Quite a few people have suggested that a great beach to swim in for someone like me who doesn't like waves would be Balmoral. It's also relatively shallow and safe, with water that was clear and not murky. So I resolved to ensure that this would be one the beaches I would swim in while I'm on hols.
I headed off at around 3:30 p.m. and after spending half an hour trying to find a park, I finally got to the beach that was to the left of the Pavilion and the famous Balmoral island. The beach was crowded but not insanely so, and there were plenty of people in the water with a few snorkeling by the rocks.
But calm and flat it was not. In fact, I found the water incredibly choppy and the water murky. It was really hard going against the current. But I knew I needed to persevere - race day could well have worse conditions than today, and I needed to get used to swimming in waves. I started feeling seasick after a mere few minutes into my swim strokes, and tried to get myself used to the constant motion by simply standing in the water and getting myself buffeted by the waves.
I decided to set myself some goals by aiming to swim towards landmarks on the shore. This also allowed me to practice sighting - again, a skill that I still struggle to do without either straining my neck or swallowing a healthy swig of salty water. There was a house with the Australian flag on a flagpole, so I aimed to swim from the rocks to the pole, and back again. It was a pitiful distance, probably only 20 metres or so, but it was pretty hard going against the waves.
I found it interesting how it was so hard to try and swim in a straight line in the sea - I would start in fairly deep water away from people who were in the shallows, and after a few strokes I would find myself amongst legs and feet as the waves carried me to shore while swimming. Despite this, it helped to imagine a black line running along the bottom of the water - it helped distract me from feeling seasick. I also couldn't bring myself to go any further out or deeper - it was after all an unpatrolled beach, and I didn't want to get in trouble and have to rely on a non-trained life saver to get me out. I did feel a bit frustrated about being such a scared ninny to go deeper, but knew it was being responsible and conscious of my limitations.
It wasn't a great swim, but I'm glad I did it, and am determined to go back another day and tackle those Balmoral not-so-flat waves again soon!
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