Walking down to the pool this morning at 555am, the darkness over Wooloomooloo Bay, tide is out and on the other side of the water against an eastern night sky with a hint of a dawn ray, the silhouettes of a Navy Frigate and an odd looking commercial vessel, forecastle ringed by blue lights looking more like they belonged in a disco than on a mysterious sea going vessel.

Wasn’t so long ago, when the land was submerged in the golden days of summer, the sun would be over the horizon by now and the mammals and reptiles, fish and birds of the emerald city would be wakening from their slumbers and rousing themselves for another day at the hustings.

But Autumn in Sydney has many advantages not the least of which is a warm ocean, clear visibility and one hopes the worst of the summer blue bottle plague hordes departed for other  environs.

Not too many at squad this morning at the ABC pool. Squad has started morning sessions at Victoria Park pool also so there’s a few heading over there now. Some of the battle hardened sea warriors of the Rottnest Channel have not returned yet to training since last Saturday week. Congratulations to all who went west to test themselves in the Indian Ocean.  The yarning will go on for months, into the deep winter when more than a few of them will take off to the northern hemisphere to do the English Channel. Four weeks before the muppet piked out of it, wasn’t happening training wise and the head was elsewhere. Next year perhaps. Cheered on from the sidelines nevertheless.

One of the highlights was Deano, all greased up for the race, with “No Shark Cull” painted onto his back, giving the Western Australia prime minister a serve about his government’s policy of putting out baited drum lines to capture and kill large sharks off WA beaches. Link below to his interview after having a go at the premier.

http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/video/watch/21632401/race-to-rotto/

To date, 70 sharks have been reported caught and killed, many of them smaller ones outside the cull parameters (over 3m and ugly with big teeth), the thing being once their on the hook they can’t be got off without killing them anyway.

The death toll includes three Mako sharks, a pelagic species which, like the great white, is considered under threat and hence normally protected. But they’re over 3m, very ugly and have lots of vicious looking teeth so it’s off with their heads too. Most if not all swimmers and water people seem to oppose the cull on the grounds that the ocean is the realm of the big, ugly and toothful, so man up and leave the beasties alone.

Back to working on the technique for the rest of the Autumn and into the winter.

Relax, relax, relax…and remember to breathe.