BECOMING AN TRUE ICEBERGER ( No Wetsuit)

Reporter: Bruce Longden

Swimming has been a passion of mine since 1989 after being recommended to take it up following a back injury. My local pool has been the Harold Holt Centre in Malvern which typically is heated to about 26Celius. It is ironic that a swimming pool is named after an Australian Prime Minister who drowned. During summer many of us pool swimmers venture out for open water events wearing our wetsuits since the extra buoyancy gained provides for a faster swim, countering the perceived cold water of about 18- 20C also helps. On a few occasions I have also met up with one of our fellow tipsters and avid swimmer Norm Glenn at Portsea events.
Some pool friends are Brighton Icebergers too (no wetsuits, speedos only allowed) who swim out of the Brighton Yacht Club regularly all year round. My first Iceberger attempt was at Brighton about 10 years ago in July, I jumped off the jetty platform and once fully submerged the cold-water shock must have been close to giving me a heart attack or collapsed my lungs. I had no expectation for what jumping into water temp of 10C would be like. After that first swim despite a quick warm shower afterwards I was chilled to the bone all that day, it is worrying when you just cannot get warm, thinking back was that mild hypothermia I was experiencing? Any further swims in the period between April to November for most years included a full wetsuit.
COVID was a problem for all swimmers since pools were closed. Our pool group started going occasionally to swim with the regular Brighton Yacht Club Iceberger Members as guests, for my part with a wetsuit on. The Brighton Iceberger’s main swim route includes the yacht marina backwater and a boat channel alongside the popular dog beach, neither of these conducive for pleasant swimming.
Our swim friends also included some Mentone Icebergers and this became a main Covid swim venue during the pool lockouts for many people, despite in my case being outside the Covid 10Km travel boundary. The Mentone Icebergers are not a club, no membership required, just normal people who live locally and have become good friends thru swimming at Mentone beach, its founding swimmer was the great Tommy Hafey of VFL fame. Mentone beach has relatively clean water and is provided sheltered from any N&E winds by the Black Rock/Beaumaris cliffs.

1st day of winter ... Ice bucket challenge

Unfortunately however due to the Covid “health advice” during 2020/21 the Mentone Life Saving club public changerooms were locked up. Not to be deterred the local group members brought chairs and mats down and set up a change area behind the locked club house, but warm showers were no longer. The Covid changeroom lockout did end during 2021 but by then the clubhouse was demolition started mid 2021 for a total re-build. Our changeroom since then has been an open metal rotunda roof, or a stone pavilion on the foreshore dating back am sure to the 1920, both of which are beside the public foreshore walking path.
During the winter of 2021 I was a regular swimmer now at Mentone but wearing my wetsuit still, I continued to be in awe of these locals who could swim through winter in the 10C degrees bay water without a wetsuit. Whilst watching the annual Mentone Iceberger Tee shirt presentation in October last year for all these new friends who swam the winter period “without a wetsuit” it made me decided I must too join these crazy Icebergers.  It is suggested you need to swim up to 3 times a week from Autumn into the Winter period to get the body acclimatised to the dropping water temperature and “qualify” as an Iceberger. So throughout 2022 to date I have been swimming at Mentone 3-4 times a week with the regulars, no wetsuit, no change rooms or warm showers, and during this period the water temperature dropping from about 20C to 10C, on one occasion my Garmin watch has recorded 9C. After each swim no-one misses out on going to Ravi’s coffee shop across Beach Rd, who provides bowls of hot water as hand warmers and hot coffees, while all the group tackle the Age quiz. A radical innovation I brought to the group is my battery powdered heated jacket purchased from Total Tools. This caused some
discussion regarding “Iceberger rules”, but my point that no rules existed on how to get warm again after a swim was fully accepted.  My daily planning now includes the Bureau of Meteorology phone App to study the predicted wind direction and strength for Mentone in the oncoming few days, as swimming is not fun when drowning is more likely.
Yes, I have got used to it the cold water, my regular swims through winter have been between 25- 30 minutes long. However, the “unofficial rules to qualify” as a Iceberger do not relate to how far is swum, its about getting in the water and having a go, most only swim for a couple of hundred metres. I read that as you walk into water keep your hands down, embrace the cold water, it works. For most there is an initial cold feeling but after only a couple of minutes all is okay in the water, we are cool but not cold. On a serious side it is certainly not for everyone, further after about 15 minutes out of the water from longer swims a deep body chill factor can set-in and may last a couple of hours. Hypothermia is a possibility which we all need to be wary of.  Cold water swimming seems to have become more popular, it is said it is good for people and all Icebergers would all standby this axiom, but it is somewhat relative. Cold water swimming in the Melbourne winter is at 10-11C degrees, in Sydney cold water swimming would bottom out at 16C, in Queensland I suggest cold water swimming does not exist. 
I look forward to getting my Tee shirt in October as part of this elite and maybe crazy group but bring on summer, warmer water, and a new Mentone Life Saving Club building with warm showers.

Mentone beach

FACT
Portsea water temperature is up to 3C warmer than Port Melbourne in winter, but this reverses in summer. Mentone beach water temperature range is about 10C to 20C