Eight idiots comprising Judy, Chris, Stephen, Bevan, Rob, Dave, Brad and Dave set off for Cobblers Beach this morning and eight idiots returned. Yeah!
So, how far did we swim? Stephen’s reccy yesterday on a surf ski in near perfect conditions with son Rory put the distance at 2.3kms (round trip).
The fresh NNE wind ensured everyone gulped down some seawater or perhaps that was just me?! as we set our sights on “Balmoral Belle” for the first leg of the journey. The table below gives a breakdown of the distances covered for each leg, but in summary we swam 1152m on the outward legs and 1140m or 1190m for those choosing the 4 Cats route…
In total, the straight shooters swam 2292m and Dave, thanks to his superior navigational skills, swam 2340m… Well done to us all. Thanks Stephen for the wonderful booty at the end of the swim. At this rate, I won’t need to invest in any T-shirts 😉
| Participants | Dave, Dave, Judy, Richard, Stephen, Rob, Brad, and Chris | |
| Leg | Description | Distance |
| 1 | Steps to "Balmoral Belle" | 386m |
| 2 | "Belle" to Barrel 2 | 383m |
| 3 | Barrel 2 to Cobblers | 383m |
| Total | 1152m | |
| Participants | Dave, Judy, Richard, Stephen, Rob, Brad, and Chris | |
| Leg | Description | Distance |
| 4 | Cobblers to Barrel 1 | 530m |
| 5 | Barrel 1 to "Belle" | 235m |
| 6 | "Belle" to Steps | 375m |
| Total | 1140m | |
| Participants | Dave "there's nothing wrong with my compass" S. | |
| Leg | Description | Distance |
| 4b | Cobblers to Barrel 1 | 564m |
| 5b | Barrel 1 to Steps | 626m |
| Total | 1190m | |
| Total Distance for all bar Dave | 2292m | |
| Total Distance (Dave) | 2342m |
Here is the course with the different swim legs. The map is interactive so it will show the distance and swim leg.
According to Ian Sutter’s book “A History of Mosman” the naming of Cobblers Beach relates to the type of fish that was abundant in the area. Here is some footage of an Estuary Cobbler at Shelley Beach, courtesy of the Australia Museum.