Securing a new venue

Securing a New Venue!

Last year I entered a race..arrived at the venue to discover that it had fish...lots of them and highly visible!!!!! The venue was Capenwray Dive Centre, i could literally feel the fear embedding itself in my body......i can not swim with ....them. Used to swimming in cold dark water the thought of clear and clean really appealed, but now i was standing on the jetty it took every ounce of my being not to get back in the car and vanish into the night.

The lure of the water was too much though, with heart literally in mouth, i entered the water, eyes firmly on the little one inch fish swarming around my legs....the big one's i could just see in my peripheral vision, oh please do not let them come near me!. Breast stroking round to the starting point so i would not have to look down at was potentially underneath me, i tucked my legs up as far up to my chest as i could, the Jaws theme tune booming though my head. The chat and laughter of the other swimmers seemed to come from afar.

Before you could say jack spratt the horn had sounded and we were off. The first lap swimming front crawl was mentally painful and although my body was going though the motions my mind was on thoughts of getting swallowed alive by two foot fish. The second lap started and i began to relax into the spirit of things, by the third i was kicking myself for letting the small matter of hundreds of fish interfere with a race. My time i knew would be bad. But i finished, pleased with myself for getting over the fear of fish....that said i did not linger in the water long enough to have them come and say hello. With Capenwray being a dive centre the fish are friendly, they are used to divers feeding them, at that point i could not see the attraction.

The next race, i was mentally ready...found i could talk to other competitors without my eyes wandering in fear towards the water. The race passed off without incident.....plans formulating in my head as i sped round. Could i....would i be allowed to put on a social swim here....imagine not having to rush round unless i wanted to. After all i was used to the fish by now but other things had caught my eye in the water...and they needed further exploration at slower speeds.

Making inquires through out the year met with a firm NO, its races only, so frustrating......but nothing i could do about it. Did i want the hassle of finding timing chips and mats, canoeists, first aiders, additional buoys, advertising etc....not really, something for the future maybe but not for now. Then out of the blue, a phone call from a friend gave me information i had been trying to hear for over a year....was it true...i had to check it out.

Phoning Capenwray, i was told that due to the popularity of the venue and because of the number of inquiries they had had to swim there socially they would consider opening it up for social swims, and in fact the information i had been given before (baring in mind i had made numerous enquiries) was in fact wrong.....and i could have been swimming there all year round! Right, armed with this information the computer went straight on and the Mass Private swim was organised. This late in the year with water temperatures tumbling rapidly it would feel almost tropical to swim in 14 degrees. Swim organised i happily sat back...secretly pleased with myself for securing this venue. As long as it is open we can swim there, if i organise other private swims there, we could be accommodated and as we found out on Saturday, welcomed. Am i pleased....oh yes over the moon, the venue welcome children in the water too so these swims really could be a family event, introducing the next generation to the open water...fantastic!!! Now i really was looking forward to the Mass swim....little did i know how events would unfold to make it an really amazing day!!!...Look out for more in the blog titled The Lone Swimmer v Mass Private Swim.. coming soon!!!! This adventure has not ended yet!!!! So many swims so little time to blog...but i will get there believe me!!!