As the committee is keen to maintain the continuity of your swimming and team spirit, a temporary alternative is listed below and it is sincerely hoped that you will all consider joining your team at these suggested times.

There is a great opportunity to continue our swimming at Medina Leisure Centre in early morning lane swimming sessions On Tuesdays and Thursdays these commence at 7.45 am until 9.00am. There are two lanes in the pool -fast and medium, which will easily accommodate a few more swimmers, in addition to the rest of the pool. These are the sessions where it is expected that most Marlins members will attend if you want to ensure that you swim with other club members. Cost is £3.15 unless you are a holder of a One Card.

There are also two lanes in at lunchtime and from 4.30pm -7.00pm although you may find that there are few if any Marlins members at this session.

Both these sessions are highly recommended. Weekdays only.

Waterside pool also has early morning lane sessions from 6.30am Monday, Wednesday and Friday only, and from 9.00am on Sunday. Cost £4. Since setting up the Waterside Community Trust to run the pool, they need all the support they can get.

The Committee sincerely hopes that we can keep some club cohesion going, especially as we are hosting a Masters Meet this year at Medina pool in February.

Ruth was delighted to receive the award “It is a great honour. I have to express my thanks to my swimming friends for all their support and particular thanks to Rebecca Wills for getting me into open water swimming. Without her, I would not have contemplated ‘swimming’ in the sea at all. And, to Ian Butler for all his coaching and patience in helping me overcome my fear of cold, deep, open water and swimming at night. I am now looking forward to new challenges in 2012″.

Jane is passionate about making swimming fun for people of all ages. She continues to teach swimming to children but also travels the world inspiring older swimmers to learn new techniques that help them to maintain their performance.

Wight Marlins Club President Joan Kidd, 84, said “Jane is one of the truly great masters swimmers. We were delighted that she agreed to hold her clinic at one of our regular club sessions at The Heights. I have competed with Jane at many international events and she always takes time to encourage swimmers of all ages and abilities. She believes it’s one of the very best ways for anyone to keep fit and get the most out of life.”

Jane Asher was invited to become a member of the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 2006. For more information about Jane, including a short film of her swimming career, please click here.

Three, Jane Dodd, Jenny Ball and Tom Rooney have signed up for the British Gas 2011 One Mile Great East Swim. Jane and Jenny had enjoyed this event in 2010 but were the thousands of disappointed entrants in the Great North Swim last September, when Green blue algae in Lake Windermere, caused the cancellation of the 2010 event.

Having raised nearly £300 in support of Cerebral Palsy Sport for the swim, in car boot sales, garden parties and sponsorship, Jane and Jenny swum their One Mile in Sandown Bay rather let the event pass them by completely!

Two intrepid club swimmers joined a team to take part in the Cold Water Championships at Tooting Bec Lido in January. In a water temperature of just over 3 degrees centigrade, Ruth Carroll and Rebecca Wills swam their 30m. leg of the race.

Both had been regularly taking a dip at Shanklin in the sea throughout the winter months to accustomise themselves to this temperature, with a positive result for their perseverance – brrrrr!

At the very successful Christmas Charity Swim at Gurnard, arranged by the staff of the Little Gloster Restaurant, three hardy Marlins took the dip, with Michelle Lock taking third prize in the freezing waters over a 300 metre distance.

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The first competitive, indoor competition of the year was the South East Region Masters Long Course (50m. pool) at Crawley. Jenny, being one of only two ladies in the 70-74 years age group, won 7 of her events and gained a sliver medal in the eighth. Old ladies are prone to falls and unfortunately two had had this misfortune just prior to the event, thus depleting the opposition! Nevertheless Jenny was pleased with her times in 800, 400, 200 and 100 freestyle and 50, 100 and 200m backstroke.

With no Isle of Wight Masters meet this year, our next events include the Royal Navy meet at Millfield School in Somerset and Guernsey Open Masters. Weather permitting, Duncan Heenan and Gordon Osborne will sail there to the Channel Island!

The Marlins Club plan to enter two teams, as last year, in the Sandown Lions Charity Swimarathon at the Heights on Saturday April 2nd. Each team of 5 or 6 people swims for 55 minutes, all swimmers completing a two length lap in turn, aiming to complete the most in that time. Last year we won the 16+ years team!

Duncan 50-64 years age group, swam 400, 200 and 100m freestyle events, winning two silver and a bronze medal. In the two breaststroke events, he took bronze and in 50m butterfly probably swam his best time, winning another silver medal.

Rosemary 70-74 years,swam steadily throughout the weekend winning four silvers in back and breaststrokes and three bronze in 400, 200 and 100 freestyle events.

Jenny also 70- 74 years, won golds in all but one of her ten events, the silver being in 50 freestyle.

The weekend concludes with a Sunday lunch at one of the Island’s premier hotels, after which everyone takes to the beach at Cobo Bay, where several intrepid swimmers take an icy dip in the sea!

This, his 20th meet as promoter, was the last for John Eyre, who retires and hands the organization to Pauline Hogg. Both will be coming to the Isle of Wight to join the team of officials for the swimming event at the Island Games in June.

