Kyodo and welcome to Swim Chats, a podcast about swimming.
I'm Shona Riddell, a writer, former journalist and swimmer
from Wellington, Al Tierra and New Zealand.
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Show Nights. This has been a while in the
making, hasn't it? I know we've been talking about
this fan, just this is exciting. So I don't normally start by
reading something, but I found a journal entry that I wrote when
I first met you because I think it was about 3 years ago that I
first came to Bob's and I wasn't really a swimmer then.
Like I just started learning how to swim properly, freestyle, and
so this was my first time coming to Freiburg Beach and swimming
in the sea there. And so I was a little bit
nervous. And you were there.
So this is what I wrote three years ago.
I said most people swam. Well, I decided to swim out to
the first boy, but I was worried about getting too cold or that
I'd have trouble getting back. Luckily there was a very nice
Welshman on the water who stayed with me and encouraged me to
relax and take my time. We swam together, and when I
said I was ready to turn back, we turned back.
A rainbow appeared over the city.
It was an amazing way to see Wellington, with the ocean all
around me and with the skyscrapers lit up by the early
morning sun. We even did a few hand stands on
the water at the end. Afterwards, a group of us sat
together and had coffee, and I felt amazing.
So thank you for swimming with me.
Yeah, I thought you'd like. That it's nice to hear that you
do sort of affect Pinkle. Yeah, yeah, exactly.
Like you're always really good with the new people, I think,
and you're quite gentle and encouraging.
And I think if I hadn't met you that day, I might have thought,
OK, this is too hard for me and I might not have gone back.
I don't, I don't know. But that certainly encouraged
me. Yeah.
So thank you. That's OK.
It's, it's, it's a passion of
mine. It really is.
Especially even for, you know, new people, especially for new
people to be honest with. You you were saying before that
you like meeting new people and so.
I like meeting new people, but I want to give them what I feel in
the water, you know? Because to be honest with you,
most of them can swim, swim well, so it's not a problem.
You know, like Namada, great swimmer, but she just needed
that time to get comfortable with the water.
And I loved swimming with Namada.
Yeah, you know, because she is such a gentle soul.
She is, yeah. You know, so, yeah.
So they just need that time to realise that there's nothing
there that's going to do anything to them.
Yeah, that's right. Do you know what?
It's a mind game. Just get more confident.
It is such a mind game. Yeah, you're right.
I was teaching, not teaching. There's a young lad at the
hospital at the moment, was all the way from Sri Lanka and I've
been taking him swimming and the the first thing I ever do with a
lot with, with especially with him because he says he can swim
but he can't, is float. Because if you float, you're
relaxed, and if you relax, you can do most things, you know?
Yeah, it's all right. I'm, I feel like I'm still
learning that, that, you know, the more relaxed you are, the
more you breathe out, the better everything becomes in the water.
Yeah, it's like when I'm swimming now.
I love to sing, sing, sing in the water.
Yeah. You know, think of the song and
then you sing it, you know? Yeah.
You know, just two things. It keeps you in time.
You want to be in time. And also it's good for your
soul. Yeah.
You know, So what when you say you're singing like you're
swimming and you're singing? Swimming and singing at the same
time. So what would be an example of a
song that you like to? What sort of music do you like?
Like most of The Beatles song Supertramp, especially from the
Breakfast in America sort of thing.
Yeah, Cat Stevens, but once. I'll never do this again.
For some reason. I was singing the theme from
Jaws. Oh my.
God, why you just had I? Don't know why and.
And how did that make you feel? Oh, I was feeling great, closely
in front of me. So I was swimming along, you
know, hands going everywhere sort of thing.
Yeah. And what's the name?
The French. The French girl from swimming.
Of course. I.
Know who you mean? Cat Florence Florence Florence I
won't go and do Lally. So I was swimming along and this
is How I Met Florence. Basically A tapped her on the
foot while singing. And her reaction was leaping
Tim. I got a slap.
I can't say totally blank. Oh, no, absolutely not at all.
You know it was. Probably just a reflex.
Right, of course it was. And I apologised.
And then we had the coffee and then best friends.
Best friends, right? You know?
Yeah, but it's not. Always the best once she
realised you weren't actually a shark.
That's so funny, yeah. And sometimes when I'm out
there, oh, I think I'm Have you ever had a guy called Shaq
Rustock? Yes.
I love being Shaq Rustock in the water world.
Yeah, you know, yeah, pretending to be him.
Pretending to be him. Yeah.
It's, it's honestly, it tests my playground, you know, it's the
only place where I can do three 60s somersaults.
Everything. Yeah.
Handstands. Handstands.
And not hurt myself. Yeah.
And you keep it fun that way because you also encourage other
people to do those things like jumping off the pontoon and hand
stands and. That there's some reason to my
madness as well. Yeah.
I find that if you can get somebody to jump off without
forcing them to get jump off something, wow, they're
confident level, wow, go sky high because they think they're
like, oh, that wasn't as bad as I thought.
Yeah, you know, so same with hand stands.
The reason why I started doing hand stands, especially with
some people, because they they were too scared to put their
head under the water. Yeah, but you say Alice has some
hand stands. Yeah, they they stop over
thinking. That's right.
Yeah. Just put your head in the water.
Yeah, and so I remember swimming with you quite a few times,
especially at the beginning when I was getting more confident.
And there are a lot of days when it's choppy at the beach because
we're in windy Wellington and there's the northerly coming in
and you're you're pretty comfortable swimming in the
chop. Absolutely.
And so sometimes I still hear your voice and I hear it's like
Obi Wan, can obese say, you know, just feel the rhythm.
Feel the rhythm. Yeah, just.
The rhythm, Relax. Yeah, Yeah.
And we were just talking about before we recorded about you
growing up in Wales and your uncle.
Do you want to talk about that? OK, yes, So my Uncle Tommy, I
loved my Uncle Tommy. He was an amazing man.
He was in the Navy during the Second World War, and he made
sure that all his nephews and nieces could swim.
And we're talking police 20 to 30 of us.
