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Welcome to another Clever Dicks podcast and this podcast we're talking to Peter Gibbs.
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Peter Gibbs is a swimmer from Nelson who's been around for a while which isn't really
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strange because he's actually in his 70s now.
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Peter's been writing about swimming and been involved in swimming for ages now.
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He's done his work with triathlons and also organising a number of memorable swim
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adventures slash holidays around the Nelson area.
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We talk about what he puts into swimming but also what he gets out from swimming as well.
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So it was a great chat with a great person.
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I'm thinking, I love this one.
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Well, welcome to another Clever Dicks podcast and this podcast we're talking to Peter Gibbs.
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Welcome, Peter.
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Hey, thank you.
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Yeah, cool.
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So what we normally do just to start off with is just ask people just to give us their
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swim story.
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Yeah, so what got you into swimming?
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What keeps you swimming and then we can start diving down into some of the interesting
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things that you've done and organised.
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All right.
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Well, like so many, I started as a teenager just getting into a swim squad when I was
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13 or something and learning to swim.
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This was in Wangarai at Wangarai Boys High School and then when I was 17, I left school
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and I stopped swimming and that was pretty well the end of the story as far as those
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concerned.
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You were four years ago, Peter, right, when you left school?
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I left school in 1965.
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Cool.
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So then when I was in my early 30s, I started to get a bit fat and so I took up running
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and found I really enjoyed that mainly the competitive business because I got bored
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with running but I really liked the competition.
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And then to my amazement, I saw a TV programme about triathlon and I couldn't believe that
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people were doing, this is an Ironman triathlon, in fact it was niece which is probably a little
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short of a full Ironman but I just couldn't believe it.
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I thought that's bloody amazing that people could do all that and then learn to behold,
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I got talking to a guy called Greg Frain who was an Olympic cyclist and lived here in
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Nelson and we talked around the business and thought well we could do triathlon here.
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So we started up a triathlon club, I got back into swimming, in fact I'd already got
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back into swimming because this is around about story.
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A guy in about 1985, so 40 years ago called Peter Owen who owns a local company had put
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an ad in the paper saying he's interested in sea swimming and who'd like to join him.
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So six of us turned up at Tahuna Beach and Swam and then the skype Peter Owen started
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a regular swim series a year or two later, I'm a bit vague about the details now.
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But yeah so I got into swimming then I met up with Greg Frain who had been Olympic cyclists
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as I said but had just started doing triathlon and we formed with other people a club and
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just basically got into doing triathlons, sea swims in Nelson became a weekly affair over
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the summer and Peter Owen ran them for 20 years and then he asked me to run them which I
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did, I put them under the umbrella of the triathlon club because then we could get insurance
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and stuff and so that's how when I carried on doing triathlons until I was about 70 which
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is seven years ago and now I just swim. And then I'm rambling on a bit. I think I ran
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the swims here in Nelson for five or six years and then kind of stepped back a bit but I've
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continued to write about them for a site you may know sports hub for many years and that was
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about it until I was this, turned out I was a single man at about the age of 72 and I met this
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well you will know the ocean swim series used to be run by Scott Rice. He started a swim in
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Nelson and the big Tahuna so he ran up for three years and on the third of those years I was
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organising the local ground crew setting up tents and all that and I was walking along the beach
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chatting up people and saying how you're doing it you have them good time can we help and so on
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and so on and so on and I ran into this woman and six months later I started traveling up to
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Auckland to visit her and while I was up there a member of the Coe Kippers and you will know about
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them said to me as anybody ever organised the swim the length of Abel Tasman National Park
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and I said well they have as a matter of fact but it was only a very small crew four or five years
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ago but it should be possible so I sit out and organised a swim the length of Abel Tasman National
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Park over four days I'd been swimming a little bit while I was on my romantic visits to Auckland
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also with the first seals and on mass they decided they were all going to come and before we knew
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it we had 60 people swimming the length of Abel Tasman over four days but it was a hell of an exercise
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and it was really expensive to hire boats so we didn't do it the following year but that was about
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the first one must have been in 2021 we didn't do it in 22 23 some friends here with a yacht
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said we could take 20 people and do it again so we did 24 I said uh it's really hard to organise
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Abel Tasman because you have to shift accommodation and that's an S every every day
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why don't we base ourselves somewhere in the Mulberry sounds and swim there so
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Kathy and I by now we've been married for a few years and she lives down here of course
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um yeah we walked into a place called Misalto Bay in Queen Charlotte Sound and checked out the
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accommodation and thought yep um we could do this so um so this is 2024 we um we got boats from
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two friends in Nelson and they on fact one was um um permanently anchored in Waikawa
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in the in the Mulberry sounds the other one sailed around from Nelson so that's
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you know up Tasman Bay and three French pass and into Cook straight and down Queen Charlotte sound
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quite a long two-day trip anyway we met up at Anna Kewa outside of it outward bound with 40 swimmers
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and they just jumped in the water there and then and swam two stages of four kilometres each
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into Misalto Bay and um then for the next two days we swam three stages each of about four K
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and uh just kept moving out and out and out through the sounds and on the last day we packed
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our bags and crossed over to the other side of Queen Charlotte to the road that goes between
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Havelock and packed them and swam down that shore and finish up back at Anna Kewa that was all good
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so we did it again this year um 2025 and um that was all good
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by now we've got quite a group of friends including Marika who I think put you on to me
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yes Marika's done all four of the trips both able Tasman and both Queen Charlotte's
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and there's quite a group of um people from Auckland and Nelson of course um and all over who
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come in our trips this recent one in March we had people from Dunedin Christchurch
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Nelson and Auckland not from Wellington we had something from Wellington our first trip but anyway
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that's all by the by and I said well we're never doing it again um because we rely on so much
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um volunteers to do all the catering and the cooking and um so we keep them minimal price cut price
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really um I think we charge six hundred dollars for last year's for everything that's all the food
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all the beer you can drink um all the wine um both Wonderman and Marika keep going back
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okay you know how I understand it okay we put it up to seven hundred dollars this year but um
