Swimmers ready for ocean splash

A record field of more than 1400 swimmers will take to the waters this Sunday morning for the annual 3.6km swim around the Busselton Jetty.

Committee member Steve Crenfeldt said organisers were pleased with this year’s numbers and hoped for some fine weather on the day.

Among the thousands of competitors will be first-time Busselton Jetty entrant Lucy Hutchinson and boyfriend Jarryd Heldt, as a team of two.

Hutchinson said this weekend’s swim would be her first attempt at an ocean swim, a practice run before she tackles the Rottnest Channel Swim in a four-person team at the end of the month.

“I’m doing the Rotto swim with three other girls who I went to high school with,” she said.

“We watched it last year while holidaying in Rotto and decided we would give it a go this time.”

However, Hutchinson said she believed the Busselton Jetty Swim would prove to be a tougher challenge.

“With the Rotto swim, we swim 5km each, but we can break that up into smaller distances, but with the Jetty swim I have to swim 1.8km straight,” she said.

“I’m a little nervous about this but it will give me an idea of where I am at when I finish the (Jetty) swim.”

Hutchinson said she had been training since October at the pool, but had a mishap at her first trial.

“We did a trial run last week and got attacked by jellyfish,” she said.

“So we’re hoping for some calm conditions on Sunday and no stingers.”

Jetty swim festivities will take place over two days at the weekend.