Yes, it's a big. That's a big fence.
We bleed like rabbits, honestly do.
So we used to go to a beach called Dina Stinchler and we
call, I don't think you'd call it a beach in New Zealand.
It's mostly rocks and very choppy.
And it was the Irish Sea basically, you know?
What would the water temperature be there?
I'm always curious about that. Do you know as a kid?
I guess you wouldn't care at. That you don't care, it's just
in the water and you're enjoying yourself, you know, and you swim
between the jellyfish. Are they friendly jellyfish?
No, they're like the lions. Yeah, yeah.
He just had to be very careful and he couldn't just jump in and
he'd be stung. Yeah.
So he made sure we go across from because he lost a lot of
friends in the war from drowning.
So we were taught to swim between the waves.
And as you said before, I think maybe because it's been
ingrained. It's a muscle memory.
That's why I love the waves. I love choppiness.
You just know what to do, I. Just float.
I am a competitive floater. I am.
I enjoy the floating paddle. And you know, as you say, well,
sometimes you get to the private beach, you stand there and you
look out and you go, oh, that's rough.
And you go, OK, it's playing. This is for playing in, Yeah.
I don't have to go far. I don't have to do anything
else. But I have to play now, yeah.
And that's what I love doing. And am I right in thinking that
you don't wear goggles? Don't make goggles.
Which is unusual, isn't it? I'm one of these weird people.
I started off swimming with a wet suit.
Booties, the best underneath my wet suit, gloves, 2 hats,
goggles, the works. Slowly it's just disappeared.
Because I've realised you don't need any of that, You really
don't need any of that. And because I am quite a big lad
too, I'm probably more insulated than a lot of people out there,
you know. But then I see a lot of mostly
ladies just got their tongues on and they're not big and they're
out there swimming doing exactly the same thing, and now I was to
tear my hat off to them sort of thing.
Yeah, people seem to acclimatise to it.
Don't know they got used to it. That's what that's what happens
and that's what I did, you know, over time.
Also, I saw a photo of myself once many years ago in the wet
suit and they looked like an orange with two sticks coming at
him. Don't you find the salt water
stings your eyes though? Without the goggles or you.
No, no. Well, it probably does because I
have realised when I come out of the water I've got extremely red
eyes, right, You know, And I look like the devil.
But now, now I, I look under the water.
I, as she said, it's probably a climatation.
I have acclimatised to it more than anything else.
Yeah. So all I need now is my tox.
Sometimes not. Yeah, togs and earplugs.
Earplugs right I. Can't swim without earplugs and
I carry earplugs with me everywhere.
Is that for motion sickness or? No, no swimmer sears.
So basically if I get water in the ear it stays there and it's
it takes ages to get out and it's very painful.
Yeah, and that's meant to be bad for your eardrums.
Isn't it? Yeah.
So I've got brilliant. We've got earplugs now.
I've finally found the right ones after going through
hundreds and hundreds. Of do you know what brand they
are? Aliexpress.
Oh, yeah, I can show you because I carry them.
Every key ring I have has them. I mean, I know, I know.
You're not going to see them on that, no.
That's right. I can describe it.
So it's like a little twist tube this.
Is what I put them in. Yeah, I see carrying them on
your key rings a good idea. Oh, absolutely.
Always have them. Yeah, and they're plastic.
Yeah, you. Know, as I said, this is the
only thing I need for swimming. Yeah, I mean, if you've got
underwear on, you've got your tox.
Yeah, so you can swim anywhere as long as I've got.
This. Yeah.
So you're about as connected to the water as you can be.
No swim, no swim, Cap. No swim cap.
No. Well, sorry, I do on Sunday
because I think it makes barbs feel better.
Yeah. And to be fair, when you're
swimming with a lot of people and there could be canoes and
stuff around, having a swimming cap is a good thing.
And it's a yellow one, yeah, So that people can see you.
Bob has her own episode on this podcast.
How long have you been swimming with her?
Bob is my lightsaber. She really is.
Gosh, I've been up with this. She is, lack of a better word,
bloody marvellous. Yeah, she is.
I've known her now for probably easily 18 years, 18 years.
And when I start with Babs, I would swim on a Monday because
that's all I could afford at the time.
And I always remember telling me just turn up, don't worry about
the money. And because she has the same
passion for people coming and doing.
It she does, yeah. And she's a great instructor.
You know, you just got to listen.
And sometimes I don't listen very well and.
Then do you get told off? Oh have I've been told off so
many times because actually very well now at the moment I'm in
the slowest lane possible. If they had a slower lane, I'd
be in that. But being in that lane with the
chap called Alex and Alex and myself, well, they tend to have
a lot of fun in that place. Yeah, you know, but with plays
and maybe sometimes tumor. So you're in the pool and the
sea and the sea, Yeah. Do you like being in the pool,
you say? Yeah, not really.
So it's more about the practice. Pool gives you the ability to be
comfortable in the sea. The pool pushes you more.
Like in the pool, I know I have to do 20 lengths or 40 lengths,
and I know I've got to do it in a certain time, which builds up
your stamina. In the sea.
I know I'm going to get to a certain point.
How long it takes me to get to that point, I'm not worried.
You know, I could sort of go halfway.
So for a bit, look up into the sky and go, oh, that cloud looks
interesting. It's more open-ended, doesn't
it? And you have a little adventure
each time, no matter what. It's always an adventure.
Yeah, it's always an adventure. It's always different.
I remember you describing it as a bit like your Prozac.
It's amazing. It just isn't there.
It just does something. It rejuvenates the soul I would
say. Yeah, that's a nice way to put
it. It does.
It just isn't like you sort of can during the day, during the
week, work, do everything and then all of a sudden on Sunday
you go for a swim. Even during summer the bit ever
arrived. I love taking Ruby in the water.
Yeah, Ruby's your dog. So we call them the retriever.
We'll be last up there and she enjoys swimming and she's very
competitive. She's very.
How far can she go? We've done 2 kilometres.
To the turn boy. Yeah, basically, yeah.
