Swimming in st Ives

[oldschool69#2 324]

Well unfortunately I’m going to be in st Ives for most of February 😞

so was thinking I might jump back into the pool a couple days a week 

where is the closet pool that has a masters squad in the evening?

cheers

[Rog 1,714]

Terry Hills should be close enough. 

[ashley_s 88]

West Pymble would also be fairly close. 

[oldschool69#2 324]

Do they have masters squads with a decent group?

is that where you guys swim ?

[rory-dognz 556]

Welcome to suburbia

TriFocus runs a squad on Monday nights at Terrey Hills pool, i think the pool itself runs a number of master programs

TimG swims at Knox in a squad. Not sure how organised, but PM him

I swim at West Pymble but just on my own, don't know of any squads other than kids.

[roxii 6,147]

What did you do wrong to get sent there? 

 

[Peter 3,118]

Wouldn't Lane Cove have a Masters group?

 

[IronmanFoz 1,238]

Lane Cove is closed (outdoor) indoor 25m open

Terrey Hills 25m

Hornsby 50M

West Pymble 50M (Kuringai Aquatic)

Willoughby 25 M

Knox - TimG swims mornings I think from 5;30

 

Like Rory, I swim solo at West Pymble.

 

Oh.... there are squads at Macquarie Uni.

[IronmanFoz 1,238]

Or let me know...... we can do the Bold and Beautiful ocean swim. it’s on 7 days aweek

And when I am for I often do the 6:00, the 6:30 And 7:00 am sessions back to back. Will give you about 4.5 Km ..all finished by 7:30. If your stupid..... you can even do the 05:30 am session in the dark.And I mean pitch dark scary shit.

[IronJimbo 896]

14 minutes ago, IronmanFoz said:

Or let me know...... we can do the Bold and Beautiful ocean swim. it’s on 7 days aweek

And when I am for I often do the 6:00, the 6:30 And 7:00 am sessions back to back. Will give you about 4.5 Km ..all finished by 7:30. If your stupid..... you can even do the 05:30 am session in the dark.And I mean pitch dark scary shit.

Keep me posted bruh.  I might join you fossils for a bit of B&B action...

[oldschool69#2 324]

3 hours ago, roxii said:

What did you do wrong to get sent there? 

 

I know !!!

Builder mate of mine had a bad accident (nearly dead) he has a job at st Ives .

so he wants me to run it for him as much as I can  .

so February is it at the moment , I’ll be up there Wednesday Thursday this week then back home as I’m taking my eldest camping with his mates for his birthday after that I’ll be there for a few weeks straight.

So swimming in mornings is out as I’ll be on site at 6.45 

evening swims are going to suit I’ll look into squads etc but if a couple of you guys are keen I’ll do that as well .

ill look in the UBD tonight and see where the job is and pools etc 😉

us country foke are a bit slow 😂

[oldschool69#2 324]

Swam at West Pymble tonight 

at about 6.30 not a bad pool 

bit  crowded but it was ok everyone was pretty cruisy 

My only complaining is farrrrk me the shower rooms STINK !!

ill stick to the cold shower out side next time👍

 

[Surfer 354]

Is that an outdoor 50 pool?

[oldschool69#2 324]

13 minutes ago, Surfer said:

Is that an outdoor 50 pool?

Yep 

only 6 lanes I think though maybe 7

and stinky shower rooms 😂

[IronJimbo 896]

1 hour ago, oldschool69#2 said:

My only complaining is farrrrk me the shower rooms STINK !!

ill stick to the cold shower out side next time👍

 

Sounds like you need to hose the cow shit off the bottom of your gumboots 

[Mr Flower 270]

School carnivals on this month. Who knows what is going on in those showers. I normally swim there at lunchtime. Very cruisy then.

[IronmanFoz 1,238]

If you can go after 19:00 you may sometimes get a lane to yourself..... Definitely after 7:45Pm

Open til 21:00

[roxii 6,147]

Just put 2 and 2 together, is that one of Maso's jobs? 

[oldschool69#2 324]

2 hours ago, roxii said:

Just put 2 and 2 together, is that one of Maso's jobs? 

