1940s

The tradition of swimming across Bondi Bay seems to have begun in the 1940's when Bondi Beach Inspector, Bill 'The Whale' Willis swam two laps of the Bay. The record was later increased to 4 laps by a Manly swimmer. Not to be outdone, in 1948 'The Whale' swam 12 laps of Bondi Bay in three and a half hours. He was rewarded with drinking and merriment. Weighing in at 15 stone 'The Whale' trained for the marathon swim on a diet of olive oil, beer and T-bone steaks. His record stood until the 1970s.

The tradition requires that a swimmer travels the distance of roughly 800 metres between the fishing club boat ramp at Nth Bondi and the 'Boot' which is the small bay immediately south of Bondi Baths at the south end of Bondi Beach.

Other across Bondi swimming records have included:

• John Koorey and Des Renford - 40 laps in the early 1970s
• Des Renford - 50 laps in 10 hours 45 minutes - 1972
• Bondi's own Cyril Baldock - 50 laps in 9 hours 15 minutes - 1985
• Chloe McCardle - 60 laps in the early 2000s
• Tammy Van Wisse - 50 laps in 9 hours 7 minutes circa 2010
• Ned Wieland - 62 laps in 10 hours, 2021