And to get her competitive, all you got to say is on your Max,
get set, go and she's off. And sometimes she's she plays
with my mind. She let me go forward a bit and
then she just overtakes. It's pretty humbling, isn't it?
Yeah, yeah, she's a shocker. She's a shocker.
But so I love swimming with the dog as well.
And to get Laura into the water, we've bought a kayak, just a one
person kayak. So sometimes she comes as well
and we just battle. Yeah, that's really not.
That's a good idea. It is it is makes it a family
event. They could bring snacks and
water and all sorts. Now you talk little rewards.
Now you talk. Yeah, I know over the 20 odd
years you've been with Bob, you would have seen a lot of people
come and go and come and stay, like a lot of people stay.
And I remember you saying to me that you've seen so many people.
You know, they start with short swims and then they start
getting more confident and then they start getting a little bit
more obsessed along with that and saying, you know, I've got
to get to this point. I've got to get to the
lighthouse and then but sort of forgetting how to have fun.
Yeah, yeah. I think, do you know what I
think that's happened to me and what?
Yeah, I was going to ask that. I think that's.
I can't visit all of. Us what you think?
Oh, I want to you know. Yeah, you set goals.
You. Set goals and you become not
super competitive, but you become competitive with
yourself, thinking, confident at that time.
I'm sure I could do it a bit faster, you know?
And I've been there and I've done that.
And it's, I think like with life in general, it's a phase you go
through, you know, and I've come out of that phase thinking, do
you know what? I'm enjoying myself now.
Yeah, you know, Yeah, because I sometimes, when I swim with most
people, really most people will swim faster than me.
But I'm OK with that. I'm.
Not going to. You're doing your iron.
Swimming. I have, really.
Unless I've been specifically asked to swim with somebody,
then I will stay. I won't go too fast and I won't
go too slow. I try and you'd.
Stick with them, absolutely you're very good at.
That absolutely, yeah, because I couldn't think of anything worse
for somebody and being nervous in the water.
And being alone, I have had that experience, yeah.
Being alone, it's not fun. It's.
Not when you're in the wrong head space.
It's not fun. Absolutely and and it's things
can change quickly you. Know they can.
Yeah, even I have been in that wrong head space a couple of
times in the 20 plus years where I've been swimming and all of a
sudden I think I've got a bit too cold and my imagination sort
of takes away and sometimes a bit of panic comes in, you know?
What do you do if you feel you're starting to panic?
It's only once, but I think it's got bad and thank God, I've
just, you know, with especially with Freiburg, you swim out, but
you're always close to the beach.
You're always close to the beach.
And no matter what, if I, if I ever get to that, that's
something happened once that I can think of, I just run to the
beach. I just walked back because I
had, I could swim to the beach was only a couple of about 100
metres tops, you know, and I probably had the four sides to
think I could do that. And I did that.
I was cold basically, and I was being a bit stupid.
I say that bit too long. It's good that you had the
presence of mind to get out. Absolutely.
I don't know if I would be smart enough to.
Do that. Just just you know, I do know my
limits. You.
Know, and as I, as I got older, the limits are getting shorter
and I think it's like those stupid little things like when
we go for a coffee, you know, that little ledge where people
sit. I mean, wasn't that long ago I
would just go jump off there and go, hey, you know, Taco.
But now I think, oh, what am I going to do is if I jump off
there, I might just walk around. Yeah.
Well, it's good that you can anticipate that.
Yeah, I think I'm getting old. I think I'm growing up.
Growing up, well, I guess it happens to everyone at some
point. I know, I know.
It's terrible, isn't it? So when you were sort of a more
competitive swimmer or swimming further, like how far were you
going and were you doing the events around the country?
Yes, yes, I was. I did a lot of the ocean, some
events, loved all of them basically.
And from what's in it, what's the one near Christchurch to the
Acurora did that one. Loved that one.
The one way, way up north. That was a fantastic one.
And then the Auckland one couple of times that they have a bridge
ones. The Auckland 1 was a very
interesting one. When I'm in the water, I can
actually have quite a strong, strong.
It can be quite strong. Maybe not so much that, but it
used to be quite strong, not fast, but strong.
And I'm talking to a guy and he said to me, OK, when you're
crossing the harbour, see that building over there?
Aim for that building because the the tide will compensate for
it. You'll end up in the correct
place. Thank you, mate.
So I've got in the water aimed for that building and for some
reason I aimed for that building.
No matter what. I was thinking God must be doing
reasonably well here because there's nobody around here.
And all of a sudden there was like a tap on my shoulder.
There's a chap in the kayak saying everybody else has gone
that way and I looked Oakley the wrong way.
Oh, you won't. You're not the first.
You won't be the last. I was when I did the Blue Lakes
one couple of years ago. And I was swimming.
I mean, it's only in a circle, but it's not even a large.
But, you know, I still managed to go, of course.
And someone was yelling at me in a kayak and I thought, oh, it's
so nice. They're cheering me on, you
know, they're supporting me. And they were like, no, you're
going the wrong way. So embarrassing.
I did the swim a couple of weeks ago in New Plymouth, the
Ferguson Cup. What's that?
It's well, what is it? It's been going forward 120
years, 110 years, sorry. And it's a sea swim that they
have every year and they've got 3.6 and a 1.2 K course.
And so basically it's again, it's a circle.
So you swim and I and my daughter entered both of herself
and myself into the thing and I said, yeah, I'll do the 1.2.
And so that was OK and she did the 3.6.
So we got there and entered the water.
Everybody enters the water together.
So got there, started swimming on usual pace, enjoying myself
basically. And again I thought, oh, I must
be doing wisdomly well. Oh, there's a guy, there's
finally there's somebody behind me and I looked at him and go oh
far. Yeah, he's not too bad.
At that point I realised I was being lapped.
Oh yeah. On the way in, I did my
handstand in the woods. Nice.
Because that's what I enjoy. Yeah, that's part of your
routine. And I was there.
I was there to enjoy my son. Yeah.
