With transitiion opening at 530 ,I thought my late start at 0610 was going to be a problem bot soon discovered the laid back atmosphere compared to  triathlon . After setting up transition and getting the boat to the beach we waited. patiently on the beach. We had step back from our craft for a short run . There was enough surf to make things interesting . I held water watching a larger set go through as the tandem beside me capsized ,next thing an out of control ski that has got side on nearly takes me out . Into the moderate souwester it slow going , faster when we turn , 3 laps of a triangular course ,I am lapped by the leader but am about to lap the tail of the field when I reach the last buoy. I let a large set pass under and safely surf in on a small wave . The bike starts on sand then climbs up the great ocean walk on wide trail before we turn onto the single track. A lot of it is flowy enough but I find my concentration waning on the downhill and am dismounting on some of the difficult stuff ,I am soon having to let riders past . Climbing up past a guy on wide section ,who then follows me reach an intersection no arrows or tapes . We double back and find the tapes we’d missed , it was odd there was no arrow to direct us on what was a U turn , the rest of t he course was really well marked. I manage to negotiate the last single track descent with ruts everywhere to my surprise with some success . On to the run I soon have to learn a new race technique. We have to crawl under the bridge! The run continues along bush tracks with quite a hill in the middle . It crosses the wooden bridges in the wetland before following the river back to town . After crawling under the bridge again I am running te last kilometre pretty well ,and Lil is there to snap a pic as I cross through the water and she runs with me across the line . All in all a fun well run laid back event .