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the some of the crew were a bit enthusiastic we ran out of beer after two nights out
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anyway that the trips are not all about drinking beer but you know you know
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don't understand that after swimming 12k and you know getting highly you know people just can't
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stop talking when they finish and they get highly excited and um that's all kind of part of
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them fun of it anyway um as soon as we got back from this year's trip in March I started thinking
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well I don't want to do it again like that we can't rely on so much volunteer help because um
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the boat people these people that bring these whopping great yachts around from Nelson and so on
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they only charge us costs um you know so it's minimal and that's you know all those reasons
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that why we can keep it so cheap anyway um I um once upon a time in the outer sounds up towards
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ship cove which is famous for um kept cook anchoring up and refueling as boats and as sailors
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and so on just around the corner from there as resolution bay and there's a bunch of old cottages
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there um and uh we started having a look at their website and then we realized that they actually
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would cater and cook meals and so um four days after finished the last trip this year's trip
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Kathy and I and a couple of other friends who look after the catering went out there and we did a
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couple of days walking on the green Charlotte track and we stayed at at resolution bay and got
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them to cook our dinner for us and talked to them with the result that we came up with a scheme
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to um do another trip but this time from ship cove um bound into resolution bay and then
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ran into endeavor and uh and there's lots of swimming to be had and there and uh there we are we
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advertised it to a limited number of people and said well the first 40 people who paid the deposit
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are in i'm sending out a bank account at seven o'clock well i sent it out and got five just
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serving and by two minutes past seven um we had 55 people paid up well we only have this
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forced so uh there is anyway um there we are we're kind of faced with another trip and um a lot of
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disappointed people and we're trying to think of ways that we might be able to take more people but
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um i don't know how we can but anyway that that's that there's um the abbreviated version of how
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we came to be organizing these trips well i can tell you are any ever heard amazing things about them
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so it's not definitely not all about the bay in fact nobody's spoken to me about the bay it's
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been all about the swimming and how amazing it is to swim in that area and um how well everybody's
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looked after and um the food and the the laughter and the camaraderie is it's become a little bit
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legendary here in Auckland so i'm not surprised to solve that Peter up the two minutes uh well um
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yeah we've got more people from Auckland this year the um the north shore group they call
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themselves the maca group that's emocHA and they're based at tachypuna and this marica as well
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whose partner work does cryic support for us um but then we've got a few of the first seals
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from the other side coming back this year as well so um yeah we have a good Auckland representation
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and we're getting picked up more people did from dan Eden too it's funny we get a little
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pockets of people and they all come with their friends and and and that's what happens yeah
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awesome very cool yeah so it definitely sounds like it's a word of word of nothing um yeah and
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i really like the you know what you're saying about sort of all this building a community but
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coming from the whole country yeah yeah it's good um you know we we usually have a a wrap-up
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affair of some sort and this year a lot of the Nelson guys decided they were all um going to go
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up and do the banana boat swim at them out and that was going to be their wrap-up for the season
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and they went up there and um learn to be holding it up with a whole lot of the Auckland swimmers
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and um you know it was a zip they were all part of the part of the community and uh they worked really
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well we didn't go up there because we um kathy and i now like to go on long walks every winter so
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we're doing a several hundred kilometer walk in italy in a couple weeks time yeah but meantime
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back in Nelson people are still plunging into the sea the temperatures dropping
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steadily but you know that's a phenomenon obviously all over the country of people who swim
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all year round now and um without wetsuits and god knows what i don't know how they're doing
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which um which walk are you doing in italy is it by any chance down the umalfi coast
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no we're doing um uh we're doing it well just to put this into perspective before i met um kathy
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on the beach in Nelson i loved the camino in Spain um on my hand and uh i said oh well you
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know we need to do this kath's canadian and likes to see her mother every year because her mother's
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getting on for a hundred now and uh so we've taken the going to Canada and visiting the family
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and so the first year we walked the camino again and then the following year we walked the
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northern camino which is along the coastline of northern spain and then last year oh yeah be
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full-ast we walked um uh uh the british code oh well last year we walked the coast coast and
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Britain from the Irish sea to the North Sea and okay this year we're doing a section of the
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via french hirjana french hirjana french hirjana i think you pronounce it that's a pilgrimage from
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canterbury to Rome of two thousand kilometers but we are only doing the last four hundred starting
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somewhere in tuscany and walking down to Rome so yeah that's yeah that's our plan for this year
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very cool wow wow that's super impressive yeah it's great so peda when you um if i just sort of
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not just back a little bit towards towards the swimming when you did get back into swimming was it
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was it in the pool or was it in the ocean or was it specifically to do an i-man or something along
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those lines no um well um i started out um just doing art events and i would people didn't really
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swim in in the mid 80s it wasn't a regular thing for people to go bolting down to the sea all the time
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so i swam in the pool and um at first i'm in but i later joined a squad and those days the swim
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squads were all teenagers and um so i was swimming with all these teenagers but as time went by and we
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started having you know a Thursday night series and um uh we had expanded swim squads with adults
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and so on but it was pretty well all in in the pool um it's only in recent years i think that we've
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started to meet up with bunches of other people and swimming the sea probably the last
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seven or eight years perhaps but i still i still but Kathie and i both still swim with a squad um
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three or four days a week um at least in the winter uh used to be all year round but the numbers
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have dwindled so much in the summer that we we swim in the sea in the summer now and in the pool
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in the winter yeah yeah we've kind of almost got the opposite challenge with with our swim squads
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um yeah somebody said that we needed to reduce the average age of of the swim squad and get
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somebody under 70 into it yeah i can i'd like to have a couple of youngsters come along and and
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and start rocking us up a bit yeah yeah um yeah i think our group uh that's probably i need me and
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uh oh there's no there's about three of us in our seventies i guess or all through the three lanes
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that we occupy so yeah but um most of them are in their sixties or fifties you know there's not
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well there are some youngest women but not that many uh i love the way that he'd call us six
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year oldy young indian rum are loving this chip in
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um so so maybe maybe uh an obvious question but obviously uh um always reference
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myself to to Roger Soulles be right from the the first seals and always joke and say when um
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We're not big, I want to be like Roger, right?