And yeah. All these things are character
building as well, aren't they? Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, you get to a point in life where you've got to be happy
with who you are because there's not a lot you're going to change
about yourself. Yeah, at a certain age.
And you've got to be able to laugh at yourself sometimes.
It's like when you're carried along by a strong current and
you think, wow, I'm an amazing swimmer.
I'm so fast. And then you have to turn around
and come back. So why aren't I ain't going
anywhere? I'm standing still, yeah.
Exactly. I've done that, yeah.
Now you do have to be. It took me a while to be
comfortable in my own skin, to be honest with you.
Yeah, out there. You know where you get to a
point here. Where's your favorite place to
swim? OK, it's a tricky question.
It's it's a tricky question in in the sense because it's
something I used to love doing in the morning.
I used to leave here, cycle to the end of the Myanmar peninsula
where the little Lion's House thing is turn down towards
Scorching Bay. At Scorching Bay, I packed the
bunnock and I'd swim out to the boy there and back again.
And because of when I was swimming out there, you'd get
the sunrise and there's nobody around normally.
Normally there was once and for some reason it's a beautiful
bait set off it, but it was my it was my special time of the
day, you know, and you'd get back in the bike so we can wet
and that's come back through the seats and turn out straight
through the subway and home, which only took about another 10
to 15 minutes now. Yeah.
And because of that, that was my favorite place.
Yeah. Such a great way to start the
day. It's an amazing way to start the
day. We bumped into each other a few
weeks ago. Then the boy, Yeah.
I'll stay up with that list. Yeah, and I'll stay with toy.
Yeah, now toy's amazing. Yeah, she is.
She also has her own episode. She was one of the the first
people I talked to. Yeah, she's lovely.
She is. Everybody there's bloody
amazing. That's right, everybody's
interesting. The guy that I don't know, I'm
supposed to say this now. The guy that I think I would
take my hat off to in all the years I've been there.
Adrian Parker, are you? Yeah.
He has been an inspiration, that lad.
Yeah, you know. He'd be happy to hear that.
He really has, and he probably, I probably haven't told them,
really. He might.
He might listen to us, yeah. I should really tell him,
shouldn't? I you should, yeah.
Like I keep telling people and we went to see the John Clark
documentary This is I'm not I can't wore a score now, but we
went to see it last weekend and John Clark, amazing satirist,
bloody amazing. But one thing he said, you need
to tell people. What they mean to you?
What they mean to you and well, they've done well.
Yeah, yeah, because sometimes you assume that people know, but
they don't always they don't, and it's always nice to hear.
Because because my go to is not. Yeah, I think that's the case
for most people. You know, we're just busy living
our day-to-day lives, right? Not reflecting, but So what did
Adrian do that inspired you? It's just the way he is with
everybody else. He is like blue, you know, he
never, you never seem angry, never seem out of the water.
And the water, he's so competitive.
He's a different person. But out of the water, he's one
of the most amazing people, to be honest with you, because just
the way he is and the way he sort of his outlook on life, you
know he can. But even when things got bad for
him, I've never heard him really be nasty, if you know what I
mean. And I think that's the it's,
it's like a mentors meant. I don't know if I think we're
about the same age, but your mentors can always be.
The inconvenient age. That's right, yeah.
You know, so yeah, he's been quite the lad.
Yeah, that's awesome. I know he's been swimming for a
long time. Yeah, he's a big part of the
community. He really is, isn't it?
Yeah, he really is. Yeah.
I should mention that we're at your house that you've people
can't see, but you've kindly invited me here.
I think this is my this is definitely my first podcast
interview at someone's house. Oh, OK.
So thank you. And your wife, Laura has baked
us some Raspberry and white chocolate muffins.
Yes, they're delicious. I'm trying not to eat and talk
at the same. Time.
Oh, sorry. No, no, no, I, no, no.
You're all good. You're all good.
I've had, I've had some and I'll have some on when we're done as
well. But yeah, and your dog is asleep
behind you. Yeah, I won't be taking her
swimming for a while. That's a bit of a new set as a
but the sewage thing too. I know, Is that?
Yeah, it's hard to know what to say about that, apart from just
how awful it is. It is.
Yeah. So, yeah, we've had the
treatment plant overflow on the South Coast and that's been
going on for several weeks now. And we don't know what's going
to happen with that, but it's affecting a lot of people,
especially people on the South Coast, especially the marine
life. Because it was quite funny a
while ago when I was training for the New Plymouth thing and I
wasn't aware there'd been a problem.
But I don't really watch the news and stuff anymore or or
really listen to the radio being quite, I don't know whatever
coming to be honest with you. And I decided to go for a swim
and it was just me. So I went to Seaton.
So I thought Seaton would be quite nice.
And I started swimming in Seaton and had a nice time sort of in
the water for about maybe half an hour.
Come out and a trap pulled up. There's a guy in a hazmat outfit
and eat. This.
Oh my God, you must have thought you'd wandered into a sci-fi.
Movement with a long stick and the bottle.
Oh gosh. And he was taking samples of the
water. That's a good.
Water. I mean, I might have peed in
there, but. Doesn't call for this level of
don't he speak to you or did you just kind of put two and two
together by? Just put two and two together by
then, right? Did you have a good shower?
I did. I came home and I had a good
wash sort of stuff and I didn't feel ill or anything good.
I think. I mean, yeah, this will take a
lot to make me go and more what you call accident prone,
sickness prone. Before we started recording, you
talked about how you've been swimming with some new people at
Private Fish. Do you want to talk about them a
little bit? I mean the thing, I guess I
would love to talk about them. The thing about swimming,
everything evolves. You know, you turn up on a
Sunday and you normally do the same thing, talk to the same
people and you're often you have a lot of fun.
But a while ago I bumped into some new people down there,
started talking to them and they're amazing.
They really are amazing. Every Sunday they have a
Karakiya out on the pontoon and had an invitation to join them.
And ever since I love going out there and it's a chap called
Rain sort of leads it and it's another aspect of the swimming.
It's nice you know something special about it.
Yeah. Something really special.
