THE SEASON STARTS:-April 2011

THE SEASON STARTS:-April 2011

Last year’s swimming was marred by several things...the dreaded blue green algae and also some of the water temperatures. The algae, I could do nothing about but the temperatures....I could. Rather than blaming it on the rain, the rivers, the lakes, I decided to look at me and see what I could do about it, after all I had been doing open water swimming a good while now....there must be something I could have done...or should be doing differently that would make things easier. After much (ok very little) thought, I had the solution...it was so obvious – start the season earlier. Brrrrrrr!

With that in mind and after having responded to some requests for ‘when do people start in the water’, I bit the bullet and went for it. The date was decided April 9^th....others would be turning up; I couldn’t talk myself out of it now. Water temperature a freezing 8 degrees, I ask myself why on earth do I want to do this?

The answer is simple there are others out there that do it, we enjoy it, and new people want to give it a go. My own initiation to open water swimming was brief, in horrendous weather, where skilled seasoned swimmers turned up to help me get in and get swimming. Afterwards shivering so badly I could not talk properly (a plus some people would say) they told me that ordinarily they would not have got in the water in such conditions but because I had turned up they could not back out. I felt I owed the same to others that bravely had turned up.

We started off slowly...chatting to convince ourselves that we REALLY did want to get in, didn’t we? The newbee’s turned up, having chatted online to them they came prepared: wetsuits, gloves, hats, socks, fleeces, hot drinks the lot....we looked like we were embarking on an expedition let alone a quick dip. Duly changed we walked, slowly, towards the water. Surprisingly it was clear, relatively calm and actually looked inviting. I dispatched advice about entering the water safely, after all this is not a swimming pool with its regulated temperatures. I didn’t want anyone getting into difficulty right at the start and put them off. Those seasoned in the art of entering tentatively entered the water, Mark Robson followed quickly (or not as the case may be) by Amanda Bell. Amanda’s gasp and rapid breathing told me all I needed to know....it was going to hurt! Time to put the game face on!

Next in was Geoff Armstrong, then the newbee’s, thankfully with no children around we were able to voice freely what we thought of the temperature. Then it was my turn....oh my god...instant numbness, breathing gone, brain and face freeze and this is meant to be fun? But then slowly realisation dawned, we were all in it together, those seasoned and those new to it, Mark, Amanda and Geoff quickly started their mission of warming themselves up. I stayed with the newbee’s talking them through what their bodies were experiencing, getting them to talk to me, basically taking their minds off of the fact that they could no longer feel most of their bodies, that they were in a lake not a pool but most of all trying to equip them with the skills needed to get over that first initial blast of cold.

Once everyone was comfortable or as comfortable as you can be in 8 degrees, we started towards the first buoy, under each buoy is ‘something’ after all the lake is also a dive site. My first sight of one of the boats years before sent my heart rate through the sky. Nobody had told me there were ‘things’ in the water. So a few feet away, I stopped everyone, told them what to expect and that at ‘their’ leisure and only if they wished to put their faces in and have a look. Wow’s and oh my gods abounded..I put my head under to view...at some point from last year someone had tied dolls onto the boat...I noted to myself to view before others next time. We continued to swim...towards the dreaded boat, its under the second buoy and is the first boat I saw, mentally I suppose that initial fear was still there, but helping others to see it calmed me and all of a sudden it was no longer the big scary object that was to prove my doom (I still swim faster round that buoy though so some fear must be there). By this point Mark, Amanda and Geoff were heading back in, my little group and I started swimming towards the jetty, the group were now talking...nice words like ‘this is fantastic, so much better than a pool’....were they bitten by the open water bug already, I hoped so.

Once out of the water, we practically ran towards the showers, Amanda and I leading the way...we knew there were only two in each changing room....and wanted to get in first. Chatter abounded as we got changed, more advice given, nervous laughter about how they had survived and most of all how they could not wait to get back in.

Dressed like Eskimo’s we stood around in the by now very brisk air, chatting about the swim.....this was to mark the start of a now compulsory ‘coffee and cake’ ritual. The next date was set, I told everyone I would organise it and post it on the web (what would we have done without the net). Car engines on, thermostat set to its highest. Talk in the car on the way home surrounded the newbee’s, had I done enough to entice them back, to make their first entrance into the sport/hobby of open water swimming to make it an experience they would want to repeat. Time would tell, let’s see I said to myself if they turn up again.

The first swim of the season I rate as a success, the lake was kind to us: clear, cold and calm. The clarity of the water allowed us perfect uninterrupted views of all that it had to offer, with the sun (when it showed) bathing us with its rays and sparkling down through the water right to the bottom. Yes the season had started and I hoped it was going to be a good one.