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What do you sort of contribute towards
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that success of staying swimming and staying healthy
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as you get older and move into your seventies?
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Like what's been the reason that you contribute
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to keep moving and keeps swimming?
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Well, you know, I have done a lot of writing about sports
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over the years.
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I worked for a newspaper for quite a long time,
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and for fifteen years I had a column called The Fitness Zone
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where I would, and in those days I was full on Triathlon.
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And so there was always a bike race or a running race or a swim
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or some other form of activity to write about.
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And I think having to write about something made me
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go and do things, you know, because I had to have something
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to write about.
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And I always said through these columns and other writing
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that I've done that the most important thing in my life
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just about was joining a swim squad when I was thirteen.
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If it hadn't been for that, I wouldn't have had the ability
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to swim.
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I know people pick up swimming when they're older,
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but I know it's much harder for them.
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And at the culmination of Triathlon,
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and I had my most successful and hard training years
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between 60 and 70 for Triathlon,
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and I just feel that I'm so well and so healthy
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because of that lifelong habit.
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And also that a lot of my friendships have come,
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you know, from that involvement as well.
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And a lot of my motivation for life.
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So it's kind of a no-brainer that we can't give up.
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I was basically since now that I'm married to a swimmer
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and she loves going to the pool and she loves beating me
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in races as much as I love beating her.
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So it's inconceivable that we would give it up really.
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Clevverdex is New Zealand's largest swim-focused podcast.
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And our team at Swimscapes is proud to be their official partner
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with all things swimming.
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Swimscapes is also a facilitator
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of the Auckland Triple Crown coming soon,
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Lately, we've been trying to do a bit more walking,
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but life's got really busy.
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We were trying to walk to train for our long walk,
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but we don't need to swim right now for any reason,
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but we do.
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We go to the pool,
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like we were there yesterday morning,
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Friday morning,
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because we knew that was the morning
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that people would go off and have coffee
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and we wanted to catch up with our friends again.
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So, you know,
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all those things interrelated,
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and yeah, I think we'll swim till we die.
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One of our very good friends,
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well, just to go back to Roger Solzby,
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is an inspirational figure.
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He was on our first able Tasman trip too,
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like Roger, who one of those.
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But an even older friend, Derek Eason,
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he used to be the Bishop of Nelson,
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and he has done something like
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70 banana boat, ocean swims,
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and his seldom being beaten.
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He still gets up there and wins the 80 plus age group
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and all the swims,
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and he married us.
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Well, he said to him, Derek,
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well, you marry us,
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and not the normal sort of a question
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you put to a bloke,
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but he did.
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That's cool.
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And that's just to illustrate the kind of interconnectedness
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of friends and the things that we do.
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You know, the reasons that we just keep on exercising
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and trying to be fit.
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I thoroughly agree.
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I think that a lot of swim groups are actually
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really coffee groups that just all agree to swim
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before the coffee.
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They are.
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You know, down at the beach in Nelson to Henna Beach,
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there's a large contingent of people who swim there
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all year round.
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And as I said, we don't.
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But we're doing the summer.
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And on Saturday mornings in the summer,
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there can be 60 or 70 people swimming off to Henna Beach.
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Some will start at 6.30, 6.45, 7.30.
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But they'll pretty well all pass through the same cafe
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just across the street from the beach.
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So you can go there anytime between 8 and 10
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on the Saturday morning,
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and there might be 20 or 30 swimmers all shouting at each other
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across the coffee cups.
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So yeah, it's.
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You're right.
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It's a very sociable thing.
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It's good for the coffee industry too.
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Do you have this?
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Yeah.
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Do you use any equipment when you're in the pool,
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like paddles or snorkels or anything like that
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to sort of assist your technique?
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Sometimes we.
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On a Saturday and the winter on a Saturday,
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we have a coach.
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Monday, Wednesday and Friday, we don't,
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but the same coach writes us a program.
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And he will often put in, you know,
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a pool boy or paddles or something.
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I have a snorkel, which I sometimes use.
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I must say I always wear buoyancy shorts
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because now that I'm fat and old,
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my bum seems to sink in the water.
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Since I discovered them,
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since I discovered them,
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I've shown much better in the pool.
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So yeah, I use them all the time,
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but basically I like swimming
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because you just get in the water and off you go, you know.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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Paragog.
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Wednesday shorts are super cool.
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They're very handy.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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Oh, I was just going to say,
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so looking forward now that Dan Fist has taken over
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the banana boats.
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He's returned at our
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distance, returned to Nelson.
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So we had a,
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a big tahuna last summer.
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And this one on the cards for mid November this year.
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So I guess that's our next chance to lure people down to Nelson.
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And, you know, get a mass participation.
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And another thing that we're planning on doing.
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We, when we had to disappoint a lot of people
(0:25:36)
for our next year's trip in the Moabrasounds,
(0:25:39)
we're quite a large group of slower swimmers
(0:25:42)
who really wanted to,
(0:25:44)
to be part of it.
(0:25:46)
And I'd asked a series of questions.
(0:25:49)
And one was half-assed,
(0:25:51)
do you think, just cruising?
(0:25:53)
Would you swim a kilometer?
(0:25:55)
And we had replies from 15 minutes,
(0:25:58)
up to half an hour.
(0:25:59)
Well,
(0:26:00)
if somebody in a half an hour is swimming a kilometer
(0:26:03)
and somebody else is swimming two kilometers,
(0:26:05)
it doesn't take very long
(0:26:07)
for the field to get stretched to dangerous levels, really.
(0:26:12)
And for that reason,
(0:26:14)
actually, we turned a few people down.
(0:26:15)
We said,
(0:26:16)
well, we just don't have the safety resources to do that.
(0:26:19)
So what I said instead was,
(0:26:21)
well,
(0:26:22)
Kathy and I've got a batch now at Anakiwa.
(0:26:25)
And in the Anakiwa kind of bay,
(0:26:30)
there are three jetties.
(0:26:32)
And if you swim from one to the other to the third,
(0:26:36)
and then back to where you started,
(0:26:38)
it's a circuit of three kilometers.
