Ashes go on State Paihia Classic ocean swim

As a kid, Bruce Hopkins used to stare across from his home in Russell over to Paihia and dream of swimming across the stretch of water one day.

When the former Lord of the Rings actor heard about the State Paihia Classic 3.3km ocean swim last year, he jumped at the chance to take part in it and fulfilled his childhood wish.

Hopkins hoped his big brother Doug might join him but his brother had said he was too busy to train, and that he may do it this year.

"Plus Doug said he'd already done the swim years ago - well nearly.

"He and a handful of kids decided to swim to Paihia from our place in Russell one day during the '60s, when Doug was about 13. They got halfway and someone had spotted them and pulled them on to a boat ... but Doug reckoned they would have made it the whole way if they kept going," Hopkins said.

Tragically, this year Doug passed away from a sudden aneurism, aged 59.

Doug Hopkins was a hugely gifted athlete.

When the Hopkins family moved from Russell to Auckland in the late '60s, the brothers and their two sisters, Linley and Wanda, attended Takapuna Grammar. At school, Doug represented Auckland in athletics, rugby, surf lifesaving and waterpolo.

He made the New Zealand Schoolboys Waterpolo team and he was also the NZ junior belt swimming champion in surf lifesaving.

Following school, Doug Hopkins concentrated on rugby, and the prop clocked up 165 games for North Shore Rugby Club's top grade, despite spending five years away playing club rugby in Europe.

"He was one of the first players to head to France [in 1976] back when rugby was in its semi-professional era.

"He was picked in the All France team one week. At his funeral his former French clubmates sent an email which said, 'He transformed the way props played rugby in France'."

"He would have been 60 on the day of the Rugby World Cup final. It would have been his dream final ... he definitely would have wanted the All Blacks to win over France," Hopkins added.

Following the death of his big brother whom he had looked up to, the 56-year-old made a pledge to swim tomorrow's Paihia Classic carrying Doug's ashes, so the brothers could complete the swim together.

Auckland-based Hopkins, who has his own business Action Actors that finds interim jobs for unemployed actors, has completed several of the Ocean Series swims in the past few years, including last month's Auckland Harbour Crossing. "I swim without a wetsuit because our mother, who lives in Houhora, swims every day of the year in Houhora Harbour without a wetsuit ... so when my pool pass ran out one day I thought I'd start swimming in the ocean instead without a wetsuit. If it's good enough for Mum, it's good enough for me," he said.

Because most ocean swimmers wear wetsuits, Hopkins has won his age group (55-59) for the non-wetsuit category at several of the events. But this year, swimming without a suit has posed a small problem.

"I've been searching everywhere to find a waterproof container to put some of Doug's ashes in, small enough to tuck into my togs ... I haven't found one yet but I'm sure I will find something. I don't want to go bloody diving for Doug's ashes in the middle of the ocean," he quipped.

Reaching the Paihia shore will be a special moment for Hopkins, he reckoned. "I would have honoured the little pledge I made to myself and Doug," he said.