After nearly a year’s break, I started ocean swimming again this May, delighting in the clarity of the water and the quieter beaches of Sydney’s winter. I’d stopped because of an injury but then found that the longer I was out of the water the harder it was to get back in.

It only took that first return swim, however, to remember the absolute euphoria of winter ocean swimming. Part of it is the cold water, how alive it makes you feel, and part is the wildness of it: seeing the variety of underwater marine life, the distant spray of a migratory whale. It is utterly different from swimming laps in a pool.

My local swimming beach is Coogee and I go with friends who are far better swimmers. I don my flippers and we swim out along the southern edge to the outer periphery of Wylie’s Baths then across the length of the bay and back. It is a beautiful and invigorating way to exercise. I try not to think about sharks but we all know that this is their territory.

I was far from the ocean on Saturday when the news came about local Coogee........

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