(0:26:40)
So we've decided to institute a more or less free swim
(0:26:44)
for anybody who wants to turn up.
(0:26:46)
We're calling it the Turamoana Triangle.
(0:26:50)
And I think there's every sign
(0:26:53)
that will have 100 or more people turning up already.
(0:26:56)
And we haven't mentioned it to anybody yet.
(0:26:58)
So,
(0:26:59)
yeah, that's just a fun.
(0:27:02)
It's easy to organize things like that in a contained base.
(0:27:05)
And, you know,
(0:27:06)
and the safety is reasonably,
(0:27:09)
well,
(0:27:10)
I have to say that the work in putting the safety together
(0:27:13)
is reasonably minimal.
(0:27:15)
And fortunately,
(0:27:16)
in the mobra sounds,
(0:27:18)
the mobra harbomaster
(0:27:20)
is pretty loose about,
(0:27:22)
well, not loose.
(0:27:23)
I wouldn't say it's lax,
(0:27:24)
but realistic.
(0:27:25)
You know,
(0:27:26)
when you say,
(0:27:27)
I want to do a swim,
(0:27:28)
and I'm just telling you about it.
(0:27:31)
He doesn't say,
(0:27:32)
well, you have to have a permit
(0:27:33)
and go to the council.
(0:27:34)
He says, well,
(0:27:35)
you're not actually doing anything,
(0:27:36)
you're not allowed to do.
(0:27:37)
Swimming in the sea is,
(0:27:39)
is not an illegal activity.
(0:27:41)
So,
(0:27:42)
thanks for letting me know.
(0:27:43)
I hope you have a good time.
(0:27:44)
And that's quite refreshing, you know.
(0:27:46)
I like doing it.
(0:27:47)
That is super reverishing.
(0:27:48)
Yeah.
(0:27:49)
Yeah.
(0:27:50)
Yeah.
(0:27:51)
That's definitely not how that operates in Auckland.
(0:27:54)
No,
(0:27:55)
not in Nelson either, really.
(0:27:57)
Things we've done there
(0:27:59)
that have a master's,
(0:28:00)
because we deal with two
(0:28:02)
have a master's here in Nelson,
(0:28:04)
one attached to the Tasman District Council,
(0:28:06)
and one to that Nelson City.
(0:28:08)
And they're accommodating and helpful,
(0:28:11)
but you still have to fill in forms
(0:28:13)
and submit safety plans and so on.
(0:28:15)
Well, we have a safety plan,
(0:28:17)
but I mean,
(0:28:18)
it's common sense.
(0:28:19)
You don't have to keep reading it.
(0:28:21)
No, what you've got to do.
(0:28:22)
Yes.
(0:28:23)
I'm curious.
(0:28:24)
That's that.
(0:28:25)
Hmm.
(0:28:26)
Yeah.
(0:28:27)
No, I was just going to ask you
(0:28:29)
for your mobile sound trip.
(0:28:32)
What is the safety measures look like there?
(0:28:35)
You've got, you said you mentioned you had
(0:28:37)
a couple of kayakers.
(0:28:38)
Obviously, you've got the boat.
(0:28:40)
Yeah.
(0:28:41)
Do your sprimmers use safety tow floats, for example?
(0:28:45)
Yeah.
(0:28:46)
Yeah, we make them compulsory.
(0:28:48)
Cool.
(0:28:49)
So we,
(0:28:50)
we've had,
(0:28:52)
we've had three inflatables.
(0:28:57)
And two kayaks and the two bigger boats.
(0:29:01)
In fact, we have three kayaks as well this year.
(0:29:05)
Next year, we're employing a mid-range boat,
(0:29:09)
as well as the two.
(0:29:10)
Well, one's a yacht and one's a launch,
(0:29:14)
but we can put 25 people on each of those.
(0:29:17)
So at the end of every stage,
(0:29:19)
we get people on board and we give them tea and coffee and so on and so on and so on.
(0:29:24)
But we've also got another boat that will hold about eight people
(0:29:27)
that we're taking this year.
(0:29:30)
And what we're going to do,
(0:29:31)
we've got about five people who,
(0:29:34)
us, we've classes, slower swimmers,
(0:29:37)
we're going to take them a kilometer or so down the track for each stage next year
(0:29:43)
and throw them in ahead of everybody else.
(0:29:46)
So that,
(0:29:47)
okay, rather than expanding the field compressors and,
(0:29:51)
you know, just,
(0:29:52)
just so we can keep a tighter watch on things.
(0:29:55)
So,
(0:29:56)
so we'll have three small unmotorized boats,
(0:29:59)
two inflatables and this other one,
(0:30:01)
the two bigger boats and probably three kayaks this year.
(0:30:04)
And, and tow floats for everybody, of course.
(0:30:08)
That's very cool.
(0:30:09)
So one of the things Marika said when she came back that
(0:30:12)
there can be quite a lot of jellyfish,
(0:30:14)
not the stinging kind,
(0:30:15)
but is that,
(0:30:16)
is that very common?
(0:30:19)
Yeah.
(0:30:20)
Down the sounds it is.
(0:30:22)
It can be like swimming over a bloody foam rubber mattress sometimes.
(0:30:28)
It's just creepy.
(0:30:30)
But,
(0:30:31)
you, you come out with jellyfish under your fingernails.
(0:30:34)
It's,
(0:30:35)
they're just,
(0:30:36)
somebody described them as breast implants, you know,
(0:30:39)
which is a bit sexistish, must say.
(0:30:43)
It's like,
(0:30:44)
you know,
(0:30:45)
it's like you've got a cat with no skin floating in the water
(0:30:48)
and your plunger hand into it.
(0:30:49)
And it's all kind of spongy and,
(0:30:51)
it's, it's a bit creepy,
(0:30:54)
but you can,
(0:30:55)
across shows of them,
(0:30:57)
you know, you're swim along and then suddenly you'll be in the thick of them.
