{"id":435260,"date":"2020-06-11T02:05:17","date_gmt":"2020-06-11T09:05:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=435260"},"modified":"2024-10-28T11:31:33","modified_gmt":"2024-10-28T18:31:33","slug":"bondi-lifesaver-cyril-baldock-and-the-phone-call-to-king-of-the-channel-des-renford-that-changed-his-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/bondi-lifesaver-cyril-baldock-and-the-phone-call-to-king-of-the-channel-des-renford-that-changed-his-life\/","title":{"rendered":"Bondi Lifesaver Cyril Baldock And The Phone Call to “King Of The Channel” Des Renford That Changed His Life"},"content":{"rendered":"

Australia\u2019s two-time English Channel conqueror Cyril Baldock<\/strong> will never forget the day he rang the man they called \u201cThe King Of The Channel\u201d<\/strong><\/em> Des Renford<\/strong> \u2013 a phone call that changed his life forever.<\/p>\n

Baldock, now 76, was this week awarded an OAM in the Queens Birthday Honours List for his services to Surf Life Saving \u2013 an institution in Australian life.<\/p>\n

The phone call to Renford, himself awarded the MBE back in 1977 was made back in 1984, and came after a South Australian swimmer under Renford\u2019s guidance had withdrawn from a planned 1985 Channel attempt.<\/p>\n

\"Cyril

DOUBLE CROSSING: “The King” Des Renford with “The Prince” Cyril Baldock. Photo Courtesy: Sydney Morning Herald Archives.<\/p><\/div>\n

Baldock this week reflected on \u201cthat phone call\u201d and a continuous career of swimming, surf lifesaving and triathlon that has seen him honoured and inducted into the annals of swimming and lifesaving in a country that is steeped in traditions of extraordinary swimming feats.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was an article in the Sydney Daily Telegraph <\/em>back in \u201984 .<\/em>.you wouldn\u2019t believe it\u2026Des was coaching this South Australian swimmer to take on the English Channel the next year and he had pulled out,\u201d recalled Baldock.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I actually knew Des from around the traps in the Eastern Suburbs (of Sydney)\u2026so I rang him and said \u2018Des I need a goal\u2026what do you reckon?\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cSo he said come down to Coogee tomorrow and I\u2019ll have a look at you and the mileage wasn\u2019t much more than I was doing now anyway so I said \u2018Let\u2019s Go!. And I took up the booking (for the crossing) and away we went\u2026\u2019<\/p>\n

Baldock had already spent the first part of his life as a Bondi Lifesaver and a celebrated career on Australia\u2019s most famous stretch of beach.<\/p>\n

\"Bondi

Photo Courtesy: Bondi Surf Bathers Life Saving Club.<\/p><\/div>\n

He was 41 and had been a member of Bondi\u2019s prestigious R and R teams \u2013 under legendary surf-swim coach Harry \u201cSalty\u201d Nightingale <\/strong>\u2013 winning Premiership flags as a junior in 1960 and in 1972 in Harry\u2019s final year in coaching \u2013as part of the Senior Premiership winning team for the first time since 1940, when Nightingale himself was part of the Bondi squad.<\/p>\n

Baldock had been under Harry\u2019s spell for most of his competitive career \u2013 indoctrinated into his culture of \u201cdiscipline, commitment, loyalty and team ship.\u201d<\/p>\n

And when the time came for Baldock to make that phone call to Renford \u2013 he knew deep down he was ready to tackle the biggest challenge of his life \u2013 \u201cSalty\u201d \u2013 the man who guided Pat Norton<\/strong> to the 1936 Berlin Olympics – had seen to that.<\/p>\n

Only four Australians \u2013 1964 Olympian Linda McGill<\/strong>, Manly lifesaver John Koorey,<\/strong> Queensland teen Jenny Anderson<\/strong> and Maroubra\u2019s Channel King himself Renford had ever conquered the English Channel.<\/p>\n

