Anne Henshaw – ocean swimmer
I am a passionate ocean swimmer and a committed surf lifesaver.
I do almost all of my ocean swimming at Cabbage Tree Bay, Manly with the Bold and Beautiful Swim Squad. I never thought I'd be excited to see a shark, but there are several small species in Cabbage Tree Bay at different times of the year. It's an aquatic reserve so all the fish are pretty relaxed around humans but it's still a wilderness and you have to respect the inhabitants.
Last year I swam off the Costa Brava on North-Eastern Spain along with a quick dip off the Algarve Coast of Portugal. The Costa Brava trip took in a border crossing (we swam from Cerbere in France to Portbou in Spain) cave swimming and gorgeous secret beaches. I also had a brief ocean swimming holiday in Bali and the Gili Islands last year with some of my fellow Bold and Beautiful swimmers.
The year before I went to Tonga to swim with humpback whales – a genuine bucket-list experience.
This year I'm going to New Zealand for the Cathedral Cove ocean swim on the Coromandel coast of the North Island. Also on the list are Heron Island and the Yasawas in Fiji, but really Cabbage Tree Bay has it all.
What do you get out of surf lifesaving?
It was always something that interested me from a young age, but I fell into it – ran into a gym buddy at the beach just over 10 years ago and he was there to sign up to do the Bronze Medallion training course at Dee Why Surf Club and suggested I join up too.
The most fun part is interacting with families and tourist groups. Tourists often ask for selfies with us, and young children are fascinated with the 4WD and the IRB – inflatable rescue boat (aka the duck). We let the little kids climb all over them while they are stationary and on land and it can keep them occupied for quite a while.
Does it require mental toughness?
For me, ocean swimming is fun and a passion and it doesn't require any mental toughness at all. It makes me happy. What it does require is a realistic understanding of my skills and abilities so that I don't take any stupid risks.
With surf lifesaving, putting yourself in a situation where you may be exposed to critical situations gives you a level of mental stamina I guess, as well as a different perspective on what we commonly call First World problems. Once you've called five ambulances in four hours, comforted a parent whose child has gone missing on the beach and kept a couple calm after calling an ambulance when one of them has reported chest pains, it doesn't matter at all if the supermarket has run out of my favourite yoghurt.
What advice would you give someone who wanted to try something new?
Ocean swimming has given me so much – fun, fitness, friends and a new skill (underwater photography), while I have had so much personal growth through surf lifesaving which I fell into by accident. What would I say to someone presented with the opportunity to try something new? I'd say definitely grab that opportunity, you don't know what will happen.
– Anne Henshaw is a senior service manager (problem management) at Westpac
Above: Anne Henshaw doing what she loves; beach patrol at Dee Why.
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