And it is that laid-back approach to lake swimming that the two Wanaka Lake Swimmers club members hoped to emulate when devising their new event, The Ruby, being held for the first time from 3pm today.
''We didn't want to necessarily follow the swim events with the crack of dawn start and all that pressure and athletics,'' Mr Spearing said.
''We thought how about just a nice, relaxed, go for a swim, laid-back [event]; afterwards there's a wine, a barbecue and you enjoy the evening.''
The pair wanted to create a ''festival'' rather than a race atmosphere, Mr Norman added.
More than 250 swimmers are expected to take part in the event, the first stand-alone open water swim festival in the area, which has Lake Wanaka's Ruby Island as its centrepiece.
''The Ruby'', the main event of the day, involves swimming from the Waterfall Creek beach out and around Ruby Island and back, covering 2.5km.
The Big Ruby is a tougher 3.8km swim, with a double circumnavigation.
The 200m ''Little Gems'' event will cater for younger swimmers, while the 600m ''The Deep'' and 1.2km ''The Jetty'' - in which participants leap from the Ruby Island jetty to start their return journey to shore - will suit intermediate swimmers.
While The Ruby had an open race category, the overall event was ''not expressly about being quick'', but rather enjoying the lake and encouraging people to swim in a beautiful part of it, Mr Spearing said.
''It's so clear here,'' he said at the start line at Waterfall Creek, in Roys Bay, yesterday.
Some of the profits from entry fees will be put towards learn-to-swim courses for Wanaka primary school children and a water purity awareness programme for Lake Wanaka.
A $1000 cash prize pool is on offer, along with two ''champion'' rings made from Ruby Island rock that has been ground and set in resin.
A trip to Samoa to compete in a swim festival there will also be offered as a spot prize.
The men have resource consent to run the event for five years.
