Ruby Fresh: 5 Things

The things that caught my eye this week

1. A drone. I swam right over a drone a fair way out off the beaten track in Lake Wanaka. I thought I might just leave it there as it must be proper buggered and it ain’t gonna work, no way, but I also thought I can’t leave it there as its going to pollute my lake. Luckily I had my tow buoy. I disconnected, dived down and grabbed it, folded it up and stuffed it into the drybag compartment and carried on my swim feeling quite chuffed.

Here it is back on shore for the Strava post. After drying it out for a couple of days I popped the battery back in, pushed the on button and it works! Now I need to find someone with a controller to see if it will operate before I buy one. Who’s was it? No doubt a tourists’ looking for a cool angle on #thatwanakatree.

But now, under salvage rights, it’s mine.

Have an idea what I could do with it? Let me know using the button below.

2. If you recognise this in any way then you have some UK skate history in you. As do I.

After many years this worthwhile project has come to fruition. Namely, the book about the magazine. Congrats to all those that had a part in finally getting it to print. It has been a long and hard labour of love but something that will be held and cherished by those of ‘a certain age’.

Back in a previous life I was actually the Co-Editor and Ad Manager of this magazine - ‘Read and Destroy’. RAD as it was known. It was the period of its final death throes, at the same time as I was publishing and editing my own UK snowboard magazine. I feature in a section towards the end of the book. I’m quoted in a few places. It was an odd time. Political in a skate sense. I (and my business partner Stig) felt a great pressure to do the best we possibly could as the then custodians of the bastion of UK skate publications. But, for a variety of reasons and skatepolitics, we couldn’t. All the same, I have always felt an honour and privilege to have held the reins at this magazine for that short but troubled period and, by the interventions of the great universe, my part to tell. Interested? Pre-order your copy here.

3. Ruby Island. Where else, like, literally where else anywhere is there an island in a lake that demands you go visit with such perfect attributes. Position. Distance to and around. Year around water temperature. Interesting under-water sights and obstacles. I’ll tell you where… No Where! OK, I’m hugely biased. But his leads me into this particular thought point. Why am I here? How am I here? How do I meet significant people? Are we living in a simulation? When you look at your own particular life, do you ever consider how things present themselves? Now, I’m not getting all religious or anything and I don’t want to go down any such routes, but I do often think how things have panned out. It’s not all been rosy by any means, but I would not change a thing, even the hard times. For they also too have had meaning. I am oft times reminded of the feather in Forest Gump.

“Trust is the opposite of worry”

4. Cold water swimming. I swam in Lake Alta last Saturday with the Queenstown Swim club, the SLSC. Awesome morning. Lake Alta was at 5.5°C Brrrrrrr. I swam for 8 minutes. 387m distance. With a wetsuit. I mean - I make wetsuits, why would I swim without one LOL ! I had cold hands more than anything, and I wish I had done a little more to score 500m, but I didn’t. Hind sight is 20/20. It was a cool morning all in all. Which leads me to the NZ Ice swimming champs 2024. This year in Alexandra, Central Otago. If it’s your thing get your entry in. I will be there in a supporting role. Only.

5. Lastly, as Point Five I want to give a shout out to Matt Barr at Looking Sideways. I am blatantly copying his ‘10 things’ (and more) and it his move into Substack, which I have been looking at for years now, that has given me the inspiration to start my own Substack via my open water swim brand Ruby Fresh. I am still learning. Phew! Its quite hard! If you see this Matt, Thank You.

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