In the freestyle race, Stuart Symonds, Ruth Carroll, Fiona Seymour and Richard Slater, were ten seconds ahead of the second placed Royal Navy team in a time of 1.59.59. In the Medley Fiona, Stuart, Richard and Jenny Ball set a new meet record of 2.26.03 beating the existing one by 1.44 seconds.

Two swimmers Fiona Seymour and Richard Slater, had been past pupils at the school but had not enjoyed such excellent facilities for swimming as those now in place there. Nevertheless, memories flooded back!

Other successes were enjoyed by Kim Holmes in the 25-29 years age group with personal best times of 32.02 in 50m freestyle and 39.63 for 50m backstroke.

Jenny Ball won a cut glass goblet for most points in the ladies’ 70-74 years age group, having set a new meet record for the 100m. backstroke of 1.56.30 along the way.

Overall the team of six swimmers was placed a very creditable 13th out of 48 clubs.

Several club members who have known and swum in the pool and the sea, with Charles for many years, enjoyed a lovely buffet lunch with Charles and his family.

The party was a complete surprise to Charles, his family having kept the secret very well! Charles seemed to enjoy the fun, the wonderful refreshments and of course a birthday cake with 90 candles!

His swimming career started when he served in the Royal Navy and is not finished yet!. Charles loves the sea and swims near his home at Ryde whenever he can.

He is the oldest to swim the Solent at 84 years, and held the trophy for the oldest swimmer in the “Pier to Pier” (Sandown to Shanklin) race for many years. He has won the ASA Half Hour Postal swim may times, and holds records for the 80+ years age group in the BLDSA Hour Postal Swim and the 5K Swimathon.

We miss Charles at the Heights’ Masters training sessions now he no longer drives and buses are not convenient in the early mornings, so he swims at the Ryde pool.

Our love and best wishes to Charles and his wife Doreen.

Jenny 72, is now the oldest female swimmer recorded by the Solent Swimming Club to do the crossing. The previous age record being held by Vivienne Cherriman when she was 70. Vivienne, remembered by many, was the founder of the Masters swimming on the Island and holder of many Masters records. This was Jenny’s sixth crossing in the last 12 years. The oldest male swimmers to swim the Solent are also members of the Marlins club, Charles Ambler from Ryde, when he was 80 and Barney Miller at 77.

Setting out by open boat from Brading Haven Yacht Club, piloted by Gordon Osborne MBE, who was in constant contact with the Queen’s Harbourmaster, Portsmouth and the Port Authority, Southampton, the swim started from Ryde Sands. The three and a half miles to Southsea Memorial was completed in 2 hours 28 minutes, slowed a little by the prevailing wind.

Accompanied by Mike Hardy in canoe, Jenny was joined in the water over the last mile of the swim, by Jane Dodd, herself a cross Solent swimmer and who provided a boost of enthusiasm for Jenny. The pebbly, seaweed strewn beach at Southsea never felt so good under Jenny’s feet!

An increasingly strong wind made the return crossing to Brading Haven Yacht Club a very sloppy trip, soaking the two swimmers and their gallant canoeist for the second time, only this time fully clothed!

A total of over £200 has been raised for Ryde Inshore Rescue through very generous sponsorship, most from regular customers at the Heights Leisure Centre where Jenny trains.

A huge thank you to all these people.

This year there was a record number of swimmers and out of the 126 who had entered 124 made it to registration.However out of these due to unforeseen circumstances, two had to drop out before the start.

The swim took place on the weekend between Sandown Regatta and Shanklin Regatta which meant that it attracted a substantial number of spectators at both the start and the finish. There was a beautiful sunny blue sky and a calm sea making perfect conditions when 122 swimmers took to the water.

As usual, to avoid congestion at the first turning mark, the men started 2 minutes ahead of the ladies. The first two swimmers to complete the 1¾ mile course and land at Shanklin Rowing club, near where the old Shanklin Pier used to stand were Peter Dixon of Bethnal Green Sharks swimming club in a time of 29mins 31secs and Ben Pennington of Spencer Swim Team in a time of 29 mins and 33 secs. Peter Dixon narrowly beat Ben Pennington in an exciting finish where Ben unfortunately tripped up in the run up beach to the finishing line.

The first lady was Rosemary Guard who crossed the line in a time of 31mins 01secs and as Rosemary is an Isle of Wight Lady she was awarded both the trophy for fastest lady and fastest Isle of Wight lady.

The first Island man to finish was Gary Kurth in a time of 34mins 02secs. The oldest competitor taking part was Barney Miller, aged 81 of the Isle of Wight Marlins Swim Club and he finished in a time of 53mins 37secs. The 122nd and last swimmer safely made the finish line in 57mins 39secs.

On finishing all swimmers were given hot soup, a bread roll and a Mini Mars bar. The swim was supported by Sandown Lifeboat who acted as the control boat and Ryde Inshore Rescue. In addition Shanklin Deep Sea Angling Club provided 8 boats and close swimmer support was provided by 29 local Kayakers led by Adrian Brown. The British Red Cross were in attendance but their services were only required for one minor case of medical assistance.

Results for this year’s swim are available here.

Final Results
Results – Overall Year Groups
Results – Female Year Groups
Results – Male Year Groups