Harbour Crossing: Blind athlete follows the crowd

Daniel Holt was thrilled his race time was only just over four minutes more than the winner's. Photo / Sarah Ivey

The planned bullseye yesterday for legally blind Harbour Crossing swimmer Daniel Holt was the Sky Tower - but bad weather meant spotting his target was doubly difficult.

The 18-year-old Albany swimmer was one of 1200 who took part in the first race of the State New Zealand Ocean Swim Series in wintery conditions from Bayswater on the North Shore to the Viaduct Harbour.

Daniel, who went to this year's para world championships, has 6/60 vision, meaning that detail most people can see at 60 feet, he can only see at 6 feet.

He also has a sensitivity to bright lights and both conditions are linked to albinism.

Low-hanging grey cloud in the early morning made sizing up any landmark to guide the freestyler home to the finish tricky.

"When I was swimming my initial plan was to aim for the Sky Tower but it was so much harder today to see it.

"I was constantly looking up going, 'Where's the buoys? I can't see the buoys. Oh there it is - keep going'. I ended up sticking with the group and pacing off them."

Despite that, he was happy with his time of 37 minutes 34 seconds, which didn't put him far off men's winner Codie Grimsey of Australia, who won in 33 minutes 18 seconds.

Transtasman rower Shaun Quincey was happy to have ticked off another crossing on his to-do list.

"I really enjoyed it actually. I'm a bit out of shape but I made it, so happy with that."

But Lord of the Rings actor Bruce Hopkins, 54, who played Gamling, had a harder day in the drink.

He had a late night on Saturday watching his son Joe make his kickboxing professional debut. While his son lost on points, the adrenaline kept his old man up all night, he reckoned.

"I just couldn't settle into a pattern. It was bloody terrible."

Hopkins said he was looking forward to the next event, from Russell to Paihia in December, so he could improve on his 1 hour five minutes.

Race organisers said TVNZ newsreader Peter Williams, who had intended to use the event as a stepping stone for the Port of Tauranga Iron Man in January, had had to pull out in order to cover the Pike River mining crisis on the West Coast.