50 Shades of Blue

3.4 Degrees of Smiling

I love a challenge and always look for new ones, being on the slim side i have always cast aside the thought of winter swimming without a wetsuit for fear of the 'what if; syndrome kicking in. However the time has come....it has to be done. Seeing an event posted called the Chill Swim (http://www.chillswim.com/) i carefully read it, discarded it...then had a glass of wine. All of a sudden in my head the dismissed became doable as is normally the case. But can i really manage those temperatures sans wetsuit. Well as with all things if you do not train for them you will never know so 9th December 2012 with water temperatures at 3.4 degrees, air temperature at 6 and a wind temperature that was decidedly unfunny, a group of us met at Ellerton lake for the 50 Shades of Blue swim.! Although the air turned blue our skin came out a rather fetching red colour!

Getting changed took less time that when we try to heave ourselves into wetsuits...oh why cant this be a heatwave swim!!!! But heading towards the water which was a tad choppy the only concern was the wind chill factor.....and it was cold!! I wonder if there is a temperature gauge for windchill, it would have been interesting to see what it was. Not quite ready to go completely 'naked' in the water we had donned running trousers, and rash vests as well as gloves and socks, although these items would prove useless in those temperatures.

We actually got a round of applause from the divers who had exited the water and were standing around looking rather astounded at the almost naked forms walking in front of them. And as Kate Upshall Davis said it makes a nice change from 'Are you mad'. I think they made a hasty exit in case we did not exit the water and they did not want to have to call 999.!

Pat Maycroft came for the giggle factor and giggle she did! She was en route to visiting family so was not swimming this time....but next time Pat!!!! She encouraged us whilst wrapped in her many layers of warmth. Jackie Candlish fitting her goggles which she swore would keep her warm!

Ian Holt managed the furthest distance with roughly about 600 metres under his belt, hes a confirmed non wetsuit swimmer training for the channel but that does not take away from the distance, the temperatures, choppy water and wind chill! The rest of us just finding our sans suit feet so to speak decided on a lesser distance....ok we just wanted to see how far we could do and for how long!

Due to the windchill there was no waiting around chatting in the breeze, it was get in or cool down too much to be able to get in, thank the lord the sun was shining! A quick group picture to prove we are all alive, not sure where Ian was but i can confirm he was there and did exit the water alive and well.

Getting in....was slow and painful, well for some of us, Jackie and Vanessa Christie got in with effortless ease as did Ian who actually dived in! Kate and I having seen the gasps and colour drain from the others faces took our time. The cold did not seem too bad but the skins reaction to it when not bathed in neoprene was a different matter. The feeling i can only liken to falling in a tub of stinging nettles, the thighs were on fire and shows no signs of abating. Waiting for it to dissipate even the tiniest bit (as if!) whilst i watched Kate doing her own gangnam style dance in the water to try to generate body heat kept the smile on Pat's face and amused me, if i had not been shivering so badly i would have loved to have got some video of it!

Right, before i started resembling a tailor's dummy in an unusual pose, it was time to start swimming!!! Oh god this was either going to be dreadful or down right fun!!! In the end it turned out to be a mixture of the tow, more on the fun side i must admit! (I can say that now that i have warmed up!)

Jackie opted between swimming and checking that her hands were still attached!!

Vanessa and i opted to just go for it and head for the 1st buoy, gosh that seems like a long way, i can not tell you the comment Ness made at the first buoy but lets just say i never noticed that part of my body feeling the cold until she mentioned it!!! We made it to the buoy and paused, the urge to carry on was incredible but being sensible we decided to head back to land...next time though!!!

Another group pic to show we were alive, and it was time to get dressed strangely, we did not seem to notice the wind however the sun seemed to be hot against our skin! Not unpleasant a sensation i can tell you.

Even the showers felt hot, although i must admit were ineffectual in warming me up so will give them a miss next time. I am now on a mission to see how many layers i can fit on my frame and still be able to physically move, the shakes which did not start immediately soon had me looking like i had grabbed an electric fence, trying to get socks on brought fresh bouts of giggles from Vanessa. Mind you we all had the shakes, just varying degrees!

Getting out into the sunshine once dressed proved that we are not the only ones shaking, the divers that were left were mouths agog at us! The hot drinks came out, the food (fab oat biscuits Ness!!!) and so did the major shakes, if anyone who had not witnessed what we had just done; seen us i dread to think what they would have though, most people just gave us a bemused look ...interpret that as ' you lot are bonkers!' But we had done it the first hurdle achieved, it does make you feel alive on a winters day to be in water so chilly, roll on next Sunday!!! Wonder what the group thought of my TRULY NAKED WINTER SWIM....will they agree!!! Oh and John (A John W Mace)....us ladies must find a way of hiding the cold!!!!

And to show that when you swim and its 3.4 degrees you can not hide your reaction....as the last set of photos show!