Ready, set, swim: Seven-year-old lines up with Takapuna Beach ocean swimmers

Richard Murphy with daughters Kyla, 7, left, and Tara, 8. All three will swim in Harcourts Cooper & Co King of the Bays event on Saturday, with Kyla the youngest participant. Photo / Jason Oxenham

She's just 7 years old, but the deep blue holds no fear for the youngest swimmer in Harcourts Cooper & Co King of the Bays ocean swim event, which returns today for the first time in two years.

The central Auckland girl is the youngest participant in the event, the first of seven in the Banana Boat New Zealand Ocean Swim Series.

Kyla will join her father, Richard Murphy, and sister Tara, 8, in the Takapuna Beach event today. Tara and her father are taking part in the 500m swim; Kyla will do the 100m swim.

Kyla, who is home-schooled, spent six months sailing around Tonga last year, so is no stranger to swimming in the ocean, her father said.

Richard Murphy with daughter Kyla, 7, the youngest swimmer in the Harcourts Cooper & Co King of the Bays on Saturday. Photo / Jason Oxenham

Father and daughter trained two or three times a week and what she loved most about swimming was "the feeling of my arms in the water", Kyla said.

Today's event includes the 2.8km swim from Milford to Takapuna and 500m and 1km swims off Takapuna Beach, as well as shorter distances for children. Starts are staggered from 9.10am.

The ocean swim series has been taking place around the country since the early 2000s.