There was a chance to swim in a warm lake 26°C at 8:00a.m., but it was a little windy, so they said. With a lake almost the temperature of an indoor pool, how could anybody pass up a chance like this? Choppy water? Is that a problem?
So, lined up for a pontoon start and the view from there was interesting. All there was, was a wall of water! That was ok, because the first buoy was 300m away and at least 10ft tall, and I had a vague idea of which direction to swim in, if all else failed, I could follow the others. That is what I did, until I reached the first buoy, then everything disappeared apart from the water. Nauseous too, I wondered if I would make it to the end. Spikey weeds appeared and I saw a yellow buoy, albeit the second buoy, rather than the first. Lost at “sea”, that is the direction I headed, with each stroke trying to sight at the top of the wave. Unsure of how far I swam in the wrong direction, it was a relief to see the line of orange buoys set out before the first yellow one – who would have thought that swimming 1200m in a straight line could be so difficult!
A few people were seasick on the swim, and land has never looked so welcoming. If that had been the last ever swim, I might have been happy, but I’d booked in to the Coniston Chillswim……. It was probably better weather for sailing.
just Trying to Swim...and Run... 