(0:31:00)
I mean,
(0:31:01)
I swim with a wetsuit,
(0:31:02)
now I find it creepy,
(0:31:03)
but the people like Marika,
(0:31:05)
who swim without wetsuits,
(0:31:06)
they,
(0:31:07)
you know,
(0:31:08)
fortunately they don't stink,
(0:31:09)
so that's a good thing.
(0:31:11)
But swimming in the sea,
(0:31:12)
you do get sea lice and other things.
(0:31:16)
I'm one of our able Tasman swims,
(0:31:18)
we had people with,
(0:31:19)
two people had to go to hospital with,
(0:31:22)
something like,
(0:31:24)
I don't know what they were,
(0:31:26)
little eggs that got into their eyes
(0:31:28)
of jellyfish or something.
(0:31:30)
I didn't quite understand what it was,
(0:31:32)
but, you know,
(0:31:33)
a couple of people have very badly affected eyes,
(0:31:35)
and we had to
(0:31:37)
get the Habermaster to bail them out,
(0:31:39)
and they had to go to hospital,
(0:31:41)
so,
(0:31:42)
that only happened on one swim and on one day,
(0:31:44)
so I don't know what that was.
(0:31:46)
So, yeah, there's a nine things out in the sea,
(0:31:49)
things you don't see,
(0:31:50)
and you'd rather not see,
(0:31:51)
and things you don't see,
(0:31:53)
which find you anyway.
(0:31:55)
That's part of that route.
(0:31:57)
No, I thought you were going to tell me
(0:32:01)
that everyone goes down there
(0:32:02)
because of all the dolphins or something like that,
(0:32:04)
because that will get everyone down there anyway.
(0:32:06)
That would be lovely.
(0:32:07)
We do have dolphins around.
(0:32:12)
We've never had them when we were swimming,
(0:32:14)
and we also have Orca coming as far down as Anakiba,
(0:32:17)
where our batches,
(0:32:19)
we've never encountered them swimming either,
(0:32:22)
but they're around,
(0:32:24)
and they're coming clean out the stingrays every year or two,
(0:32:26)
so, yeah.
(0:32:28)
We have swum with them in the years
(0:32:31)
that I was organizing the Thursday Night Series in Nelson.
(0:32:35)
We had a couple of occasions,
(0:32:37)
one in particular,
(0:32:39)
the swim started at six,
(0:32:41)
and at five when I went down there,
(0:32:43)
there was a pot of six Orca prowling around the harbour in Nelson,
(0:32:47)
and one of them swam right across the ramp,
(0:32:50)
right in front of us.
(0:32:52)
That was pretty impressive.
(0:32:53)
It's like having a bloody bus just posting through the water at your feet.
(0:32:58)
Anyway, we had a couple of policemen
(0:33:02)
who were swimming in those days.
(0:33:05)
In fact, one of them was the father of a girl
(0:33:08)
who just swam cooked straight the following year,
(0:33:10)
or had just swam cooked straight.
(0:33:11)
That's right.
(0:33:12)
So he got on the phone to fill up rush.
(0:33:14)
So what was the story about these Orca?
(0:33:16)
Should we swim or should we cancel?
(0:33:19)
And he advised us that it was going to be safe,
(0:33:21)
and I felt good that a policeman had advised us that,
(0:33:24)
and so I'd fill up rush.
(0:33:25)
So we did the swim anyway,
(0:33:27)
and nobody got eaten.
(0:33:29)
I mean, the prevailing wisdom is that,
(0:33:32)
you know, you're okay with Orca,
(0:33:34)
but it's still pretty scary when you see them out there.
(0:33:37)
Yeah, they're hunters, right?
(0:33:39)
Yeah.
(0:33:40)
If you just don't look like a stingray,
(0:33:42)
and you'd be okay, I think.
(0:33:44)
I haven't seen an anti-kilogram stingray,
(0:33:48)
so I should be fine.
(0:33:50)
No.
(0:33:51)
But we have had other occasions in the Nelson Harbor,
(0:33:54)
where they've come around while we're swimming.
(0:33:57)
And as swimmers, we don't see them.
(0:33:59)
We just wonder while the boats are whizzing up and down so quickly,
(0:34:02)
alongside us.
(0:34:03)
Yeah.
(0:34:04)
But I mean, once every five or six years,
(0:34:07)
it's not a regular account.
(0:34:08)
If I can turn a little bit about some of your writing
(0:34:12)
and your interviews that you've done,
(0:34:15)
have you, you know,
(0:34:17)
who's the most sort of interesting character triathlon slash swimming
(0:34:21)
wires that you've, that you've interviewed?
(0:34:24)
Ah.
(0:34:25)
Hell, I don't know.
(0:34:28)
You know, over the years, one of the,
(0:34:31)
because when I worked at the news paper and had my column,
(0:34:36)
which was just advised about this and that and other things,
(0:34:40)
but also because I was on the kind of sub-editor side,
(0:34:45)
rather than the reporter side,
(0:34:47)
after the Thursday night swims,
(0:34:50)
I could go home write a story,
(0:34:52)
and then get into work at six in the morning,
(0:34:54)
put it on the page.
(0:34:55)
So I would know it was going to be here.
(0:34:59)
One of the things that I've liked about that particular aspect,
(0:35:02)
is seeing these young people come up,
(0:35:06)
you know, you get this 11 or 12-year-old.
(0:35:08)
Well, there's always a couple that look promising,
(0:35:11)
and then by the time they're 13 or 14,
(0:35:14)
or one or two will really stand out.
(0:35:18)
And there have been some fabulous young swimmers come
(0:35:22)
through the ranks over the years.
(0:35:27)
There've been two males and two females,
(0:35:29)
that have won the Banana Boats series in the last seven or eight years.
(0:35:34)
And recently, of course,
(0:35:36)
Alex Dankley's dominated that,
(0:35:38)
and I've always enjoyed,
(0:35:40)
because nowadays, well,
(0:35:42)
up until now, I've written for Sports Hub,
(0:35:45)
and interviewed Alex pretty well after every swim.
(0:35:50)
There hasn't been a single dominant female swimmer,
(0:35:54)
since Abby Smell, who, of course, was an else in swimmer.