By that stage Renford had made 19 unanswered crossings \u2013 earning his rightful moniker as \u201cThe King.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Cyril

BONDI ICE BREAKER: Cyril Baldock puts the icing on his Channel Crossing preparations with an ice bath. Photo Courtesy: Sydney Morning Herald Archives.<\/p><\/div>\n

Baldock wanted to become the fifth \u2013 come hell or high water and the 27-foot Spring tide that would christen his Channel debut.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had just gone back to swimming and was searching for goals; I had nothing to aim for after suffering a bad ankle injury doing triathlons and I couldn\u2019t do anything; it is so hard to train with no goal,\u201d recalled Baldock.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was enormous to have Des in my corner; he was the man; he was \u201cKing of the Channel\u201d had done it 19 times; Des knew everyone and everything; he had the best pilot; he knew the conditions he just knew it all\u2026and in that day and age it was like having Don Talbot <\/strong>as your coach and not just your brother\u2026!!!<\/p>\n

\u201cI trained in Manly Dam, at Bondi and I broke Des\u2019 record for swimming 50 laps of Bondi Beach which was one of our training swims and I broke his record by an hour and a half a couple of months before we went.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was also swimming with the late Terry Buck<\/strong> (1964 Olympic swimmer and National Head Coach) in his squad at Heffron Park with all the young triathletes (a pool which is now named The Des Renford Aquatic Centre<\/strong>) and also in Clovelly Bay over a 200m course.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we arrived in England I actually swam in the English Long Distance Championships over 21 miles (33 kilometres) and I had already turned 41\u2026and it was two laps of Lake Windermere and I really stuffed myself \u2013 my shoulders were gone \u2013 but I won it and broke the British record for 21 miles\u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cI was lucky enough in some ways that the Channel crossing was put off for a week but it put it into a Spring tide and I still did it in a reasonable time\u2026but it made me think I could do a real good swim one day if I ever got the tide right\u2026<\/p>\n

\"Cyril

BONDI BATHERS: Cyril Baldock braves the Bondi breakers in his famous Bondi bathers. Photo Courtesy: Sydney Morning Herald Archives.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cIt was (amazingly enough) 27 foot between high and low tide\u2026. so the last few miles were tough\u2026. it was an unbelievable amount of water\u2026 I actually travelled 54 kilometres and Des jumped in and swam the last couple of kilometres with me and I could hardly keep up with him\u2026. it was really tough\u2026it was a long way and a little bit of surf but so much water running up and down the Channel.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut when the going gets tough everything is focused on you and that helps keep you motivated not to give in; you have your support crew, the boat captain, you just can\u2019t give up and there is a big difference to racing and swimming from point A to point B than racing\u2026you just have to keep going.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to understand the coastline and the tides, keep hanging in and when the tide changes you just go bang, straight down.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fast-forward almost a decade into 1993 and Baldock was again heading to London for another rendezvous with the Channel.<\/p>\n

This time with a team of \u201cyounger fellas\u201d \u2013 including Renford\u2019s son Michael \u201cMurph\u201d Renford<\/strong> (who would conquer the Channel individually himself in 2007) Baden Green<\/strong> (who had achieved an extraordinary sub-9 hour individual crossing in 1991) and his fellow champion Cronulla lifesavers Peter Tibbitts, Greg Stewart a<\/strong>nd Kevin Nielsen<\/strong> \u2013 with Des Renford as the team manager.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe actually created history with the first four way crossing and it took 43 hours, swimming for an hour every six hours and towards the last few hours the surf got really big.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was 10 years older than the rest of the boys and I was pretty fit but they were all tremendously fit; it was a substantial team and we only just missed the one way record, broke the two and three way records and then created the four way crossing record\u2026it was something else. And a great experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"CYRIL

CHANNEL OUTLOOK: Cyril Baldock plots his Channel course. Photo Courtesy: Cyril Baldock Collection.<\/p><\/div>\n

