Soaking up the magic of a morning swim

GEOFF Morgan has started his day in the same way for exactly 20 years.

At 6.30am he joins a small group of other local men who dive into the salty waters outside the Torquay Surf Life Saving Club to enjoy a swim and body surf.

Whether it is dark or light, freezing cold or balmy, it is a ritual the 71-year-old from Bellbrae says he wouldn’t want to live without.

“For me personally it’s about fitness and all the things that come from being out in that beautiful salt water – it’s so health giving,” Geoff says.

“You feel bad if you don’t do it.”

Before enjoying his morning dip, the retired school teacher arrives at the clubhouse at 6am to carry out his other daily ritual of recording the air and water temperature.

Pre-COVID he would write it on a small blackboard in the clubhouse, before taking a photo and posting it on the surf club Facebook page. These days, with the clubrooms closed, he takes a photo of the sunrise or landscape and posts it with the temperatures.

It’s a tradition that has been going on for years and one Geoff took over about four years ago.

“I’m not sure how but I inherited the bloody job,” he says with a hearty laugh.

Geoff, a foundation member of Woodside Beach Surf Life Saving Club, has been involved with surf lifesaving since he was a kid.

He moved to the Surf Coast in 1997, living in Jan Juc for about 16 years before moving to Kithbrooke Park Country Club.

Geoff says a few of his fellow Kithbrooke Park buddies are also part of the hardy crew of early morning sea-swimmers.

About five men catch up on weekdays and around 10 hit the water on weekends.

Between them they represent hundreds of years of membership and service to surf lifesaving.

As well as enjoying the benefits of a morning dip, the group of like-minded souls has developed the bond of friendship and – as Geoff can attest – have been there for each through thick and thin.

That includes the time seven years ago when Geoff suffered a stroke while in the surf.

 

“I was out back and had a stroke,” he recalls.

“The guys got me in and put me in an ambulance and I only missed four days (of swimming) that time.”

It was actually another health battle which prompted Geoff to start his morning swim and body surf regime.

“How it came about is I actually got leukaemia in 2000,” he explains.

“They gave me nine months to live unless I could find a matching bone marrow transplant donor.

“My brother was a beautiful match and I’m still here to tell the story.

“That’s where I was very, very lucky. I was virtually given another life.”

Once a keen golfer, Geoff says after the transplant he lacked the energy to play golf and he turned to swimming to stay active.

This week he celebrates two decades of morning swims and it’s a habit he encourages others to take up.

“I started very gingerly on a body board and built it up and built it up,” he says.

“I would encourage other people to do things like this and age really shouldn’t be a barrier.

“It’s wonderful – you get in there and you feel better for the rest of the day.”