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 - St Johns Church Bega
The first LifeSaving Energy Big Swim for 2009 will be the Brogo Dam LSE Big Swim on 8/2/09. The swim will start at the Dam boat ramp, and will be a 7 km event around an out and back course. The swim will start at 0830 hrs with a race briefing at 0730. All swimmers must be accompanied by a paddler, and entry is by donation. The swim is to raise money for solar panels for the Bega St Johns Church. The swim needs to raise about $12 500.
 - The Jindabyne Rural Fire Station
Second on the Big Swim list for 2009 will be the Jindabyne LifeSaving Energy Big Swim on th 22/2/08. This will be a 7 km swim from Kalkite to Jindabyne, starting at 0800 hrs. Entry fee will be by donation and sponsorship. There will be a shorter 1500m swim starting and finishing at the Strezlecki Monument at 0900 hrs. The event will be raising money for solar panels for the jindabyne Rural Fire Station.
The LifeSaving Energy Big swim series for 2008 was a huge success. Four swims were held, each of 7km, and a total of $60000 was made. With the support of Bega Valley and Eurobodalla councils (dollar for dollar funding with community money for renewable energy for surf clubs) we will have 6 surf clubs set up with renewable energy, and wind turbines on 2 schools. Whilst this may not do a huge amount to reduce emissions on its own, it is certainly changing attitudes. The communities of SE NSW have strongly supported this campaign, and people have enjoyed doing something so positive about climate change.
The LifeSaving Energy Big Swim series will run again next year. We again plan to hold the Jindabyne, Narooma, Moruya River and Bega River Big Swims. The money made in next years swims will probably be directed towards our community owned solar farms.
We plan a couple of extra swims, depending on enthusiasm. There will be a 7km swim in the Brogo Dam to raise money for the Anglican Church in Bega. We also plan a swim from Merimbula wharf to the Pambula surf club to raise money for a wind turbine for the Pambula surf club.
All going well, we might finish off the 2009 season with a swim in Lake Burley Griffin to raise money for solar panels for The Lodge. That event will depend on generating some enthusiasm in Canberra.
Matthew Nott
Photos of all the 2008 swims can be seen in the Gallery section.
 - Go Dave Corbett
The last race in the current LifeSaving Energy Big Swim series was held in the Bega River on Sunday 8/6/08. It was cold and overcast, and was certainly the toughest event in the series. The 7 km swim was completed by all 8 entrants, and nearly $8000 was made for a wind turbine for the Tathra primary school. We have another $2000 to go.
The swimmers were accompanied by Kayakers, surf boats from Tathra and Pambula surf clubs, and Dragon Boats from Zen and Saphire Coast.... As always we had huge support from the Tathra surf club.
Many thanks to Drs Gabe Khouri and Duncan MacKinnon who were on hand for the for the kiss of life. Thanks also to all those that supported this event. Tathra Beach and Bike donated an electric bike for raffle. It was drawn last month and won by a woman from Canberra. Pyramid Power have donated a solar hot water service, and we will continue to raffle that great prize until the end of the month.Thanks to Tathra Pharmacy, Toyota in Bega, and Tathra Beach Holiday Park....
Local artists helped us to raise over $2000 at an art auction at the Tathra Community Hall last April.
Thanks mostly to the literally thousands of people who donated small and large amounts to get a wind turbine onto the roof of the Tathra primary school. We are almost there.
Matthew Nott
 - Click here to go to Moruya Swim Gallery
Just swimmingly, that’s how organisers described Saturday’s Moruya River Swim and Paddle, a fundraising event to install renewable energy at Moruya and Broulee Surfers Surf Life Saving Clubs.
“The water might have been cold but the community effort was not. It was red hot. We had higher than expected participation with over 120 entrants, 16 teams and very generous sponsorship of nearly $12000 (and rising) – it really was a terrific community activity” said Dr Tim Shepherd of Moruya Surf Life Saving Club.
Some particularly hardy swimmers, led by Clean Energy for Eternity’s founder Matthew Nott, started at 8.20 am at the Moruya River mouth and swam the whole 6.8km to the town wharf. Sascha Saharov of Mossy Point fairly skimmed along completing the tide assisted course in 1 hour 28 minutes.
A dragon boat, two surf boats, a canoe paddled by a bride and bridesmaid, a surf ski piloted by a dog along with some reasonably normal paddlers began the 1.5km paddle from the Silo at 9.30am. Pace setters included Dennis Pont in his spider infested kayak, Karen and Tony Hackett in their double kayak and Chris Nicholson on his board.
The main swim started at 10am with Guy Tresize leading the way to the town wharf.
Entrants were warmed with hot drinks and food from Rotary once they crossed the line while MC Greg Malavey kept the crowd of spectators entertained with his gentle bagging of the better known participants, referring at one stage to a local doctor’s family as a “herd of wet shepherds”.
The Thomas Family Awesome Foursome won the prize for the team with the most sponsorship with Gordon Hughes and Ali Simmons collecting the individual awards. Lucky draw participation prizes went to Ann Herbert, Anna Simmons, Combined Elements and Michael Overend.
