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-Kurt Vonnegut
8 Sep 2019 · HowIcebergs stayed afloat ... spritzers and spray tans arrived , Bondi Icebergs was just a bunch of ...
HAVING weathered a few storms, the iconic Bondi Icebergs Club is entering a new era ahead of its 90th birthday in less than two years.
The club, where the Iceberg members famously swim races every Sunday throughout winter, lost its president, David Hall, to cancer late last month, and until recently, was saddled with a 40-year loan, following the massive upgrade to its crumbling building in 2002.
Arguably Australia’s most iconic ocean pool, the Bondi Baths is listed under the NSW Heritage Act and is part of the National Heritage register, the venue for fashion parades and photo shoots, TV shows and commercials. The Icebergs complex beside the pool houses one of Sydney’s best restaurants.
Bondi Icebergs celebrates its 90th anniversary this year. Picture from left to right, Tim Egan, Anthony Kalowski, Jason McCormack, Michelle Borkowski, Alan Gow, Dan Moffa, Losoya Harkin, Bernadette Harkin and Sean Green. Picture: Tim Hunter.
Bondi Icebergs marks end of 90th swim season
BEFORE the influencers, spritzers and spray tans arrived, Bondi Icebergs was just a bunch of hardy lifesavers who had banded together to brave the ocean baths for a weekly swim.
HAVING weathered a few storms, the iconic Bondi Icebergs Club is entering a new era ahead of its 90th birthday in less than two years.
The club, where the Iceberg members famously swim races every Sunday throughout winter, lost its president, David Hall, to cancer late last month, and until recently, was saddled with a 40-year loan, following the massive upgrade to its crumbling building in 2002.
Arguably Australia’s most iconic ocean pool, the Bondi Baths is listed under the NSW Heritage Act and is part of the National Heritage register, the venue for fashion parades and photo shoots, TV shows and commercials. The Icebergs complex beside the pool houses one of Sydney’s best restaurants.
Winter swimmers take to the chilly waters at Bondi Icebergs earlier this week. Picture: Toby Zerna
“The Icebergs is like church, people are very accepting of who you are,” said fourth generation Bondi resident and Iceberg of eight years, Annie Parnell.
“It’s an incredible bunch of people from 80-plus year olds right down to the little ones.”
Swimming in the ocean, in the pool, invigorates you. You feel so alive, you feel that the world is a beautiful place. It’s a very healing thing,” added Parnell, who works in the film industry, and whose father was an Iceberg also.
Waverley Mayor Sally Betts sums it up: “When you talk about the club, it’s like the heart of Bondi and of Waverley.
“It’s the essence of what Bondi is, there are young and old people, and nobody stands on ceremony.
Members at Bondi Icebergs in the 1930s. Pic: Icebergs Club
“You’ve got to be quite tough of course, because the water can be quite cold, and when the waves come crashing in it can be challenging. “The soul and essence of the club shows what Bondi is all about and what Waverley is all about.
“It’s the most amazing thing, if you want to take an overseas visitor out to dinner, and you take them to the club, they are astounded that you have a club where the food is good and relatively cheap, and you have this amazing view.”
But back in the late 1990s, the club’s outlook wasn’t so rosy. Its finances were shaky and its building was falling apart.
The club, which started in 1929, upgraded from a tin shed to actual premises in 1960, the same year it gained a liquor licence. It expanded over two floors a decade later.
Bondi Icebergs in circa 1960s. Picture: Icebergs Club
A massive renovation in the early 2000s changed the course of the club’s history, with the new four-storey premises opening in 2002.
A “facilitation fee” that was effectively a 40-year loan from the developer, Warpo Pty Ltd, was paid off in late 2016, in less than half the allocated time, meaning this is the first time the club has been debt free since the 2002 renovation.
The board appointed an interim president, Benn Dullard, last week, ahead of the annual general meeting later this year where all positions will be up for grabs.
Much of the financial stability the club is now experiencing is due to the stewardship of the late David Hall and his predecessor Alan Gow, a semi-retired company director.
Gow, who was president from 2008 to 2012, was instrumental in securing the club’s future by making changes to the management of the building.
David Hall took over from Gow and was president from 2013 until his passing.
Former Icebergs president David Hall.Bondi Chamber of Commerce president Mary Anne Cronin.
The Icebergs Club operates a wedding venue, bistro and licenced bar with a small number of poker machines on the second floor of the Icebergs complex.
