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<\/p>\nGEOFF Morgan has started his day in the same way for exactly 20 years.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Whether it is dark or light, freezing cold or balmy, it is a ritual the 71-year-old from Bellbrae says he wouldn\u2019t want to live without.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor me personally it\u2019s about fitness and all the things that come from being out in that beautiful salt water \u2013 it\u2019s so health giving,\u201d Geoff says.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou feel bad if you don\u2019t do it.\u201d<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a tradition that has been going on for years and one Geoff took over about four years ago.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not sure how but I inherited the bloody job,\u201d he says with a hearty laugh.<\/p>\n
Geoff, a foundation member of Woodside Beach Surf Life Saving Club, has been involved with surf lifesaving since he was a kid.<\/p>\n
He moved to the Surf Coast in 1997, living in Jan Juc for about 16 years before moving to Kithbrooke Park Country Club.<\/p>\n
Geoff says a few of his fellow Kithbrooke Park buddies are also part of the hardy crew of early morning sea-swimmers.<\/p>\n
About five men catch up on weekdays and around 10 hit the water on weekends.<\/p>\n
Between them they represent hundreds of years of membership and service to surf lifesaving.<\/p>\n
As well as enjoying the benefits of a morning dip, the group of like-minded souls has developed the bond of friendship and \u2013 as Geoff can attest \u2013 have been there for each through thick and thin.<\/p>\n
That includes the time seven years ago when Geoff suffered a stroke while in the surf.<\/p>\n
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\u201cI was out back and had a stroke,\u201d he recalls.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe guys got me in and put me in an ambulance and I only missed four days (of swimming) that time.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was actually another health battle which prompted Geoff to start his morning swim and body surf regime.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow it came about is I actually got leukaemia in 2000,\u201d he explains.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey gave me nine months to live unless I could find a matching bone marrow transplant donor.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy brother was a beautiful match and I\u2019m still here to tell the story.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s where I was very, very lucky. I was virtually given another life.\u201d<\/p>\n
Once a keen golfer, Geoff says after the transplant he lacked the energy to play golf and he turned to swimming to stay active.<\/p>\n
This week he celebrates two decades of\u00a0morning swims and it\u2019s a habit he encourages\u00a0others to take up.<\/p>\n
\u201cI started very gingerly on a body board and built it up and built it up,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would encourage other people to do things like this and age really shouldn\u2019t be a barrier.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s wonderful \u2013 you get in there and you feel better for the rest of the day.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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, […]<\/p>\n