“Our community showed that it cares about climate change” said Gabi Harding of Clean Energy for Eternity which joined the surf clubs in organizing the event. . “Our aim is to install renewable energy in all surf clubs in the Shire and send an important message to the wider community about the need to address climate change. The Federal Government and the Eurobodalla Shire have promised funding assistance but it all depends on solid community support and Saturday showed that we’ve got it.”
The organisers are hoping that late sponsorship donations will augment the funds raised to the target of $15000. Gabi Harding can be contacted on ph 44744318 for sponsorship details.
Major sponsors for the event included: Dallas Smart, Moruya Mowers and Chainsaws, Whistler Radiology, Ian Russell Toyota, All Things Garden, Moruya Gallery and Gifts, Vulcan Street Pharmacy, Ballards Pharmacy, Adelaide Hotel, Air Raid Hotel, Monarch Hotel, Mordek, Waterfront Hotel, Marie McNeil, Broulee Supermarket, Queen Street Medical Centre, Les Roberts-Thomson, Batemans Bay Carwash, Camerons Timber and Hardware, Rick and Ros Rossiter, Batemans Bay First National Bank, Husband Plumbing, & Catalina Country club
Major supporters included: Rotary, St John Ambulance, Moruya River Boat Shed, Marshalls Bus Company, Bay Post/Moruya Examiner, Rex Airlines, 2EC/Power FM, ABC South East radio, Southlands Fruit and Vegetables, Eurobodalla Botanic Gardens & Tomakin General Store.
 - Start of the 7km Narooma LifeSaving Energy Big Swim (photo by Lewis Nott)
On Sunday 20/4/08, the Narooma LifeSaving Big Swim was held in cool conditions on the Wagonga Inlet, with 7 and 2km swims. About 100 swimmers competed, and the event has raised enough money to start getting renewable energy installed onto surf clubs. It may take a few weeks to work out how much money was made on the day, but generous support from the National Australia Bank and Tathra Beach and Bike insured that this event was always going to be a success. This was a collaborative effort between CEFE, the Narooma and Bermagui surf clubs, and the Narooma swim club, and thanks to all who contributed to the smooth running of this event. Well done to the Narooma surf club for wading through the mountain of paper work that is a part of events like these, and for providing water safety on the day.
Matthew Nott
The Narooma LifeSaving Energy Big Swim
After the success of the Jindabyne Big Swim, there is growing interest in the Narooma LifeSaving Energy Big Swim, to be held in the Wagonga Inlet on 20/4/08. Here is the plan: The 7km swim will start at Taylor's fish and chip shop in Narooma at 8am on Sunday 20/4. Entrants will swim into the bay, around a bouy that will be clearly marked, then down the Wagonga Inlet (with the tide) to finish at Little Bar Beach. There is no entry fee, but swimmers will be asked to look for sponsorship, to go towards funding renewable energy for the Narooma and Bermagui surf clubs. A 2km swim will be held on the same day, starting from the bridge, and finishing at Little Bar Beach. Swimming with the tide will make this swim a quick one. An entry fee for the shorter swim will be asked for.
There will be a surf boat race starting at 1200hrs, following the 7km swim course.
Water safety will be provided by the Narooma and Bermagui surf clubs, and there will be live music at the finish.
How much money does this swim need to raise?
We get an $8000 AGO rebate, and the Bega Valley and Eurobodalla councils have agreed to fund LifeSaving Energy dollar for dollar with community donations. The Narooma and Bermagui surf clubs have already started fundraising.
If you put that all together, if we can raise about $8000 with this swim, then we get the Bermagui and Narooma surf clubs set up with renewable energy. We get solar panels and a wind turbine onto the roof of the Narooma surf club in June, and we wait for Bermagui to get a clubhouse. We can instal the renewable energy at Bermagui as a free standing set up, on the site of the surf club, and it can immediately start saving money for the Bermi club.
This swim is also looking to raise some much needed funding for the Narooma swimming club. The swim club are an intergral part of this event, which is evolving into a stong partnership between Clean Energy For Eternity and the surf clubs of SE NSW.
The Jindabyne LifeSaving Energy Big Swim raised nearly $20000 for the Jindy surf club, and renewable energy will be installed on the roof of the surf club on 3/5/08.
The next LSE Big Swim will be in the Moruya River (another 7km swim) on 11/5. This will be to raise money for the Moruya and Broulee surf clubs. Both surf clubs are well underway with fundraising. This event will be open to experienced swimmers only.
Matthew Nott
The first LifeSaving Energy Big Swim was held on Lake Jindabyne in perfect conditions on 10/2/08. 20 swimmers swam the 7 km from Kalkite to Jindabyne, raising an impressive $20000, to install 2 kWatt
worth of solar photovoltaic cells and a 400 W wind turbine on the roof of the Jindabyne surf club. The next LifeSaving Energy Big Swim will be held on the Wagonga Inlet in Narooma to raise money for the Narooma and Bermagui surf clubs. After that, a swim in the Moruya River to raise money for renewable energy for the Moruya and Broulee surf clubs. All swims will be 7 km in length, 7 km for 7 surf clubs in SE NSW. Stay tuned for more events.
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