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February 2021 February 2021
Stay at home postcards ROUND BROWNSEA ISLAND SWIM
Circa 187,000 postcards will be despatched to all Dorset Council people
reminding them of the rules during lockdown and giving detail of where to seek The drive into Poole under a grey muggy sky had
help; this will hopefully have been completed by the time this article first appears.
been uneventful enough. The odd flurry of drizzle
had settled on the windscreen but I could see in
the distance some encouraging signs of lighter
Surgery
patches in the distant sky.
We are not holding face to face meetings until we are clear to do so under The Round Brownsea Island race certainly
government guidelines. However, we would be more than delighted to talk to you attracts a broad mix of people from all walks of
on the telephone or via Zoom. Please ring or email us with the subject matter so
that we can prepare ourselves. Peter’s email address is peterwharf@hotmail.com life, doctors, builders, teachers, shop workers,
telephone 07986 600799 and Laura’s is cllrlaura.miller@dorsetcouncil.gov.uk administrators they all come with their common
telephone 07814 569563. love of open water swimming and the freedom
and joy of swimming in the sea.
Peter Wharf & Laura Miller, Dorset Councillors for West Purbeck
My friend Mark Shakles has been running the
event since he started it over 20 years ago and it
has grown fantastically in popularity. I can well
remember in the early days turning up with
around 25 other mostly non-wetsuited swimmers. This year, Mark went live on the
RLSS Poole website in February and within two hours had filled his 280 entry limit
and had a hundred on the waiting list. Amazing!
My great swim friend Emile and I arrived at the big car park at Sandbanks just
after 7 am. for registration. By then the cheerfully efficient volunteers were
registering and the handing out of the swimmers packs. The system appeared to
be running like clockwork.. However, I know from long experience that a lot of
planning and effort goes into this smooth operation. The team had an hour and a
half to register all 283 swimmers before the first ferry set sail for the island at 8 am.
In total, Mark had over a hundred volunteers on the day registering, marshalling
and providing the safety cover out on the water. He and his committee organises
assistance from all the life saving clubs in the area. It is a massive operation and
he actually takes two weeks leave from work to manage it.
After a very mild winter, the sea temperature had held up pretty well through a
warm spring and early summer and was now a positively balmy 17C.
We picked up our packs including a swim hat, number to be attached to the hat,
lanyard, swim wristband and a large bin liner to deposit our clothes and valuables
and we set off on our 15 minute walk to the ferry. There was a record number of
swimmers from my own East Dorset Open Water Swimming Club and also a
number of our members helping on the day.
Open water swimmers are a friendly bunch and very supportive of each other
and jovial banter was in full flow. Yes, they all wish to do well and some were
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