It's really cool. So catechia is a Maori prayer,
It's Maori prayer. And is it sort of a prayer to
the water? No, I think it's to God.
Just. Thanking, just thanking God.
Just taking a moment to thank. Just thanking God for, you know,
everything. That's all the blessings, yeah.
In our lives sort of stuff, Yeah.
So that's been absolutely and and thanking for the water.
Yes, yeah, yeah. That's awesome.
That's us and that's sort of sort of been to another aspect
of it. And I've got to and had an
invitation to their they did a special, it's not a change
service, but they did a concert. They part of a bigger group and
I had an invitation to their just before Christmas and that
was so amazing, so amazing. You know the the things they put
on and they put on a a supper as well.
That was nice. It's cool when swim friendships
develop and sort of take you out of the water as well, you know,
like they continue on land. Oh.
Absolutely, absolutely. I am a firm believer.
I don't know if you've noticed, but I'm just thinking about it
right now. If I'm doing a handstand and
this room of swimming handstand, if there's somebody standing
nearby that I don't know, I will give them an invitation to come
and join us. Yeah, yeah.
You know, that's really good. Yeah, so.
We were doing hand stands a couple of weeks ago and you
encouraged us to sort of flip over at the end of the
handstand, yeah. Yes, yeah, that's an amazing
feeling. It is an amazing feeling.
It is an amazing feeling because.
Again, it's not something I would do very well on land
without hurting myself, but yeah, it's something you can
easily do in the water. You always find new ways of
playing, I think. Yeah, you know, like swimming
underneath the pontoons. Oh, I haven't done that.
Try it. Oh, you know, try it.
Yeah. You know, there's a lot of stuff
to do, you know? Yeah, I don't touch the bottoms,
but even, I don't know, you get a group of you and you'll stand
in a row, get legs wide open and somebody swims underneath.
Yeah. And you transform underneath
with that. A chimp.
Yeah, try that. OK, try that.
She knew things to try. I tend to sort of.
What advice would you give to somebody who sort of wants to
get in the in the open water, but they're too nervous or not
sure? Wait, I'm, I'm doing that at the
moment with this guy from Sri Lanka.
Are you doing that at Fryeburg Bay?
Now I've been doing it at Seton kind of stuff and and at Ann
Worcester Bay. My advice is like advice to him
has been a lot of people know this, a lot of people know this.
It's just to stand there and float.
You know, if she can stand there and float for a bit and then
maybe do hand stands and stuff. Don't try and swim anywhere.
Just get used to the water. It's a, it's an amazing feeling.
Or if you can swim somewhere, jump off something, you know and
swim back as per Friday is brilliant.
You know, you can actually jump off something.
You've got some swimming skills, you can swim back and it's not
too far and that will give you a lot of confidence because with
new swimmers, it's mostly the confidence you have to build up
really, you know, and, and. And even that, even just going
to that pontoon, which is what, 50 meters, I'm sure that's a big
thing for some people because you're out of your depth, right?
And this, as I said, this guy from Sri Lanka, we're in the
process of getting him to jump off the Wharf, but I'm going to
have to get him a life jacket, even though I know he can do it.
He is fiercing. He's fiercing.
So one around there is gradually build it up.
So get him the life jacket. He'll jump off a few times where
especially seats are wolf. That's my local wolf.
Yeah, jump off a few times, then he'll he'll feel comfortable.
He'll feel comfortable. Then all of a sudden they say,
come on, let's just try one. I'll do one first try one that
like jacket and see where it goes and he'll do that.
Yeah, that's a good idea to have a step.
Of confidence, yeah, yeah, never.
You know, like there's been a few people I've seen, there's
been newsomers, they forced them to do something and you don't
see them again. Yeah, it can't push people too
hard. No, not with that you can't.
Yeah, some, some things you can, don't get me wrong.
But with that. It's yeah, because then they
associate the water with stress and yeah.
Most of the people I work with from either India or and China
and honestly the water to them can be scary even though they
are from the coast, around the coast, Kerala, Kerala, which is
the coast, West Coast of India, they're surrounded with water.
But it scares them, you know, because something's happened and
a lot of people have had, a few people I've spoken to have had
near drowning experiences and that will put you off.
Yeah, of course. Yeah, makes sense, doesn't it?
Absolutely, yeah. And even feel.
The danger? Oh.
Absolutely. And so if you can get people to
float, yeah, and even sometimes they're floating out of my hand
underneath their back, just as extra support because there's,
there's a lot of power in touch. There is, yeah.
There's a lot of power in touch and people don't realise that,
you know, So you know, you should just hold them and then
they will and then slowly move your hand.
But I'm doing all this, I know this.
Are you going to say that? That's all right.
Slowly move your. Hands.
Brynn is demonstrating putting his hand under someone's back.
But yeah, that's right, you're describing it and.
And slowly move your hands away. And yeah, once they start
floating, they're more than halfway there.
Yeah, they have. They feel they have control.
It's a big part of it. Isn't it?
And I'm a firm believer in, you know, if you're new to swimming
and ocean swimming, wear the wet suits, wear the stuff that gives
you buoyancy, wear the stuff that makes you feel comfortable.
Don't care, just do it, you know?
That's right. You've got to wear what makes
you feel, you know. I'm personally not comfortable
with one of those toy boys. That's right.
That's a whole different podcast.
That's a whole story. Toy float, Toy float trick.
Not a toy, boy. That's what I asked.
That's what we can, did she? Let's just call them toy.
Was it toy boys? Yeah, but do you know what I
mean? Yeah, I have tried one of those
and it's just something I'm not comfortable with.
But if I was swimming distances out somewhere and I wasn't close
to land, I would definitely have one long because that would make
me feel more comfortable. But but the swimming I do, I'm
OK and I'm happy with what I'm doing, you know?
And in case the harbour master is listening to this, which OK,
sorry. Yes, no, no, that's right.
You're you're not going far. No, no, I'm well.
You're well within the byline horse.
Absolutely. You're on that.