“It was mostly done during my term, the turnaround from non-profitability to profitability, you might say,” Gow told the Wentworth Courier.
“Alan started the ball rolling, and David picked it up and scored a try,” added current vice-president Noel O’Dwyer, of the clubs financial security.
“This goes a long way to securing [the club’s future], but you never know in this industry. We’re a lot better off than a lot of little clubs,” O’Dwyer said.
With some 1,100 swimming members and between three and four thousand social members, Icebergs is attracting new members all the time thanks to the power of social media.
Ross Graham, Noel O’Dwyer and David Hall at the opening of the Bondi Icebergs winter season in 2014.
There is no waiting list for either a swimming membership or a social membership. The Icebergs swimming membership opens each April ahead of the winter season, and swimmers must compete three out of four weekends each month to remain an Iceberg. A social membership has no swimming requirements and costs $55, or $25 if you’re in a local postcode.
Lenore Kulakauskas, the convener of the Bondi Beach Precinct community group, who was born in Clovelly and has lived in Bondi since 2003, is a staunch supporter of the Icebergs pool.
“Anything that is intimately connected with the beach needs to be protected and looked after,” she said, “It’s an integral part of that landscape”.
Mary Anne Cronin, the president of the Bondi and Districts Chamber of Commerce, agrees on Bondi Iceberg’s iconic place on the city’s landscape.
Bondi Icebergs swimmers in 1954. Pic: Icebergs Club
“It goes across wealth and social strata and knows no boundaries like that, it’s all encompassing,” she says of the Icebergs Club.
“You don’t have to be a fabulous swimmer, you just have to be able to swim a lap. Everyone can swim a lap.”
Cronin strongly believes the club will survive in the long term.
“There’s a niche for places like surf clubs, like RSLs and golf clubs. The Icebergs does such a great job for its community.”
As a high-profile tenant of the Icebergs complex, the successful Icebergs Dining Room and Bar (IDRB) has no direct financial relationship with the club, but IDRB director Maurice Terzini says he is “forever thankful” for being invited to run the dining room, which opened in 2002.
LONDON, England (CNN) -- On a Saturday morning, if the sun was out, I'd take a newspaper and a book down to Icebergs pool at Bondi Beach -- read and then do a few lazy laps while the Pacific Ocean churned just outside the lap lane sometimes delivering a walloping wave that would send swimmers sailing into lane ropes.
Swimming -- there's really nothing like it to combine nature, health, fitness, mental clarity and that pure blissed out feeling of lying on your back, floating in the sun.
Of course swimming has its grimmer side. For every Icebergs at Bondi Beach there are a hundred awful municipal pools in whose waters lurk dubious secretions, lethal doses of chlorine and overcrowded lap lanes.
Regardless if your swimming pool is blessed by the sun gods or looks like something from East Germany circa 1980 -- swimming has its health benefits.
Swimming works your whole body, improving cardiovascular conditioning, muscle strength, endurance, posture, and flexibility all at the same time.
Without overworking the heart it improves the body's use of oxygen and increases lung function. It is also recognized as a terrific low impact exercise for those who don't like the effects of jogging on their knees, because while in water you are non weight bearing.
While it's not as much of a calorie burner as say a spin class -- its fantastic for toning -- particularly the upper arms, shoulders and legs. The best strokes for all-over body toning are the freestyle, breaststroke and backstroke.
I've always found the main benefits to swimming have been psychological. Whilst under water you are away from all the noise and distraction of life on the land. The monotony of the strokes up and down the length of the pool have a sort of medititative quality that can be very calming, and of course there is something soothing about being in water.
If you are interested in swimming and you don't know how -- jump on the Internet or look in the phone book and find a qualified swimming instructor. A good way to start is to go down to your local pool and see if they have group exercises in water. These include water aerobics -- with all the benefits of normal aerobics but low impact.
Once you have found a pool that you wish to swim in and an instructor to keep you afloat, develop a fitness routine around your swimming. Aim to get in the water three times a week (try and pick times when the pool is not too crowded) and supplement your swimming routine with walking, aerobics, or social sports such as tennis.
The longer you swim, the more your endurance and speed will improve. Don't push yourself too much to begin with. Its normal to feel puffed out after a couple of laps -- its also normal to be less than graceful and zigzag all over the lane -- until you find your rhythm.
Once you start swimming, you'll find it addictive and your body will be craving to get into the water and get moving. This is because all elements of the body get a workout in water, while the mind enjoys the rest and being at peace. So pick up a towel and a swimsuit and dive in!
