I am headed to Perth for work and will be there on and off for the next few months. I will be up in Hillary’s and am looking to see if there are any groups that open water swim in the area. I would appreciate any recommendations.
First post, basic MOP finisher. Thanks.
Swimsmooth are based in Perth and run an awesome squad set up including OW. We swam with them while we were out there a couple of years ago. Not sure if that’ll be local to your bit of Perth, but if it is I reckon that’s the way to go.
Hi mate.
Best bet would be to hook up with the friendly guys/gals at either Sorrento Surflife saving club (Sorrento beach, next door to Hillarys) and/or North Coast Tri club (based out of the Hillarys/sorrento area)
www.northcoasttriclub.org.au
Worth noting; Sprint distance race in Hillarys on the 18th december and State Aquathon Champs in Hillarys also on January 6th (the latter is organised by North Coast tri).
Hope that helps.
tim
Parrot,
Might be worth your while to head over to the Australian tri forums at forums.transitions.org.au and chuck a post up there
I am East Coast but I can tell you that they love it in Perth. Plenty of good swim squads, tri groups and if you are after open water exclusively definitely get in with the Surf Club.
The sharks there are HUGE, which helps with pacing. Every session is high tempo and basically if you are the slowest, you are faaaarked 
Hi Mike
The http://www.northcoasttriclub.org.au/ is the local tri club for Hillary’s. They run an aquathon series on Fridays nights from Hillary’s. Check out the web site for other training sessions.
Might see you on the road as I live and train in the same area.
Mike Parrotte - Almost the same name.
Friendly bunch at North Coast - enjoyed one of their aquathons a year or so ago when over there for IMWA.
Perth / OW swimming = sharks. Be careful.
Thanks everyone. I head over to Perth on Saturday and will try to hook up with the North Coast Tri group. Funny about the name. The parrot in my user name is a reference to Jimmy Buffett, I need a little balance outside of tri now and then.
The sharks there are HUGE, which helps with pacing. Every session is high tempo and basically if you are the slowest, you are faaaarked
X2. The reason I stick to pools for swimming. Those things scare the bajeezes outta me.
.
I spent December/January there last year. Great experience. Yes, there are sharks. The coast guards keep an eye on this every day. we did have some beaches closed on some days because of huge great whites, but most of the time there aren’t any problems. The stingers can be a bugger though. Just wear anything to cover your upper body and it’s not too bad, but on a bad day, I’ve been stung like crazy with big welts that took hours to go away. Not too much fun.
The locals will know where/when to go. Cooler water is better.
Challenge Stadium is awesome!! 50 meter indoor and outdoor pools.
I know that it isn’t north near you, but South of the river is Champion lakes. A 2 km long rowing complex that is freshwater- NO SHARKS!! haha. Its great as it has signs every 500m which is good for pacing. And I think that there are swim squads there at times too.
+1 for Challenge.
Great venue.