered buying myself a crystal ball, but in the interest of maintaining my flawless record and not tempting the weather gods (who seem particularly vindictive this season), I’ll keep my lips zipped on future predictions. So – rest up, recuperate, patch those suspicious (and potentially scandalous) holes in your wetsuits, and we’ll see you all next week for race 11. And remember – neoprene and sunscreen go together like lamingtons and sand at a picnic – annoying to manage but weirdly essential!

 Full results
 Series points
 Photos Thanks Helen!