The bloggers are still here, just.... after Rangi

Good post Kevin. You're right, we've been very slack.

So my experience of Rangi is best summed up with "I'm glad I got there" and "great, I did not wake up with a black eye the next day"!

It was an interesting start. Record numbers of swimmers at the start line, but unfortunately none going in the same direction, on account of the squalls which made visibility very hard. Geoff Carter did the right thing by diving in a bit after the main start gun. It didn't even help to stop and calm down as then a load of people behind ploughed into you.

Once the swimmers had started to spread out, then the next challenge was the swell. It was fairly undulating for the first half of the swim! By some strange twist of fate, Jenny Hemmings and I discovered each other about a third of the way across when I had one of my many stops to see where we were. We swum together for most of the rest of the race, but then she dragged me off at the end as I had got pretty tired.

So for me personally it wasn't the most enjoyable swim, but still a great feeling to finish, and lovely sunshine and much better conditions for the final third of the race.

In the spot prizes Jenny Stark continued her good haul for the season, winning a wetsuit. Well done Jenny and well deserved.

The absentees were all missed but some of you may be relieved you weren't there for this one! Still it hasn't put me off.

A final note to say that Geoff spoke really well about the tragic death of Adam Strange, who should have been in the race. Geoff handled this sad and sensitive situation really well and it was great to have acknowledgement of Adama and his family and for fellow swimmers to pause and reflect on that.

Thanks to Kevin for reminding this slack blogger that it is good to pst and keep everyone updated. By the way, who is Catman anyone?!

Cheers, Jo