Yep he got me out of my bubble..

can only really help him out February 

jodie back at uni after that . 

[oldschool69#2 324]

11 hours ago, IronmanFoz said:

If you can go after 19:00 you may sometimes get a lane to yourself..... Definitely after 7:45Pm

Open til 21:00

What time do you swim there ? 

The masters look like they had some good numbers .

 

[rory-dognz 556]

Narrabeen ocean pool is about 25 min from SI. If you want sea swimming. No black lines and sometimes a swell

[flathead 68]

Manly Bold and Beautiful swimmers will be a little more nervous.

"We swam a bit more briskly than we normally would."

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-07-02/manly-shark-attack-leaves-deep-gash-on-swimmer/11270280

[willie 1,507]

I remember having this conversation a couple of years ago with someone about the B&B swim... It was only a matter of time till something like this happened. I’ve never seen a shark big enough to give me a second thought in that water (yet). I saw a few big fish down south when I used to do the shark island swim a bit. Even more big fish and some crocs over in the Solomon Islands as well. 

I’ll be back at B&B Sunday

[IronmanFoz 1,238]

it was just a psychotic whiting going nutso!!!!

Actually, It is around that spot that I have seen dusky whalers 2 mornings in a row back in May. Everyone says they are harmless. The one that I saw swam about 6 feet underneath me and gave me the eye!!

The thing to remember here is..... these swimmers head out at 05:45am. This time of year the sun rises at 07:00am... So it is pitch black and they were flashing lights on the arm and back of there swim goggles.

To me this is asking for it/crazy. Here is the swimmers the day before looking back at Manly. Yep...with there lights on.

[AA7 1,619]

1 hour ago, flathead said:

Manly Bold and Beautiful swimmers will be a little more nervous.

"We swam a bit more briskly than we normally would."

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-07-02/manly-shark-attack-leaves-deep-gash-on-swimmer/11270280

English Channel swimmer

[Paul Every 989]

6 hours ago, IronmanFoz said:

it was just a psychotic whiting going nutso!!!!

Actually, It is around that spot that I have seen dusky whalers 2 mornings in a row back in May. Everyone says they are harmless. The one that I saw swam about 6 feet underneath me and gave me the eye!!

The thing to remember here is..... these swimmers head out at 05:45am. This time of year the sun rises at 07:00am... So it is pitch black and they were flashing lights on the arm and back of there swim goggles.

To me this is asking for it/crazy. Here is the swimmers the day before looking back at Manly. Yep...with there lights on.

I doubt it was a juvenile dusky. They're in the bay in numbers, often for months on end, and are quite inoffensive. I've seen as many 70 aggregating between Manly and Shelly. They're quite the tourist attraction for swimmers, snorkelers and divers.

I've also seen several grey nurse of reasonable size and a hammerhead. Also common are smaller benign species like Port Jacksons, Crested Horns and Blind Sharks, plus Wobbies of course.

There was a juvenile Great White washed ashore at Manly in 2007, though I've never seen one while swimming there. https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/shark-goes-for-a-swim-in-manly-pool-20170911-gyf20w.html

Realistically, I consider Manly a relatively safe place to swim. I feel comfortable swimming there, having swum reasonably often with the 5:30 group, (or even without them on the odd occasion when I've been the only one that early).

The B&B group has collectively logged about 750 000km at Manly, (probably closer to a million km, as many swimmers don't log their swims on the website). Other smaller swimming groups frequent the beach and bay; snorkelers, divers, surfers, casual beach goers, etc, all without significant shark interactions for many years.

Predators aren't unaware of what is happening in their environment. They know where to find reliable food sources. If the local shark populations were genuinely intent on preying on humans, they'd be queuing up at the point at 6:55 every morning, waiting for the smorgasbord of several hundred B&B swimmers.

 

[goughy 3,458]

Did you meet a man with seven wives??

[Bosco 112]

Being reported as grey nurse that ‘bit’ him...........