(0:35:57)
She's gone on,
(0:35:59)
and living in Christchurch,
(0:36:02)
well, she might be going to Dunedin, I think.
(0:36:04)
But anyway, forming those kind of relationships
(0:36:07)
with those young swimmers is quite satisfying.
(0:36:11)
But I've also, I've interviewed my good friend Bishop Derek,
(0:36:16)
and on many occasions,
(0:36:18)
and it's kind of privileged to know people like that.
(0:36:21)
And I really admire some of these oldest swimmers.
(0:36:24)
I've got a very good friend called Ben Van Dyke.
(0:36:27)
Ben's not as old as me.
(0:36:29)
He's only a youngster of 64 or something.
(0:36:32)
But when he was 60, Ben went to Sweden for the world,
(0:36:38)
I don't know, age groups from championships.
(0:36:41)
I don't know what it was,
(0:36:42)
but he won gold medals,
(0:36:44)
three gold medals in 100 metres and 200 metres,
(0:36:47)
butterfly and freestyle.
(0:36:49)
And then he did a three-kilometer lake swim,
(0:36:52)
which he was leading.
(0:36:53)
But he's as skinny as a rake, Ben.
(0:36:55)
And the cold got him,
(0:36:57)
because it was pretty cold and a Swedish lake.
(0:36:59)
So I only got a bronze medal in the world.
(0:37:02)
But it's just fabulous.
(0:37:03)
We've brought people like that.
(0:37:05)
Ben, at his age,
(0:37:08)
in a swim of 150 people here in Nelson of Sylvie in the top 10, you know.
(0:37:13)
That's amazing.
(0:37:15)
It is...
(0:37:17)
So, like him, for example,
(0:37:19)
did he swim as a teenager?
(0:37:21)
Or did he pick it up later in life?
(0:37:23)
I think Ben's probably...
(0:37:25)
He's from San Francisco area, I think, Ben.
(0:37:29)
He's lived here probably for 50 years,
(0:37:32)
but yeah, I think he swam from a young age.
(0:37:35)
I don't know, his background too much.
(0:37:38)
Yeah, I've got another friend, Ralph Hetzel, who's 82 now.
(0:37:45)
Ralph was a kind of lifeguard at Huntington Beach down in California.
(0:37:49)
And he came to New Zealand,
(0:37:52)
and I've known him since 1975.
(0:37:56)
So it's quite a long time now, isn't it?
(0:37:59)
That's 50 years.
(0:38:02)
That's actively.
(0:38:03)
Anyway, Ralph is still swimming.
(0:38:06)
I mean, I love the young people coming through,
(0:38:09)
but I really...
(0:38:11)
I've got a lot of time.
(0:38:13)
My old friends, really.
(0:38:15)
They're so motivational,
(0:38:17)
because I'm not a very good swimmer,
(0:38:19)
but some of our friends are fabulous swimmers.
(0:38:21)
I just wish I was like them.
(0:38:25)
Yeah, I can relate to that.
(0:38:27)
Yeah, me too.
(0:38:28)
I was just wondering,
(0:38:29)
you've probably managed to swim in a lot of places around the world,
(0:38:33)
and you've got to live in a wonderful part.
(0:38:36)
Do you have any particular favourite locations
(0:38:39)
or things like that,
(0:38:42)
or memorable places that you've swung?
(0:38:45)
Yeah.
(0:38:46)
Well, I love swimming to Huntington Beach.
(0:38:51)
It's like a gigantic swimming pool,
(0:38:53)
and we feel so much at ease there.
(0:38:56)
There are fixed points in a five-year rock,
(0:39:00)
and there's rows of boys.
(0:39:02)
There's lots of nice things.
(0:39:03)
I love that,
(0:39:04)
and as always,
(0:39:05)
you can just go out on your own,
(0:39:07)
swim to any boy,
(0:39:08)
and you'll be surrounded by swimmers everywhere.
(0:39:11)
I love swimming at our batch in the sounds,
(0:39:14)
off the jetty.
(0:39:15)
We just...
(0:39:17)
We walk down the jetty,
(0:39:19)
at Turamilana,
(0:39:20)
which is...
(0:39:22)
The Turamilana jetty is about 700 metres away from the Anakiwa jetty,
(0:39:27)
and you can walk down out the jetty,
(0:39:29)
the Turamilana one,
(0:39:30)
and there'll be stingray prowling around the jetty.
(0:39:34)
So you have to jump in and splash a lot,
(0:39:38)
you know, that...
(0:39:39)
Anyway, they're not very scary,
(0:39:40)
but I love swimming there.
(0:39:42)
Unusual places I've swam in.
(0:39:46)
I've been to a lot of...
(0:39:48)
This sounds like showing off.
(0:39:50)
I've been to nine world championships of triathlon in my youth,
(0:39:56)
and...
(0:39:57)
Well, in my 60s,
(0:39:59)
it was very interesting.
(0:40:01)
Let's use...
(0:40:02)
I'll go with that.
(0:40:03)
Yep.
(0:40:04)
In Manchester, which is further back, 93,
(0:40:08)
we swam in the city reservoir up in the Felderstrik.
(0:40:11)
That was interesting.
(0:40:13)
In Budapest,
(0:40:15)
we swam in a little bay off the Danube,
(0:40:18)
and...
(0:40:20)
Man, I was freezing.
(0:40:21)
I was going to swim non-wetsuit,
(0:40:23)
because we were travelling a lot afterwards,
(0:40:26)
and I didn't want to have so much baggage.
(0:40:30)
So, I got there,
(0:40:32)
and it was only 13 degrees,
(0:40:34)
and it was wetsuit compulsory.
(0:40:36)
I had to borrow one,
(0:40:37)
and it was too tight.
(0:40:38)
I couldn't breathe.
(0:40:39)
Oh, my God.
(0:40:40)
That was memorable,
(0:40:42)
because I went off like a bed out of hell, of course,
(0:40:44)
and just completely lost my breath.
(0:40:47)
Yeah.
(0:40:48)
There was a lesson, I suppose.
(0:40:50)
Yeah.
(0:40:51)
Oh, we...
