Ritchie's Groynes

Meet Ritchie Watson. He’s wearing this summer’s latest fashion in men’s swimwear, the ripped-zip-Borat-look with plunging neckline. Ritchie Watson loves swimming ... especially between the groynes.  

Ritchie’s Groynes, the manmade rocky outcrops at the northern tip of Omaha Beach, are spaced a convenient 210 metres apart – perfect for ocean laps in all tides, sheltered from winds and currents. The seawalls were erected in the seventies to stabilise and protect the spit from coastal erosion, and thanks to the building of a pest-proof fence in 2012, they also preserve the habitat of the threatened native dotterels and fairy terns that nest there. Hence, dear swimmers, there’s to be no shenanigans in the groyne area.

To try out Ritchie’s Groynes, park at the northern end of Omaha Drive and enter through the pest-proof gate. You may be in luck. The legend himself might just join you.

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Published: Junction Magazine, February 2017

Words and photo: Kaye Mueller