[Oompa Loompa 871]

With South Oz and South Africa the sharks get use to the food and keep coming back for a feed.    Brave souls to continue swimming in the dark now the shark has  a taste.  Guess they know the risk.

[willie 1,507]

12 minutes ago, Oompa Loompa said:

With South Oz and South Africa the sharks get use to the food and keep coming back for a feed.    Brave souls to continue swimming in the dark now the shark has  a taste.  Guess they know the risk.

Where's the evidence to back this up? I call BS

[IronmanFoz 1,238]

2 hours ago, Bosco said:

Being reported as grey nurse that ‘bit’ him...........

How could they tell. They were in pitch dark.... approx 1 hr 20 before sunrise.

[Paul Every 989]

13 minutes ago, IronmanFoz said:

How could they tell. They were in pitch dark.... approx 1 hr 20 before sunrise.

https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/manly-beach-closed-after-man-reports-shark-bite-20190702-p5238s.html

"But scientists from the NSW Department of Primary Industries believe Mr Schultz was bitten by a "generally harmless" grey nurse shark based on photos of Mr Schultz's wounds."

[Oompa Loompa 871]

1 hour ago, willie said:

Where's the evidence to back this up? I call BS

Originally there was a lot of gut feel that the cage operators were enabling easy food like a lorikeet will come to a suburban house.  Newspapers like Fairfax ran with such stories 15-20 years ago and if you search their records you will find such stories. 

But more recent studies in the last period of time have moved away from this.  

Here is an example,   

https://www.doc.govt.nz/Documents/conservation/marine-and-coastal/shark-cage-diving/csiro-report.pdf

It is interesting though that NZ has banned the caged tours..... snap snap... lol

 

[Oompa Loompa 871]

1 minute ago, Paul Every said:

https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/manly-beach-closed-after-man-reports-shark-bite-20190702-p5238s.html

"But scientists from the NSW Department of Primary Industries believe Mr Schultz was bitten by a "generally harmless" grey nurse shark based on photos of Mr Schultz's wounds."

Yes, generally harmless except when biting you... lol.

If you enter their territory, you assume the risk.  Most people will swim all their lives without issue, a small minority will get a nip or bite, the unlucky few will die. 

If people do not want to get bitten, don’t swim.  It’s fairly simple. 

[Paul Every 989]

1 hour ago, Oompa Loompa said:

With South Oz and South Africa the sharks get use to the food and keep coming back for a feed.    Brave souls to continue swimming in the dark now the shark has  a taste.  Guess they know the risk.

 

9 minutes ago, Oompa Loompa said:

Originally there was a lot of gut feel that the cage operators were enabling easy food like a lorikeet will come to a suburban house.  Newspapers like Fairfax ran with such stories 15-20 years ago and if you search their records you will find such stories. 

But more recent studies in the last period of time have moved away from this.  

Here is an example,   

https://www.doc.govt.nz/Documents/conservation/marine-and-coastal/shark-cage-diving/csiro-report.pdf

It is interesting though that NZ has banned the caged tours..... snap snap... lol

 

I haven't read the whole paper (...not yet, anyway), but you're drawing an excessively long bow in regard to shark behaviour between that study and what occurred at Manly.

The study assesses the impact of  "White shark cage diving around the world, including in New Zealand, occurs in areas where the species naturally aggregates with all current operations focussed around pinniped (seal/sealion) colonies."

Section 4.2 on page 15 is pertinent:

"A typical conditioned response, whereby an animal is either deliberately or inadvertently trained to respond, generally requires consistent exposure to a specific stimulus and a reward for doing so. Shark cage diving provides a vast range of stimuli that sharks may respond to including the odour corridor provided by the chum/berley trail, the presence of tethered baits, the cage diving vessel itself, a variety of fish (sometimes in high abundance) attracted to feed in the chum/berley trail, the dive cage with divers and the variety of visual, acoustic and electrochemical cues (e.g. vessel anodes and other dissimilar metal combinations and natural electrical fields) associated with all of these. "

None of the stimili listed are applicable to Manly, there has been no consistent exposure to specific stimuli, there was no reward for the shark in this instance.