(0:40:52)
I quite like swimming in up in the abutersman,
(0:40:56)
as an adjunct to those swims of the length of the park,
(0:41:01)
and a consolation prize for others,
(0:41:03)
we...
(0:41:04)
For several years did a free swim
(0:41:06)
from narrow how to criteria of five kilometres,
(0:41:10)
and that's always been well.
(0:41:12)
I mean, people love a free swim,
(0:41:14)
and that's a really nice swim to do,
(0:41:17)
because, you know, it's kind of point to point,
(0:41:19)
and that you cross past lots of scenic landmarks.
(0:41:22)
I don't know if you know of Split Apple Rock,
(0:41:25)
which is a bit of a landmark in that area,
(0:41:28)
we stopped there for a photo shoot.
(0:41:30)
So, these swims are not races,
(0:41:32)
they're just swims,
(0:41:33)
come along, have a swim,
(0:41:35)
and yeah, people love it.
(0:41:37)
Cool.
(0:41:38)
So, Peter, as I...
(0:41:42)
So, I've just turned 50.
(0:41:45)
I feel like I'm...
(0:41:47)
I'm embarrassed to sort of talk as if I'm old,
(0:41:50)
and I'm hanging out with you guys,
(0:41:53)
and making me feel really bad.
(0:41:56)
But anyway, I've noticed for myself,
(0:42:00)
in the last couple of years,
(0:42:02)
that we...
(0:42:04)
I could go right into the ocean, for example,
(0:42:07)
and my preference was always to wear a darker,
(0:42:10)
sort of tinted goggle.
(0:42:13)
And I found that,
(0:42:15)
because my ass art's not quite what it used to be,
(0:42:18)
I prefer wearing a clear lens as an example.
(0:42:21)
Yep.
(0:42:22)
And with that said,
(0:42:24)
just the conversation I'm going on,
(0:42:26)
there's a couple of guys in Aswam Squad,
(0:42:28)
and I won't mention any names,
(0:42:30)
but a lot of them really struggle in their 70s,
(0:42:33)
and they will sort of weave from the one side of the paint
(0:42:37)
to the other.
(0:42:38)
And it's just because, you know,
(0:42:40)
as I thought was,
(0:42:41)
it's not quite what it used to be, right?
(0:42:43)
Yeah.
(0:42:44)
Do you find...
(0:42:46)
Like, have you got any issues as you've got older
(0:42:48)
with your eyes and visibility
(0:42:50)
while you're swimming?
(0:42:52)
Be it different color lenses or the sun or, you know,
(0:42:55)
what else can you give me as I'm getting older?
(0:43:00)
I don't suffer anymore.
(0:43:05)
Now that I did when I was younger,
(0:43:07)
I've always been reluctant to pick up my head
(0:43:10)
and look where I'm going,
(0:43:11)
because it's my fault I'm supposed to pick your head down.
(0:43:16)
Okay.
(0:43:17)
I've always preferred to have clear lenses in my goggles.
(0:43:21)
Yeah, it wasn't until...
(0:43:24)
In fact, I always had clear lenses.
(0:43:27)
I went up to do...
(0:43:29)
I don't know if you remember the King of the Bays,
(0:43:31)
the Banana Boat King of the Bays,
(0:43:32)
when they changed it from a milford start to a narrow next start,
(0:43:36)
and that was only four years or five years ago.
(0:43:40)
I got to the start line or to the start venue,
(0:43:44)
and I didn't have my goggles.
(0:43:46)
And so I had to go across to Blyman and Dan Christen
(0:43:49)
and say, I need a pair of goggles,
(0:43:51)
and he didn't have any clear ones.
(0:43:54)
So he gave me some with blue lenses,
(0:43:57)
and I really liked them, actually.
(0:44:00)
Okay.
(0:44:01)
I lost them eventually,
(0:44:03)
and I never bought another pair,
(0:44:05)
but that was quite nice.
(0:44:06)
But, yeah, on the whole,
(0:44:08)
I think I prefer clear lenses,
(0:44:10)
especially on cloudy days.
(0:44:12)
Okay.
(0:44:15)
And in the...
(0:44:17)
I don't know what 40 odd years of swimming,
(0:44:20)
what is your preference with suit wise?
(0:44:23)
Well, I don't have a special preference.
(0:44:29)
My first good with suit was zone three.
(0:44:33)
In fact, my friend Ben Van Dyke,
(0:44:35)
who I was just talking about,
(0:44:37)
decided he was going to import one for his daughter,
(0:44:40)
one for his daughter's coach, one for him,
(0:44:42)
and one for me, which he gave me,
(0:44:45)
I can't believe that's a generous offer,
(0:44:47)
and I've still got that wetsuit.
(0:44:49)
It must be 12 years old now.
(0:44:51)
So I've worked more way through a series of zone three wetsuits.
(0:44:57)
But they've started to get so good and expensive.
(0:45:02)
I looked to replace my current one a couple of seasons ago,
(0:45:06)
and it was going to be a small fortune,
(0:45:09)
like nearly $1,000.
(0:45:11)
And then I found for Peter Seven,
(0:45:13)
selling off these Orca.
(0:45:16)
I can't remember what they call.
(0:45:19)
Athletic, so anyway.
(0:45:21)
So yeah, I thought one of these Orcas,
(0:45:23)
for something like $300,
(0:45:24)
and I find it's pretty good, you know.
(0:45:27)
I'm not good enough for, you know.
(0:45:32)
I only win medals in those races
(0:45:35)
if everybody else stays away,
(0:45:37)
and when you get into my age group,
(0:45:40)
it's not that many people will start with.
(0:45:42)
So, you know.
(0:45:44)
It's funny.
(0:45:46)
Last summer, some had just gone in the ring of Toto's swim.
(0:45:49)
Nelson's swim was completely dominated,
(0:45:52)
75 to 79 age group.
(0:45:54)
There were only two of us.
(0:45:56)
And my mates do it.
(0:45:58)
I'm finished 20 minutes ahead of me.
(0:46:01)
So whatever wetsuit over here isn't going to make a blind
(0:46:06)
but a double swim.
