In fact 77 year old Barrie Cribb is such a fan of the pool that if you gave him a dollar for every lap he has swum he would be worth around half a million dollars. That, however, is a paltry figure when you consider he lives in one of the most priceless locations in Australia.
Mr Cribb is the Resident Member of the beachfront Yamba Surf Club and has been swimming in the Yamba ocean pool every day for the past 25 years.
“I swim between one and two kilometres a day in the pool. Mainly it is to keep fit but I enjoy the company of the people that come down here every morning.”
“Probably the most interesting thing that we have ever had in the pool was two weeks ago when we had dolphins in the pool. They had been washed up on Pippi Beach and the National Parks people brought them over and put them in the pool, worked on them all night and when they were safe to take out of the pool they took them out and took them out to sea in the rubber duckie and let them go. We don’t actually know what has happened to them. I think its one of the most rewarding things I’ve seen.”
Being the resident member in the Yamba Surf Club has meant that Mr Cribb has seen the ocean in many different weather conditions but he says cyclone events are the most memorable.
“The waves coming up over the beach and up into the Surf Club, also a lot of the water from the river comes in at the same time and we get foam, massive foam on the beach and at times I’ve seen it go up to the second storey of the surf club. Its just foam and you can’t see a thing, you can’t see the beach for foam. At different times I thought the surf club was going to go because of the huge winds but it’s been there since about 1930 so it has stood the test of time,” Mr Cribb said.