Thanks for the link though. I'm certainly interested in reading it thoroughly.

 

[Paul Every 989]

1 hour ago, Oompa Loompa said:

Yes, generally harmless except when biting you... lol.

If you enter their territory, you assume the risk.  Most people will swim all their lives without issue, a small minority will get a nip or bite, the unlucky few will die. 

If people do not want to get bitten, don’t swim.  It’s fairly simple. 

Yes, plenty of "harmless" animals can still bite, scratch, peck or kick.

Grey Nurse are fish feeders and quite inoffensive, but South Africans call them Ragged-tooth Sharks for a reason.

I've encountered them several times at Manly, including once while with swimming with several of the swimmers who were in the 5:30 group when the incident occurred this morning. On that occasion, eight of us were swimming outside the bay, having swum south around headland toward North Head. Shortly after turning around, a reasonably sized Grey Nurse cruised slowly in the opposite direction, about 2 metres below us. We all immediately stopped and watched transfixed as it passed by.  We then popped our heads up, seeking confirmation from each other "That was a Grey Nurse, yeah?" They are a fairly "sharky" looking shark after all.

I did meet a Grey Nurse during a solo pre-dawn swim one morning, suddenly appearing out of the gloom and moving diagonally across my path. It wouldn't have been further than a metre from my outstretched hand. It was in quite shallow water, fairly soon after leaving to Shelly to return to Manly. There was a definite surge of adrenaline, even with a near immediate species identification.

It's not unusual for a Grey Nurse to regularly visit the bay over a period of a week or more, most probably attracted by the abundance of fish. When one does, regular B&Bers are on the lookout, swimming the most likely routes, some hoping to catch a photo of, or even with, the shark.

Ocean swimmers tend to be quite accepting of the risk, and generally have a reasoned perspective in that regard.

I've long considered the drive to and from Manly riskier than the swim itself. 

Edited July 2 by Paul Every

[Andrew #1 1,154]

Top posting Paul. It’s very welcome to have a facts based post on such a hot button topic in this post truth, Trumpian world.

[ComfortablyNumb 790]

A Murray Cod can shred the skin on your thumb when you lip-grip it to lift for a quick pic before release.  They shake their head back and forth and it's like a hacksaw on your skin. I've had large trout do the same, though their teeth are even sharper.  Some people use gloves or those lip-grip tools, but I've decided to go nude.

It's only fair though since you hooked him first 😁

Holding them horizontal by the lip with one hand, and under the belly with the other hand (rather than dangling it vertical from the lip) is a much better way to ensure no internal organ damage and hence a successful release.

But the most powerful bite I've ever felt is from a Blue Heeler...on the heal, while out running.

[Ex-Hasbeen 7,040]

9 minutes ago, ComfortablyNumb said:

But the most powerful bite I've ever felt is from a Blue Heeler...on the heal, while out running.

I got bit by 10,000V once. That hurt.

[ComfortablyNumb 790]

37 minutes ago, Ex-Hasbeen said:

I got bit by 10,000V once. That hurt.

And it did not kill you !

[Oompa Loompa 871]

12 hours ago, Paul Every said:

 

I haven't read the whole paper (...not yet, anyway), but you're drawing an excessively long bow in regard to shark behaviour between that study and what occurred at Manly.

The study assesses the impact of  "White shark cage diving around the world, including in New Zealand, occurs in areas where the species naturally aggregates with all current operations focussed around pinniped (seal/sealion) colonies."

Section 4.2 on page 15 is pertinent:

"A typical conditioned response, whereby an animal is either deliberately or inadvertently trained to respond, generally requires consistent exposure to a specific stimulus and a reward for doing so. Shark cage diving provides a vast range of stimuli that sharks may respond to including the odour corridor provided by the chum/berley trail, the presence of tethered baits, the cage diving vessel itself, a variety of fish (sometimes in high abundance) attracted to feed in the chum/berley trail, the dive cage with divers and the variety of visual, acoustic and electrochemical cues (e.g. vessel anodes and other dissimilar metal combinations and natural electrical fields) associated with all of these. "

None of the stimili listed are applicable to Manly, there has been no consistent exposure to specific stimuli, there was no reward for the shark in this instance.