Underoath. Underoath, Yeah, Just got a
Bible here, yeah. That's right.
Is there anything you want to talk about that I haven't
already asked you about? I did have one thought, yeah,
before you came here. And I don't know how relevant
this is, so you might cut it out.
OK. People have got to be less
worried about their body shapes. I think it's very relevant.
Is it? Yeah.
All my life I've been concerned and honestly, do you know what
I've got to this age now. I don't give no, no, don't give
a step. I do want to be healthy and
everything, but it's never going to stop me from doing what I
enjoy and I don't care what your body shape is, you just get out
there and enjoy yourself. Yeah.
The thing is we're not like you say, we, we see, see ourselves
differently from how others. Like we're not all looking at
each other and criticizing and having critical thoughts.
Like that's not, that's not what we're doing.
No, no, no. And this is definitely from new
people because I I've got some friends down the road and Chabon
go swimming. She won't do anything because
she doesn't think she's the right shape.
Oh. That's so.
Sad. And I always say, I mean, none
of us are the right shape. Yeah, that's right.
Yeah. But we're we're the right shape
for swimming, yeah. Yeah, that's right.
Yeah. Yeah, we're all different
shapes. Gosh, how we walk.
Yeah, just enjoy. It and how boring would it be if
we all look the same and. Wouldn't it be boring?
Yeah, it'd all be. What tramps is it?
Yeah, Oh, that's a shame. But yeah, I think that's very
relevant. Yeah, Yeah.
So that's something I did think about.
It's like I have seen some people who, well, maybe I'm
thinking of one particularly who was so worried about her body
shape that she didn't come back sort of thing, you know?
Yeah. I mean, and what can you really
say apart from, you know, just try not to worry about it.
I mean, there are different swimsuits you can buy.
There aren't that many options, but there are a few if that's an
issue. But yeah.
Put your togs on. Put your togs on.
But it's hard when you hear people criticize themselves,
isn't it? And you just want to say, you
know, you look great, you know. Absolutely.
And especially in the water.
All this is your head. That's right, we all look the
same in the water. It's hard to recognise people
isn't? It I mean that has happened.
You're easier because you're not wearing goggles or a cap, so you
look like you, but everyone else has the cap and the goggles and
yeah. Yeah, I'm Incognito.
Yes, that's right. Like we wouldn't recognise you.
Anymore, but that's the only thing I can think of is you just
got to go out there, have a great time, but most of all.
Have fun. And it's got Barb Oasis too.
Have fun, yeah? I mean, if your idea of fun is
to trim to the lighthouse and back three times, do it.
Yeah, if that's what you want to if.
That's your fun. Yeah, Do that, you know.
Yeah. You know, because everybody's
fun is so different. It is.
That's right, my fun is not necessarily your fun.
No, that's right. Yeah, no.
That's a really good point actually.
But do you know what? At some point we do all have
crossovers. Like the handstands that's.
The handstands, you know, we do we all, you know, Yeah, it's an
enjoyable part of finishing your swim.
It is, and it doesn't matter how far you've been.
You can do a handstand at the end, right?
Yeah, yeah, that's right. It's a nice sort of or
something, you know, swimming and being in the water kind of.
People say it keeps you young, but I think it also keeps it
fun, keeps it playful. Oh yeah, You know, life can be
so serious. Tell me about it.
Yeah, I mean, I even now I go to a kids playground.
And I'm going you. Know oh, if we could do an
obstacle course here. Right.
Because I remember when the girls were young, we used to go
places. And honestly, I was that Ninja
Warrior thing was popular. Yeah, you know, when the girls
were young. So we used to sort of,
especially the one that next to the library in Kilburnie, you
set up a course for them and with their friends and
everything, and they've just loved that.
Yeah, they love doing that sort of stuff.
The Ocean's like that for us, isn't it?
Because you don't have gravity? So yeah, we can all float and we
can all do what? Oh, gosh, yeah.
And I'm a natural floater. I find it so difficult to go
down, to swim down. Yeah, yeah.
I I went swimming with a guy called Gareth many years ago and
I made him laugh so much because he swam, swam down, pick
something up. I swam, tried to do exactly the
same thing and all you could see is my legs.
Up in the air I. Couldn't go down, couldn't
descend, couldn't descend. It's like with Babs when she
tried to explain the difference between men and women in the
water. Have you ever heard?
Yes, yes, yeah. And why women float and why men
sink. Yeah, I was one of the men
choose using. Right as an example.
I floated. So you were talking about
swimming in the chop earlier in the sun you just float.
So because most people in choppy water, they're trying to get
sort of under the waves so they're not moving around.
So, but even more on the surface, we really bobbing up
and down. Enjoy it.
Yeah, you're getting tossed around and you just don't don't
mind. Not at all.
Yeah, not as well. Just enjoy it.
Yeah. Don't fight it.
Yeah, don't fight it. Don't fight it.
That's something I've been living in.
Yeah, fighting it takes energy. It does, and you don't get very
far. No, you don't go over there.
Yeah, it's it's a different experience again.
Yeah, it really is. You know, pretend you're a log
floating on the water. Yeah, you always have got to
imagine all of these things. Yeah, you visualize?
Yeah. I've been a dolphin once.
Just once. Few times, Millions of times,
I'm sure. I'm a dolphin.
Yeah. Yeah.
Dolphins. A seal.
Sometimes I like to pretend I'm one of those marathon swimmers,
you know, and I, I'm not swimming as quickly as one, but
just something about it changes my mindset, you know what I
mean? I just sort of feel a bit more
stable and confident. I can't kick.
Well, that's all right. You don't really need to CD.
Laura laughs at me because I can kick, She says.
That's the first thing you learn for swimming is kicking.
She says I can kick. So I've made a conscious effort
to to learn to kick. And out in the blue one day,
something occurred to me. I started kicking and it seemed
to be working OK because I imagined I had flippers on.
OK, so I imagine I had flippers on and I kicked.
Yeah, and it changed your movement.
Takes my movement. Yeah.
But then again, I sound like, oh, imagine my flippers on.
