School of the ocean

I have always loved the water and the beach.   

Mum used to say she could never take her eyes off me when we were on holidays at South West Rocks, I would always be crawling towards the water.

If you grow up in Sydney, especially if you live close to the coast, it's a given that you will learn to swim.

I didn't really learn to swim properly until I was about 9 or 10 - which was quite old.  It was seriously embarrassing to stand in the waders' pool with floaties on and surrounded by 4 year olds so I soon got myself out of there.

Once I learnt though, I never looked back.

 I went to life saving classes, swam in pool races on the weekends and occasionally went to the beach.

I was a pretty good swimmer - not necessarily fast - but could swim a long distance quite happily.

One day, when I was about 15 or 16 my friends left our beloved Cronulla beach and ventured further north to Manly.

That day I was trying to catch a wave alone, way out past the crowd (this was before the movie Jaws) and suddenly had a sensation of being pulled across by a rip towards this outcrop of rocks on the south east end of the beach before the open ocean.

The more I tried to swim against the rip, I realised I was going nowhere except further out to sea. 

 As they still are today, our local surf beaches were patrolled by life savers, distinctive in their red and yellow, the blast of their whistles and sometimes megaphones to make sure we swam between the flags.

I could see them on the shore.

I put my hand up to wave as we had been taught, but had a sinking feeling when I saw they weren't looking in my direction.  Trying not to panic, I yelled out for help and waved some more.

Luckily a surf board rider heard me and dragged me into shore. I threw myself on the sand shaking with relief.  My friends surrounded me - surprisingly, at first,  they thought I had done it on purpose to attract the attention of the cute guy.  Seeing how shaken I was they made me go back into the water immediately - so I wouldn't be afraid to in the future. Tough love!

This all flashed back the other day when I saw this group of kids having a swimming lesson at Manly beach.

These nippers will be used to waves and swimming in different conditions - not just the confines of a swimming pool.

They will learn how to handle a rip, without panicking. 

They will swim between the flags.

And they'll know not to swim alone.

I learnt my lesson.

Safe swimmimg!