Thanks for the link though. I'm certainly interested in reading it thoroughly.

 

Long bows are what I do on Internet forums, generate debate to explore opinions.  No point us all saying the same thing. 

[Oompa Loompa 871]

11 hours ago, Paul Every said:

Yes, plenty of "harmless" animals can still bite, scratch, peck or kick.

Grey Nurse are fish feeders and quite inoffensive, but South Africans call them Ragged-tooth Sharks for a reason.

I've encountered them several times at Manly, including once while with swimming with several of the swimmers who were in the 5:30 group when the incident occurred this morning. On that occasion, eight of us were swimming outside the bay, having swum south around headland toward North Head. Shortly after turning around, a reasonably sized Grey Nurse cruised slowly in the opposite direction, about 2 metres below us. We all immediately stopped and watched transfixed as it passed by.  We then popped our heads up, seeking confirmation from each other "That was a Grey Nurse, yeah?" They are a fairly "sharky" looking shark after all.

I did meet a Grey Nurse during a solo pre-dawn swim one morning, suddenly appearing out of the gloom and moving diagonally across my path. It wouldn't have been further than a metre from my outstretched hand. It was in quite shallow water, fairly soon after leaving to Shelly to return to Manly. There was a definite surge of adrenaline, even with a near immediate species identification.

It's not unusual for a Grey Nurse to regularly visit the bay over a period of a week or more, most probably attracted by the abundance of fish. When one does, regular B&Bers are on the lookout, swimming the most likely routes, some hoping to catch a photo of, or even with, the shark.

Ocean swimmers tend to be quite accepting of the risk, and generally have a reasoned perspective in that regard.

I've long considered the drive to and from Manly riskier than the swim itself. 

Probably 100% right on the drive when you look at the raw numbers. Would be interesting to get a frequency rate but suspect it’s near impossible to do with any reliability.

[nealo 1,538]

59 minutes ago, Ex-Hasbeen said:

I got bit by 10,000V once. That hurt.

415V bit me more than en electric fence ever did 

[roxii 6,147]

10 minutes ago, nealo said:

415V bit me more than en electric fence ever did 

I still can't put my tongue on a 9V battery   

[IronJimbo 896]

I'll find him for three

But I'll catch him, and kill him, for ten...

[Ex-Hasbeen 7,040]

35 minutes ago, ComfortablyNumb said:

And it did not kill you !

Nup, but nearly broke my arm when I hit the wall it threw me into. It was just a capacitor that was left unearthed that got me, so an instantaneous 10kV, but nothing else behind it.

A 240V shock was by far the worst I've ever had, and it was only an instant reaction to jump off the ladder to make my hand release the live box that saved me. I could hardly move the rest of the day.

[IronJimbo 896]

4 hours ago, Andrew #1 said:

Top posting Paul. It’s very welcome to have a facts based post on such a hot button topic in this post truth, Trumpian world.

Careful Andrew

You might hurt Mike Del's feelings if you politicise the thread

[AA7 1,619]

14 hours ago, Oompa Loompa said:

Yes, generally harmless except when biting you... lol.

If you enter their territory, you assume the risk.  Most people will swim all their lives without issue, a small minority will get a nip or bite, the unlucky few will die. 

If people do not want to get bitten, don’t swim.  It’s fairly simple. 

If you don't want to be in a car crash, never travel on the road. Risk there is far greater, yet we all do it without a second thought.

[ComfortablyNumb 790]

6 hours ago, Ex-Hasbeen said:

Nup, but nearly broke my arm when I hit the wall it threw me into. It was just a capacitor that was left unearthed that got me, so an instantaneous 10kV, but nothing else behind it.

A 240V shock was by far the worst I've ever had, and it was only an instant reaction to jump off the ladder to make my hand release the live box that saved me. I could hardly move the rest of the day.

When I was about 12, I grabbed the filament of a broken lightbulb over my bed that was still on, and that chucked me a bit I think.  I guess that was 240V?