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About this project

Ocean swims in Australia are open water swim races in which anyone can compete. Entrants  can be from early teens to well over 80, male or female, hardened athletes to first-timers - all are welcome.

Most races are held in the mornings and mostly in the weekends or on a public holiday. Entrants pay an entry fee. Most ocean swims are organized by local surf clubs and all entry fees go towards these clubs, which provide water safety as well. Once everyone is registered by cheery volunteers (again mostly members of the local surf club or local community) and has

either a start number or an electronic timing device - a little velcro thingy around the anklet - the start time of the race nears.

All swimmers are divided in age groups which become the starting waves - each beginning after the other, to avoid crowding in the ocean. These different groups/waves all wear different colored swimming caps. The course of the swim varies at each event, between 1 km and 3 km mostly. Bigger swims tend to be 5 km or 10 km long. The swimmers are guided by big colorful buoys in the water, as well as by surf club volunteers in inflatable boats, on surf boards, or with rescue tubes. Before each wave of swimmers heads off into the surf, mostly wading like a flapping duck or slowly gliding into it while still adjusting goggles and surveying the course, there is an old fashioned hoot to be heard or a countdown through a microphone. And off they

go.

There are always prizes to be won for the three fastest swimmers in each age group, males and females and sometimes also lucky draw prizes, depending on sponsors.

In general, ocean swims have become more and more popular over the years with entrants steadily growing each year. For more information and upcoming swims, please go to www.oceanswims.com

(Text by Iris Huizinga, a fellow life saver and ocean swimmer)