Thomas Hay, Ebony Ebenwaldner win opening leg of Shipwreck Coast Swim Series at Port Fairy

The 21-year-old won the open men's Port Fairy leg of the Shipwreck series on Monday - the first of four ocean swims in the iconic summer event across the south-west.

It is the fourth time in five attempts he has won the Port Fairy leg of the swim.

He won the 1.2 kilometre race with an impressive time of 13:34, ahead of Cooper Sutherland and James Morrow.

"It was a great swim, I really enjoyed it, the conditions were really good which helped," he told The Standard.

"I usually only swim the first leg because it's perfect preparations for Lorne Pier to Pub (on January 14). It's the same distance, got a running finish so it's a great lead-in. I'm happy with the result.

"I enjoy the swim a lot, so I just keep doing it. I felt good in the water, it was much calmer than it normal is, there's usually a chop but it was almost like a pool.

"I don't look behind when I'm racing, I was just focusing on my own race tactics. I was pleased to get a strong time."

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Ballarat's Ebony Ebenwaldner won the open women's section at Port Fairy again, narrowly holding off Sofia Piaia and Lila McNamara.

Similar to Hay, the Port Fairy swim has been a happy hunting ground for the experienced campaigner who looks forward to the event every year as preparation for Lorne Pier to Pub.

She said she really enjoyed the race and getting out onto the water.

"Every race is different based on the conditions and it was pretty flat so it wasn't a difficult one," she said.

"Not one of the harder ones which was good. It's a good hit-out prior to Pier to Pub because it's great conditions."

She added she would love to fit in the Portland leg of the swim series on January 7.

"Hopefully I would like to try and do it - we were planning on leaving on the Saturday, but we'll see" she said.

"I'll try and stick around and do it if I can because it's a new swim on the calendar and swimmers have said it's a really nice swim."

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