How you ocean swim right now, is right for you, now

As the owner of three related open water businesses; OceanFit, oceanswims.com and Swimrun Australia, people assume that I do a lot of ocean swimming.

I get asked it a lot.

There’s always a sense of shock when I say I don’t really ocean swim that much…

…at the moment.

It’s not because I’m not interested – obviously, this is a passion of mine – it’s just that I’m in a phase of life that makes it a lot more difficult to be as involved as I have been in the past.

Do I feel like an imposter sometimes?

You betcha.

In my single Bondi days (a great time!) I was within walking distance to the beach and I’d be there before and after work on weekdays and all day Saturday and Sunday. I lived and breathed the ocean.

But now, I’m a father to Bailey and Jessie and husband to Jules (who, ironically I met on Bondi Beach). These days we have to drive to the beach (I know, how tough!), the kids often prefer the beach shower to the beach itself, and evening daylight hours are scarce (we live on the Gold Coast with no daylight saving).

Times have changed, and my energy needs to be elsewhere at the moment. I still get to ocean swim it’s just not always on my terms (I can’t remember the last time Jules and I went for an ocean swim together).

We’re all on life’s rollercoaster and there are times when we have lots of space for our passions and times when they need to take a back seat.

It could be a phase of life thing, it could be an injury (I have one of those right now, too), or it could be that we’re just not feeling it right now.

Here’s the thing, it doesn’t matter if your participation in ocean swimming is like single Andre or you’re more like family-man Andre, you’re still an ocean swimmer.

If you’ve ocean swum or you ocean swim, you’re an ocean swimmer.

However often you’re getting to ocean swim right now, is right for you, now.

That’s the beauty of this sport, it’ll always be there for you when you want to… enjoy the freedom.

The 2023-24 OceanFit season is dedicated to my dear friend and OceanFit instructor and guide, Louise Santos (on the right in the photo, above), who tragically lost her life whilst holidaying in France in mid-2023. Louise was a regular ocean swimmer, decorated surf lifesaver, and fierce surf sports competitor. She was a loving mum and wife and a passionate advocate for a healthy beach lifestyle. We miss Louise so much. Andre