New sea swim series to start
The 31st summer of the Port Nelson Sea Swim Series begins on Thursday, November 9.
The season will continue for 18 weekly swims, ending on March 8.
Regular sea swimming started in Nelson when Peter Owen of Eyebright put an advertisement in the Nelson Evening Mail asking for interested swimmers to join him for a dip in the choppy waters off Tahunanui Beach.
The Eyebright sea swims continued for two decades, with the Nelson Triathlon Club taking over the organisation under the sponsorship of Port Nelson in 2007. Since then, the series has grown steadily, with weekly attendance in the region of 150 and numbers climbing to nearly 200 at the peak of the season.
Two swims are on offer each week, with a shorter course starting at about 300m and a longer swim of about 800m. The distances climb throughout the season.
In addition to the weekly events, the Clements Endurance Series of four longer swims takes participants on a tour of harbour highlights, with a 3.8km swim on January 14 the longest.
The founding connection is kept alive with the annual Eyebright Mile (actually 2km) from the Nelson Yacht Club to Tahunanui Beach on Sunday, December 31.
The final Clements swim is the 2.8km circuit of Haulashore Island on Sunday, March 18.
In a bonus for Nelson swimmers, the national Banana Boat Ocean Swim Series comes to Nelson on March 31. About 800 swimmers from around the country are expected to take part. For more information and to enter the Nelson series, check the website nelsonseaswims.co.nz.