The ocean swims calendar is starting to come alive as we move into November.

Have you decided on your early season swims yet?

If you’ve been swinging the arms over during the off-season, you’ll feel confident taking on the longer distances, but if you’ve been slack, then maybe use one of the popular 1km swims to warm up into it.

I get so much enjoyment out of welcoming new swimmers to our sport and guiding them towards their first ocean swim.

It’s also great to be able to help seasoned ocean swimmers further develop their skills, especially with the stuff they didn’t know, they didn’t know.

That’s the great thing about ocean swimming, it’s a sport where beginners line up against the experienced, who line up next to an Olympian.

When you’re on the start line, clad only in your cossies, a pair of goggles and a cap that gives away your age, all you can do is enjoy the freedom you share equally with the next person.

As you might imagine, at OceanFit we field 100’s of messages every month asking our advice on all things ocean swimming, and we do our best to answer them all.

It got me thinking, why don’t we harness the knowledge of all the ocean swimmers out there and create an online community where ocean swimmers, new and old, can support and encourage each other.

So, I’ve created a Facebook group called “Ocean swimming enthusiasts” and I’m inviting you to join it.

It doesn’t matter whether you’re part of an ocean swim group or swim club or swim school with your own Facebook groups, I’m hoping this community will bring everyone together from around Australia.

OceanFit will act as a moderator, but other than that, please feel free to discuss ocean swimming to your heart’s content. You might like to:

• Find a swimming buddy
• Put a call out to car-pool to an event
• Ask advice on swim gear
• Get swimming tips

Let’s see if the ocean swimming community can be as social and welcoming online, as it is at the beach.

Go ahead and join the group now.

First published on oceanfit.com.au