Swimmer and author Seana Smith shares what it’s like to be a member of this warm and welcoming community group. Read about the new Shark Bite Kit the Wobbegongs had installed.
I’m standing in the sea at Huskisson Beach with three other swimmers, two on each side of our 50-metre lane rope. We’re waiting for the starter to blow his whistle and we’re excited. Winter racing season has started.
The Jervis Bay Wobbegongs Winter Swimming Club are at Huskisson Beach every Sunday morning from 8 am and I’m delighted to be one of them. From May to the end of September, swimmers take part in handicapped swimming races, 50 metres and 25 metres, and then join together for a BBQ or coffee to chat about the morning. New members are always welcome, just check out the website, or turn up on the beach.
And is the water chilly? Well, at the start of the season, as autumn temperatures dip, the water usually still retains the summer’s heat, around 20–22 degrees C. By mid-winter it might go down to 14–16 degrees, and that does feel brisk. Some swimmers wear wetsuits when they race.
St Georges Basin local John Stapleton started swimming at Huskisson Beach when he moved to the area. “I’ve been involved with winter swimming all my life. In 1972 I started with the Balmain Kool Cats and am a life member there. In 2016 I was swimming circuits at the beach and other people asked if they could swim with me. One thing led to another. I thought this place needs something to get everyone together. I said to the people I swam with, ‘I want to start a winter swimming club’ and they had no idea what I was talking about.”
John persisted with the idea of starting a club. “I decided we could have a swimming club on Sunday mornings. The first meeting was held at the top of the stairs at the beach, we stood under a tree; I had a pad and pencil and gave everyone a job.”
Many of that original committee are still swimming every winter with the club.
John says, “I thought this was going to be good for the community. It’ll be something for everybody and it could last years and years.”
In 2020, the Wobbegongs became a sub-club of Club Jervis Bay, and being affiliated has been a great support, covering the cost of first aid courses and insurance. You’ll find the Wobbegongs running the Community Raffle one Saturday evening a month up at the Club.
Next year the Wobbegongs will celebrate their 10th anniversary as an official winter swimming club, part of the Winter Swimming Association of Australia which was founded in 1957.
Winter Races at Huskisson Beach
The warm welcome at the beach from John and many other swimmers was a marvellous start to my own first winter swimming season last year. I joined the club and then turned up every Sunday morning to help set up the equipment that is needed, like chairs and tables, buoys and ropes and floats. I learned that the Wobbegongs are one of only a few winter swimming clubs who race in the sea; most use rock pools and ocean baths which are maintained by local councils. The sea conditions change every time the Wobbegongs race with swell and choppy seas slowing down the racers and times improving vastly on calm, still days.
On Sunday mornings every swimmer can take part in three races, a 50-metre race, a 25-metre race and then a 25-metre race doing any other stroke than front crawl. The races are handicapped meaning that faster swimmers start after a count of anything between three and 20 seconds. This means that the fastest swimmers have less time to do the swim and everyone has a decent chance of winning their race. After the heats, 50 metre finals are held.
How competitive is the racing?
I asked a few swimmers how seriously they take the actual racing side of things. Swimmer Lani said, “It’s good to get the heartrate up. And it’s nice sitting in the warm sun afterwards.”
Anne added, “I don’t push myself normally, but here it’s good to have that camaraderie of a competition and then you push yourself a little bit more than in normal swimming.”
Karen said, “I love the camaraderie too, and everyone is a good sport. It’s a lot of fun.”
Lyn says, “I’m competing with myself. Participation is the way to go and whether I come first or second or last it is the community and taking part for my fitness that matters. I’m just having a go, having a crack.”
Karen was the first woman to race with the club, right back at the start in 2017. Of the winter races, she says, “I’m not competitive though it does make you competitive when you’re in the water racing. But it’s the swimming and the socialising with people with similar interest that is the best thing. The races are good, they make you try and you have a chance to win because of the handicapping.”
Wobbegongs swim captain Al Byrne says, “When there’s someone right beside you, of course you race.” Al adds, “I used to do Masters swimming when I lived in Canberra for 10 years. Now I’m here I don’t ever want to get in chlorine again. Every day is different in the sea, but in the pool it’s not, and here I have also learned so much about marine biology.”
As John Stapleton says, “If you don’t take it too seriously and just do your best then that’s all we can ask for.”
The social side of things
As well as the couple of dozen swimmers who race every Sunday, the Wobbegongs also has a small army of volunteers and social members who do the starting and timings of the races. There are monthly BBQs and soup days after the swims, as well as the regular get-togethers at Emma’s coffee van by the beach. The social side of things also includes golf days and race days and an end of season Presentation Night. For me, the move to Jervis Bay was made much smoother by feeling part of the swimming group so quickly.
Social swimming
Huskisson Beach is a lovely swimming spot, often sheltered from the wind. Although the Wobbegongs official club swims are only held on Sundays, many of the same swimmers are to be found at Huskisson Beach of a morning around 7 am enjoying casual and social swims together.
Most Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays some 25 metre sprints are run by John Stapleton and others. Several swimmers do long swims out to the big navigation buoy and to the end of the bay. These daily swims are not organised as such, just the coming together of people who enjoy a swim, at whatever level they are at. There are benches on the beach where swimmers congregate, always happy to chat to new swimmers and visitors to the area.
The health benefits of swimming, especially in cold water, are becoming pretty well known these days. At the beach every day of the year these are seen in action.
Swimmer Karen summarises what many Wobbegongs feel about their morning swims when she says, “You know you can come down to the beach any morning and meet people and that can lift your spirits and cheer you up, it starts the day off well and makes every day all right.”
Nationals—Wobbegongs Well-represented
Every year the Winter Swimming Association of Australia holds a national competition to round off the winter swimming season. Last year the Nationals were held on the Sunshine Coast with a strong showing from all of the Wobbegongs who travelled up there. The 2026 Nationals will be held in Perth, with a contingent of Wobbegongs attending. Best wishes to them!
So, if you see a group of people at the south end of Huskisson Beach on a Sunday morning and wonder what they are up to, that’ll be the Wobbegongs doing their winter racing. And you’re very welcome to join in and make a splash!
Follow our swims on the Wobbegongs Facebook page.