Oh, oh, no, my imagination's not gone.
And it's sort of my kicking ghost.
Yeah. I can't synchronize my swimming
and my kicking. Yeah, at all.
And of course Laura was looking and she laughed because it's a
kick, kick, kick. Pause, kick, kick.
Pause. Recalibrate.
Start again. Yeah.
So yeah, it's it's yeah, it's interesting.
It's interesting. It does, yeah.
That's always something new to think about.
I mean, what you're doing now, it's amazing, mate.
Yeah, it really is amazing because it brings a lot of
people's experiences together. Yeah, it does, and she is.
Yeah, that's what I wanted to do because, you know, we talk after
swimming over coffee and it's when you hear everybody's
stories about how they got started and what they're working
on now and what their goals are. And it's different for every
single person. And I find everybody's story
interesting. It's isn't it?
Because that's terrible. The lady who left for Australia
last year, end of last year, she came in from the Capitol Coast,
choose to connect. Yes, I've.
I know who you mean. Yeah, I know.
It's hard to remember names, of course.
I I tried to, yeah, that's one thing.
I I constantly try to remember people's names.
You know, I really do. Not always successful.
I think we called you Sonia once.
You're not the first and you won't be the last.
I know I get Charlotte, Fiona, Sonia, Sonia.
So I do try to remember people's names.
I don't know. Not always successful but and
her farewell. Then again I never even she she
said one thing she enjoyed doing was jumping off the pier at the
end. Yeah, it says thank you, Bryn,
and I can't remember ever. She just knew.
Yeah, she'd probably heard someone call you Bryn now.
No, no, no. No, but she thanked me because
that was something like you that made her want to come back
because she jumped off. Yeah, something.
And it was a milestone figure, Yeah.
Just yeah, yeah. Yeah, that's the thing.
Sometimes something we do all the time, you sort of forget.
I honestly do. I think I have this beautiful
memory. I don't hold on to anything
because not that because I want to hold on to it.
I actually forget it's gone. I can't remember to be honest
with you. So people, you know, I've had
people say, well, why are you doing that for them?
This is why not. Then they did this to you years
ago. I'm going.
Oh yeah. You've forgotten.
I've forgotten so so. Why?
That's really a good one. Good thing though, right?
Oh absolutely. Yeah, I'm a bit worried to
connect dementia, OK. Albert, I just wanted to meant
to help prevent that. Is it really?
Yeah. Oh, thank God for that.
Yeah. So you might be right.
Yeah. Fingers crossed.
Oh, everything crossed at the moment, you know, but it's,
it's, it's like I said, I mean, Adrian's inspired me.
I just loved the way he is, what sort of person he is.
There's a lot of other people that that inspire me in that
place, to be honest with you. Well, I think you've inspired a
lot of people too. You inspire me.
You remind me to keep it fun. Keep it fun.
Yeah, That's the main thing, isn't it?
Keep it fun, isn't it? Yeah.
As you said before, I mean, everybody's definition of fun is
different. You know, I've seen some people,
no matter what, to get in the water.
I see their faces change, you know, They want to get
somewhere. Yeah, they just wanna get
somewhere and that's all they want.
Don't talk to me. Yeah, I know.
Yeah. And they're not gonna float on
their back and look up at the sky.
Ohh, and work out what certain clouds look like.
Yeah, well, that looks like a rabbit.
Yeah, they're not going to stop and sort of enjoy the rainbow
and the fountain. Absolutely.
That's beautiful, isn't it? That's so beautiful.
Because I'm being underneath that water.
Yeah, the spray, I always say I. Don't need a shower now, yeah?
That's right. Being under the fountain.
Yeah, it's. It's gorgeous, isn't?
It it is. Yeah, it's a lot of great
experience. And then anymore winter.
That's Brill. I tell you what the nicest thing
did when they did the the renovations at the pool many
years ago. Yeah.
And so they changed our Wednesday and Saturday swim to
Thornton in winter. And so it's in the evenings,
swimming in torn pool underneath the stars.
In the winter. Winter.
I haven't done it. I'd love to.
I hope it happens again. Tell you what.
You can do that. That is such a beautiful
experience would be. Yeah, it really is.
Yeah. And it was amazing.
We don't have a lot of outdoor pools in Wellington.
No, we don't. For good reason I guess, but it
can be really lovely. We had a, we had an outdoor pool
back in. I'm from Caernarvon, North
Wales. We had an outdoor pool there and
it was a sea pool and it was funny even in winter.
I mean, I'll deny this in the court of law.
I used to break into that place because it was open air.
So to break into it, all you had to do was climb the wall and you
were in the pool. Nowadays there'd be cameras.
Barbed wire. Four of us and we in winter,
we'd swim in that thing, right? Yeah.
It wasn't filtered or anything. Would have strengthened your
immunity. You could be swimming with
jellyfish and everything in this pool.
Right. So it came right, it was washed
and. Yeah, it was a title.
An ocean pool. Yeah, an ocean title pool.
Yeah. So, so we would do that.
So I've always loved the water. Yeah, always loved the water.
That open water. Yeah, loved it.
I mean, even as a kid, I tried to build my own submarine.
I do. Yeah.
Wasn't successful. It's not too late.
Don't tell Laura now. You wouldn't want to be in a
submarine though, would you? Because you'd be disconnected
from, you'd be disconnected from the water as well.
I. Wouldn't be able to touch.
I didn't want the ability to go under right because I float.
Like like Jacques Cousteau. That's.
Jacques Cousteau, yeah. Jacques Cousteau, yeah.
And he's underwater. But did you grow up watching
cameras? Absolutely.
You loved Jacques Cousteau? Yeah, yeah.
And a guy called the Man from Atlantis.
Yes, I've heard of him. Yeah, that was another one too.
Yeah, yeah. So when did you come to New
Zealand? 1978.
Yeah. Oh, that's the year I was born.
What's the name? That was a little while ago.
Yeah, I was 14. Yeah.