But Cyril wasn\u2019t done with the Channel just yet\u2026and decided to do another solo crossing in 2014 \u2013 preparing his attempt some four years earlier \u2013 and this time he knew the perfect preparation would see him achieve the milestone as the oldest ever to make the crossing.<\/p>\n

A promise he had made to the legendary Renford, who had died in 1999, revealing that \u201cThe King\u201d himself had planned a 20th<\/sup> crossing that would have seen him become the oldest man to have crossed the channel in a solo swim at 59.<\/p>\n

But he never got the chance to achieve the feat held by another legendary swimming man \u2013 former US Olympic and Indiana Head Coach; the innovative James \u201cDoc\u201d Counsilman<\/strong> who became the oldest in 1977 aged 58.<\/p>\n

\u2018To get a good neat tide\u2026for a good swimmer and to get a good pilot you have to book three years in advance, you have to be organised..although you can\u2019t control the weather\u2026. the weather is still a risk of course\u2026.you may have the perfect tide, the best skipper but the conditions might be that bad you cant go anyway. A real lottery\u2026.,\u201d said Baldock.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen Des dived in and swam with me (in 1985)\u2026he\u2019d had a few heart murmurs and he probably shouldn\u2019t have done it because not long after we came home he had his massive heart attack and he could never swim long distances again.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was one of the few people that knew he planned to do the 20th <\/sup>swim but I made a vow that when I got to an age to become the oldest I\u2019d do it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI said to Des \u2018I know you wanted an Australian to become the oldest so I will\u2019 and eventually it got to that stage and I did make that promise and no one knew and would have known.<\/p>\n

\"CYRIL

SOLO CROSSING: Cyril Baldock alone in the Channel. Photo Courtesy: Cyril Baldock Collection.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u2018I rang young \u2018Murph\u2019 and said you don\u2019t know about this but I made this promise to your father\u2026and other than that I\u2019d like to do it and so ‘Murph’ said you\u2019ve got my full support and I\u2019ll come with you\u2026. I trained for three half hard years then and made my second crossing, this time from England to France.\u201d<\/p>\n

Baldock was 71 and became the oldest swimmer to make the Crossing (a record that has since been broken).<\/p>\n

He is now 76 and is he done yet?<\/p>\n

\u201cI haven\u2019t given up on it. I may, you never know, \u201csaid Baldock.<\/p>\n

A man thankful to Harry Nightingale and Des Renford, a man who last week was also bestowed the honour as the Patron of his beloved Bondi Surf Bathers Life Saving Club.<\/p>\n

Marking 60 years since he won that first major R and R title in big seas off Newcastle\u2019s Merewether Beach in 1960….nnd you get the feeling Cycil Baldock ain\u2019t done with..yet.<\/p>\n

\"CYCRIL

DRAPED IN GLORY: Proud Australian Cyril Baldock wrapped in the Aussie flag. Photo Courtesy: Cyril Baldock Collection.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Australia\u2019s two-time English Channel conqueror Cyril Baldock will never forget the day he rang the man they called \u201cThe King Of The Channel\u201d Des Renford \u2013 a phone call that<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7938,"featured_media":435266,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3,122075],"tags":[123704,123707,42873,4818,1227,166,62185,16038,123706,25210,123711,123710,40924,123709,123713,123708,16035,14593,123712],"class_list":["post-435260","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-oceania","tag-baden-green","tag-bondi-surf-bathers-life-saving-club","tag-cyril-baldock","tag-des-renford","tag-don-talbot","tag-english-channel","tag-english-channel-crossing","tag-greg-stewart","tag-harry-nightingale","tag-james-counsilman","tag-jenny-anderson","tag-john-koorey","tag-kevin-nielsen","tag-linda-mcgill","tag-michael-renford","tag-pat-norton","tag-peter-tibbitts","tag-terry-buck","tag-the-des-renford-aquatic-centre"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\r\nBondi Lifesaver Cyril Baldock And The Phone Call to "King Of The Channel" Des Renford That Changed His Life - 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