Readers of Swimwatch would be surprised at the people we meet who, “Never read Swimwatch.” The same thought is expressed in a variety of ways, “I glanced at it once.” “Someone told me about it.” “A friend had it on their computer.” Perhaps Swimwatch needs to be delivered in a plain brown envelope. At least that’s the way it seems sometimes.

Napier’s Mayor, Barbara Arnott was a real dag. At a meeting in her office she insisted she never read Swimwatch and immediately deleted the weekly emails. Why she didn’t just ask for her name to be taken off the mailing list beggars belief. Anyway, she lectured us on the error of our ways with information that exhibited a very good grasp of things Swimwatch. Sufficiently good that we had forgotten some of the stuff she remembered.

Another Napier family asked for their name to be deleted from the Swimwatch mailing list in the sites first week. The tone of their message left the clear impression that families who live on Napier Hill and have the Cathedral as their place of worship don’t allow Swimwatch in their home. The funny thing is the computer at the husband’s office has a distinctive host name and is always among the sites top ten readers – since January it has averaged 150 hits per month.

Dean Kent claimed he never read Swimwatch but was faster than Billy the Kid to draw his pen when a mild mention of his name disturbed his sensitive side.

An Auckland swimming official told us there are those who hate the site, those who love it and those who say they have never heard of it – yeah right. Among the haters, we were told is Jo Davidson. Of course that’s not surprising. However in an effort to build bridges Jo may like to visit the following site http://www.fina.org/swimrules_7.html – provided by Swimwatch for her exclusive reference.

In a very small way the site reminds us of the tradition that surrounds Shortland Street and Coronation Street. They are two of the most successful soaps in New Zealand or world history respectively and just about everybody denies watching them. You will not find the worthies of St Johns Presbyterian Church in Willis St discussing Victor Kahu’s new girlfriend. Whether Steve should bonk Gail Plat is not main stream conversation at Marsden Collegiate School. The Manager of the Swimgym in Hastings’ life was made a misery after he admitted enjoying Coronation Street so much he avoided social engagements on Tuesday or Thursday evenings. Like spitting, or farting in public, watching Coronation or Shortland Streets or reading Swimwatch are things nice people just do not do.

Do you realize the fact you are reading this now will terminate instantly your membership of the Round Table, the Republican Party, Rotary and Lions. New Zealand’s ACT Member of Parliament Steven Franks would own up to reading Swimwatch, but then he was the only MP honest enough to admit he’d looked at a couple of porn sites. I bet no one at SPARC would admit to reading Swimwatch. We tell you what. If they do we will publish their letter and our apology as the “Email of the Week” – but we bet it never happens legitimately.

Swimwatch is like cigarettes and booze – addictive, we hope, but more than that. You see, doctors must be amused at the number of people who smoke, “Less than five a day” or who only have “A couple of drinks after work.” We knew the Chairman of a large New Zealand export company who could murder a bottle of gin and still described himself as a social drinker. Well, just like him, we know heaps of “social” readers of Swimwatch.

With all these people not reading Swimwatch you are left to ponder where the more than quarter of a million hits in the six months since the site began have come from. We know the monthly readership has doubled and changed. In the beginning more than 90% of readers came from New Zealand. Now it’s only 50%. Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom have emerged as other major readers. The list of smaller readers’ home countries is diverse and interesting – Egypt, Austria, India, Russia and Spain. Each month Swimwatch’s readers come from over 30 countries.

Swimwatch was founded as a fun thing to do and as a vehicle to comment on swimming topics. It is still both these things. We are pleased a number of you enjoy sharing the experience. If we have one regret we would have hoped to see the number of contributors grow more than it has. People like the mother who was concerned about the number of practice sessions her children were being asked to swim or Neil Tonkin’s papers on SPARC are important. They represent Swimwatch’s founding purpose. So if you have a view on something in swimming, type it out and email it to us. You may want something changed or someone praised. You may even want Swimwatch closed down. It may not happen but swimming will be a better place for hearing your views.

- Swimwatch Team

Have your say NOW! email: democracy@swimwatch.co.nz