And were you swimming when you got here, or did you get back to
it later in life? Much later in life, because I
decided I wanted to get healthy and I was put on to barbs and
sort of started with barbs and she she sort of gave me a bit of
a trial out and said you can't swim.
Can't. Can't swim right and sure it's
right. I mean, everybody thinks they
can swim. There's a big difference.
Such a difference is there between floating and actually.
Swimming, I mean, even when you're doing your breast stroke,
you know, Yeah. Oh, sorry, your your freestyle,
you know, it can, I can go for ages to my freestyle because I'm
actually not using a lot of energy.
I really know, you know, whereas people who can swim and they do
their freestyle, they knackered after about 5.
You can see people who do a lot of splashing or they're just
sort of dragging themselves through the water, right?
Yeah. Yeah, because my, my technique's
very slow. My hand goes up very slow, moves
forward very slow, same speed as my mind.
You're not in a hurry. I'm not, I'm really not in a
hurry. So I can move us going with this
now. How you got started with Yeah.
So, so I went to Babs and she said you can swim.
And I said Yep. So back then Babs before the
Wednesday slot used to do another swim group and there was
basically a learn to swim group. And so I started there and
because what happened was let me go back, I'll go back another
step. I turned up thinking I could
swim. And then halfway through the
class she told me to get out because she said she can't swim
and you're knackered. And I was.
One thing about Babs, she doesn't.
No, she. Doesn't.
She tells you the truth, and I love people like that, you know?
You know, I've got a Doctor Who called me a big fat bastard.
That was the exact words. Wow.
I love Wow. That's good.
Doesn't beat around the book. No, no, he's he's amazing.
So she said you need to come to the pre class.
So I went there and I did that for quite a while until I got
into the being able to swim. Yeah.
And I think that was in that class for about 16 weeks.
Yeah. Yeah.
As I say, I'm not always the fastest.
I don't know. She used to do that.
Yeah, she used to do that and that that was brilliant.
So and then when I finally got into the class, into the the
Wednesday swims, I could keep up because.
But then she'd shown me what the technique was.
Yeah. Yeah.
I, I think learning to swim in the Wednesday class isn't good.
You need to learn separately. Yeah.
Giving you fitness up. It's brilliant.
Yeah, because the Wednesday class is for an hour, so you
really need to be able to, absolutely.
You need some stamina and ability.
I remember turning up to that class would have been about 3
years ago and I just learned how to swim freestyle properly.
I had a couple of private lessons and I remember doing 1,
maybe 2 laps of the 25 meter pull just being absolutely out
of breath. Yes, thinking I I can't do this
again. Like.
And Bob said to me, instead of breathing every three, try
breathing every two strokes and I did that and I was off.
Made such a difference. And no one had ever said that to
me before. Yeah.
That's the thing, isn't it? It?
It's sometimes it's a word she might say.
Yeah, that. Oh, wow.
I know what she means. Yes.
And you go, oh, that's brilliant.
Yeah, she can see what people need.
And also, sometimes it's just being given permission to do
something. It's funny, isn't it, Even when
you're an adult, being told that you can breathe anytime you
want. I didn't know that.
A lot of swimmers hold their breath, right?
And that's partly why they get tired as well.
Yeah, I'm, I'm 11 form. Yeah, I'm shocking.
My eye got such terrible lungs. They're terrible.
But in the water I'm OK if I go for a walk.
Yeah, you notice it. And it's now she is.
She's amazing. I love being in the car with her
on a Sunday morning, as long as we have a catch up because
sometimes I'm her official toy boy center.
So we sit in the car, we're talking and one thing about
Babs, she's always, she really is, she's always making sure
people are safe. And she's, her eyes are
basically binoculars. She'll be sitting in that kind
of, and I'm sitting next to her. She goes, oh, such and such.
His, his stroke's improved, you know, And I'm like, how can you
see that? So see that down over there?
See, I recognise them by the way.
Yes. Everybody's got a signature
stroke I. Think they do?
Yeah. She's so she's so observant.
Absolutely. And she's always watching.
Absolutely. Even once I went to the beach
early in the morning when it was dark and I was going for a swim
with Namada and Bob called out to me and I said, how did you
know it was me? Because I was across the beach
and it was dark. And she said I recognized her
walk. So even on land, she knows who's
who. Yeah, in the dark.
There's a guy I work and I recognize these people's
footsteps yeah and then and you can tell people who've got a one
leg big and the other or because just for the the way the.
Yeah, it's distinctive. It makes sense.
Yeah, you don't always know that about yourself, do you?
You know nothing about yourself, Really.
That's true. And it's like somebody says to
you, oh, you're a good person. And you go, oh, no, because I
know myself. Yeah, you know, and you know
things about yourself that nobody else knows.
Yeah. And of course, when somebody
says you're a good person, you automatically think of all the
stuff that doesn't make you. Yeah, all the things on the
cons, Yeah, yeah. No, no that.
Can't be true what they're. Talking about, yeah.
Well, I I was starting to end our chat about half an hour.
No, no, that was about half an hour ago.
And then we got talking again. Yeah, no, it was always good to
talk about. Easy to talk to.
Oh, thank you. You're brilliant at this because
I was very nervous. Oh.
Were you not very nervous? But yeah, I know people I've
got. Nothing to say.
People always felt that, but then, yeah.
Have you surprised yourself? I surprised, well, not surprise
myself, but you're you're brilliant at bringing out.
Thanks. Have people.
Oh, thank you. Yeah.
Because I'm interested. You'd be a good detective.
Oh, I'd be. Scared.
Think about my next. It was me, your honour.
I am a detective. Police clear.
The internet's coming in. Why?
Yeah, that'd be a good twist. Didn't see that coming.
Thank you, Brent. Thank you for your time.
Thank you so much. It's been a feels like a
privilege to talk to. You oh, it's been a it's been a
lovely talking to you. It's been absolutely gorgeous.
And please thank Laura for the muffler.
I will. I'm going.
To finish eating mine now. I know what.
We can do turn them off. Turn it off, then we can munch
away. Thanks for listening to this
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