THEY successfully tackled one of Australia’s most dangerous swims.
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Now a group of daring Warrnambool-based thrillseekers are searching for their next open water challenge.
Jon Watson, Jayson Lamb, Sandra Skilbeck, Leigh McCarthy, Joe Ragg and Laurie Laurenson took the plunge and completed the Rip swim on Sunday — an arduous trek from Point Nepean to Point Lonsdale renowned for its difficulty.
It took the group — three other swimmers joined the south-west contingent — one-and-a-half hours to finish the 4.2-kilometre course. They swam without wetsuits, braving the cold and unpredictable waters, as part of a private group.
A swim — the Rip Race — is pencilled in for next April and is only open to elite swimmers, such are the dangers.
Watson said the Warrnambool swimmers were elated to join the likes of the late Doug Mew, who was the first person on record to conquer the Rip in 1971, on its honour board.
“Not very many people in history have ever swum across it,” he said.
“We ticked one of the boxes of the great swims to do.
“The Rip swim was touted as an idea three months ago and I conned all the other Warrnambool people into doing it.
“We were swimming in the bay here without wetsuits on to acclimatise to it being cold.”
Watson said his group was grateful it encountered the Rip on a calm day and highlighted the need to have “good stamina”.
He paid credit to the Southern Peninsula Rescue Squad for assisting it in its challenge.
“It’s amazing the sheer depth of the water you are swimming across ... 85 to 100 metres.
“That’s when you started swimming fast because you don’t know what’s underneath,” he said.
“It was probably easier than what we expected because we had heard horror stories of how bad it could be.
“It was a superb morning. But don’t get me wrong, it was hard.
“I wouldn’t do it again but we are searching for something else to do now.”
The six adrenalin junkies will now turn their focus to the locally-run Shipwreck Coast Swim Series.
Its first leg — a 1.4-kilometre Warrnambool swim — is on Sunday.
Watson, who is on the series committee, said the three-part competition’s popularity had swelled.
“We are hoping for 230 people; we’re hoping for a few more than normal this year,” he said.
The Shipwreck Coast Swim Series’ second leg is at Port Fairy on January 3 and the series wraps up in Port Campbell on January 17.