They are known as the Harbord Frigid Frogs, but the Rather Warm Frogs might have been more apt as the South Curl Curl winter swimming club splashed to a season start.
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Making the most of the balmy 22 degree water temperature, it was warmer in the water than out, as 40 swimmers set about their 50-metre heats at the ocean pool as rain pelted much of Sydney on Sunday morning - a soggy close to the unseasonal warmth over April's string of public holidays.
The last day of the long weekend brought with it showers that soaked the city's coastal suburbs, with 8.4 millimetres of rain falling in the city. The temperature was 18 degrees in the city - a contrast to four days ago, when the city basked in unusually warm weather.
Thursday's high of 29.6 degrees in the city was 8 degrees above the late April average and came close to breaking a 28-year autumn record of 29.7 degrees set on Anzac Day in 1986.
Frogs head handicapper Stuart Gain knows all too well that the Pacific will soon lose its soft touch. Mr Gain, 71, has swum throughout the year for almost 40 years. ''In the middle of winter, in July and August, it gets down to 12 to 13 degrees. That's when you know you're alive, because you feel every bone in your body ache for the first lap.''