(0:46:09)
So yeah, so I don't have a lot of preferences
(0:46:13)
long as it's, you know,
(0:46:15)
decent wetsuit.
(0:46:16)
It's probably all right for me.
(0:46:18)
Nice.
(0:46:20)
Nice.
(0:46:21)
Yeah, yeah, that's actually my plan for winning my age group
(0:46:24)
is I just kind of stick around and keep on doing it.
(0:46:27)
But every time I move into the next age group,
(0:46:29)
the same guys who beat me last time around are still there.
(0:46:32)
So,
(0:46:34)
it happens to me.
(0:46:38)
I can never quite break through into that
(0:46:41)
middle-winning area, but anyway,
(0:46:43)
I tell myself I'm not in it for the competition,
(0:46:46)
but, you know,
(0:46:48)
there's something glorious about winning a medal,
(0:46:51)
even if you only got it because everybody else stayed away.
(0:46:54)
You know.
(0:46:56)
I've got a couple like that, you know.
(0:46:59)
The first guy crossed without a wetsuit.
(0:47:01)
Oh, the only guy across without a wetsuit, yeah.
(0:47:04)
That's the only one.
(0:47:06)
As people console you with, you know,
(0:47:08)
you had to be there.
(0:47:10)
Just thinking that hundreds of people who are not there
(0:47:12)
growing feds are there.
(0:47:14)
Yeah.
(0:47:16)
It reminds me of a story used to tell me.
(0:47:21)
Up here in Auckland,
(0:47:22)
there was a guy that used to enter the
(0:47:26)
oceans from series with his dog.
(0:47:29)
Oh, yeah.
(0:47:30)
And remember that.
(0:47:31)
That's the sort of big challenge for your sort of
(0:47:35)
backmarkers was was to beat the dog.
(0:47:38)
Yeah.
(0:47:39)
Yeah.
(0:47:40)
Yeah.
(0:47:41)
Yeah.
(0:47:42)
I remember that dog doing that.
(0:47:44)
Yeah.
(0:47:45)
Did you beat it?
(0:47:46)
Yeah.
(0:47:47)
Yeah.
(0:47:48)
Yeah.
(0:47:49)
Yeah.
(0:47:50)
Yeah.
(0:47:51)
Have you seen the sport of open water swimming change?
(0:47:56)
Like over the last 10, 20 years.
(0:47:59)
Yeah.
(0:48:00)
Is it a good space at the moment?
(0:48:02)
Especially in the last maybe
(0:48:06)
six, seven years.
(0:48:07)
It seems to just exploded somehow.
(0:48:10)
And the interesting thing is to me anyway,
(0:48:15)
like in Nelson,
(0:48:17)
let me think about 12 years ago,
(0:48:20)
we were getting something like 170 people competing
(0:48:24)
on a Thursday night.
(0:48:26)
Nowadays we're going to get about 120.
(0:48:28)
And that's because so many there are a lot of far more swimmers,
(0:48:32)
far more dedicated swimmers,
(0:48:34)
but they can't be bothered with competition.
(0:48:36)
You know, they say,
(0:48:37)
well, we just we just swim.
(0:48:39)
And why should we pay to swim?
(0:48:41)
We can swim for nothing.
(0:48:42)
And sure.
(0:48:43)
You know,
(0:48:44)
it's all those people,
(0:48:45)
as far as our local series go,
(0:48:47)
all those people paddle the kayaks and,
(0:48:49)
you know, provide backup.
(0:48:51)
But they don't,
(0:48:52)
they don't race necessarily.
(0:48:53)
So,
(0:48:54)
you know,
(0:48:55)
competition,
(0:48:56)
yeah,
(0:48:57)
for organizers,
(0:48:58)
I think it's getting tougher,
(0:48:59)
probably,
(0:49:00)
even though I'm on the fringes now.
(0:49:02)
But yeah,
(0:49:03)
people just want to swim.
(0:49:04)
And that's expanded hugely,
(0:49:06)
particularly the all year round crew,
(0:49:09)
which is much bigger than it used to be.
(0:49:11)
Yeah.
(0:49:12)
Yeah.
(0:49:13)
Yeah.
(0:49:14)
The all year round crew is getting bigger.
(0:49:16)
Okay.
(0:49:17)
Thanks so much for your time.
(0:49:19)
I think it's,
(0:49:20)
we should wrap this up.
(0:49:21)
We've taken,
(0:49:22)
taken some of your valuable,
(0:49:23)
um,
(0:49:24)
weekend time,
(0:49:25)
even if,
(0:49:26)
every day's a weekend for,
(0:49:27)
for some of us.
(0:49:28)
Yeah.
(0:49:29)
Yeah.
(0:49:30)
Just really like to say,
(0:49:31)
thank you for,
(0:49:32)
for sharing your story with us.
(0:49:34)
That's fine.
(0:49:35)
And it's in me a link.
(0:49:36)
So I can,
(0:49:37)
figure out where to,
(0:49:38)
where to get it.
(0:49:39)
And, um,
(0:49:40)
I look forward to hearing it.
(0:49:41)
I will absolutely do that, Peter.
(0:49:43)
Thank you so much for the time.
(0:49:44)
I never have an awesome weekend.
(0:49:46)
Thank you.
(0:49:47)
Thank you for everything.
(0:49:48)
Bye.
(0:49:49)
Hi,
(0:49:50)
my name is
(0:49:51)
Caitlyn O'Reilly.
(0:49:52)
I'm the youngest person
(0:49:53)
who have completed the
(0:49:54)
Ocean 7 Challenge.
(0:49:55)
If this really cool podcast has
(0:49:56)
helped you learn something new,
(0:49:58)
maybe it's introduced you to new
(0:50:00)
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(0:50:01)
made you smile,
(0:50:02)
um,
(0:50:03)
then please take the opportunity
(0:50:04)
to subscribe to
(0:50:05)
Duncan and Jim's channel.
(0:50:06)
I'm sure they would
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(0:50:09)
Cheers.
(0:50:10)
Thanks, Caitlyn.
(0:50:11)
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(0:50:12)
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(0:50:26)
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