Malta

I just got back from a couple of weeks working for Swimtrek on two of their long distance training camps in Gozo, Malta. These were my first guiding trips, and I was on a pretty steep learning curve but a few things stand out. Firstly, I only learned to drive a powerboat on a weekend course a couple of months ago, so becoming more comfortable with boat handling was a top priority. I was a bit like a driver who has just passed her test - basically safe, but lacking the spontaneity and embodied comfort that comes with familiarity and practice. So, I was assigned lots of boat time to get my hand in, and after just a couple of days, was feeling so much more comfortable and confident at the helm - a nice feeling after the awkwardness of the beginning. One of my tasks was to pick up the buoys out of the bay at the end of the swims - the perfect chance to practice pulling alongside an object (or person) in a controlled manner without mowing them down. However, necessarily erring on the side of caution, I didn't always get it quite right first time, requiring some very undignified leaning and reaching...on this occasion with a camera-wielding audience!

But when I wasn't dabbling about with the buoys, I was pootling around the mouth of the bay in the gorgeous sunshine, keeping an eye on the swimmers. Glorious.

When I wasn't in the boats, I was helping out with feeds, offering encouragement and occasionally helping to shepherd wavering swimmers back into the water. I loved this part of the trip - it's quite inspiring to see the swimmers really pushing themselves to stay in and complete the swims.

It was also amazing to see how much support the swimmers gave each other, and I lost count of the times that other swimmers paused to encourage a wavering swimmer to keep going, or when swimmers who had already got out jumped back in to do a few extra laps alongside someone who was having a wobble. I think that one of the finest moments of the entire trip was the sight last week of four women swimming the final hour of the six hour swim together, all side by side in a line, supporting one swimmer who had already far exceeded her own expectations of herself that day but who was starting to struggle a little. From my position on the boat, it was utterly inspiring to watch.

And perhaps my favourite moment of the whole trip - our little jaunt out of the bay and along the cliff base during the six hour swim in the second week. Sadly, the conditions had been too rough in the first week to do this, but for the second group, the weather was blissfully calm and they were able to enjoy two hours of glorious sea swimming, free from the more psychologically challenging task of swimming round and round the bay. The scenery and conditions were just breath-taking as you can see below (I'm in the little white boat you can just see in the middle of the picture).

Sadly, it wasn't all plain sailing, and a relaxing day-trip to the island of Comino in the second week proved to be something of an ordeal for me. The wind was howling, and the hours on a rocking boat took its toll on me so that by the time we were heading back through the swell, I was virtually incapacitated by seasickness, unable to focus my eyes or move. It's so frustrating, and embarrassing, but I just can't find anything that stops it happening. All suggestions gratefully received.

But hats off to all the swimmers over the last couple of weeks for their hard work and fantastic swims. And thanks to Mia, Nick and Freda for their support and advice during the trip.

And now, it's back to training...and with just 3 months to go, I need to pick things up a bit and get some serious work done. Exciting, though....especially now that the open water season is about to start. Let another summer of swimming begin.... plus, I may have some news soon about exciting future plans which I'm currently cooking up...

Goggles review

Goggles are one of those things that people get very attached to. I'm sure that most makes of goggles are pretty good, but it all comes down to face shape, habit and idiosyncratic preference....and anyone who spends any time in the water will know that once you find a make of goggles that work for you, you stick with them. I am a die-hard fan of mirrored Blueseventy Element goggles - on my Channel swim, I put a pair on at hour six, and didn't have to touch them once for the next 10 hours. But I've never really found a pair of clear goggles that I really like, so I was interested to try out the Speedo Futura Ice goggles that came free with my first issue of H2Open magazine.

I've been using them in the pool, and so far, I'm pretty impressed. They're comfortable, close-fitting and I haven't had to keep fiddling with them between sets; plus the blue tint is very light, giving good pool visibility, and the anti-fog is working a treat so far. My only two slight complaints about them are: firstly, that I've found that I need to have them tighter than I would ideally like in order to stay in place and watertight; and secondly, that if you end up with a drop of water in them, each socket is quite big, and the drop tends to bounce all over the place. This is the same objection I always had to mask-style goggles, although it's nowhere near as bad with these. So, have I finally found a reliable make of clear goggles? Possibly. I'm doing a longer pool swim tomorrow (3.5 hours), so I'll see how I get on.

Virgin Dublin to Holyhead relay

The OW discussion forums are buzzing with the news that Richard Branson and Ronan Keating are headlining a relay team of 10 people planning to swim the 51 miles from Dublin to Holyhead in order to raise £1 million for Cancer Research UK. There's a bit of scepticism floating about - mostly because they are claiming that this would be a world record when in fact much longer relay swims have been accomplished (and without the aid of wetsuits) - see the Daily News of Open Water Swimming for an even-handed discussion, and some good links to other ultra-relay swims.

The publicity materials for the swim reference the presence of sharks as part of the challenge, but as many of the forum discussions have pointed out, a much bigger threat is the lion's mane jellyfish and the harsh conditions... plus Ronan Keating has already stated that he's not much of a swimmer. Hmm. I think it's a shame that they've talked up claims for the swim that aren't strictly accurate, but I'm sure that this was the result of inadequate research rather than purposeful misrepresentation; we also know that 'big talk' is necessary to drum up the hype necessary to raise significant sums of money. From my perspective, the much bigger challenge is that it will involve being on a slow-moving, reeling boat for hours and hours - the very thought makes me want to reach for a bucket.

So, I say, hats off to them for taking this on - you couldn't pay me, for one, to try such a thing (and, to be honest, no-one who's seen me in action on a boat would). Hopefully they'll amend some of the rhetoric to reflect other ultra-relay achievements - I don't think that they need it to be a world record to still be an ambitious and impressive swim, whatever the outcome. And such a high profile event can only be good for the sport of open water swimming.

Better at last and back to training

At last, after two weeks of croaking, wheezing, spluttering and generally becoming quite difficult to live with, my chest infection has finally retreated, my energy levels are back up and I'm back into training. I'm trying to ease in gently, but it's just so nice to be able to get back to it - not least because I tend to suffer from insomnia, especially when work pressures are high, and the swimming really helps with that. But also, Catalina is only 4 months away and I'm a long way from feeling ready to start the serious build-up to that when the open water season starts.

I'm off to Malta to guide for Swimtrek at the beginning of April, and I'm expecting that to be a pretty full on couple of weeks, with not too much time for swimming. But hopefully I'll have chance to dip the occasional toe in and to remind myself how great it is to be in the open water after a long, chlorinated winter.

Sick, sick, sick...

It's two weeks since I've been able to get in the pool, and I'm still struggling with a chest infection...although I am finally seeing some signs of improvement and have managed without having to have antibiotics. I feel really wiped out though and still have a rattly chest and croaky voice. It's hard not to worry about the lost training and fitness, but I went back through my blog and saw that I've had something like this at least once a year - it's frustrating, but doesn't do any harm in the long term. It's still driving me nuts though. I'm trying to concentrate on eating nutritious food, drinking lots of water and getting plenty of sleep.

CS&PF dinner

After months away from all things open water, I went down to Dover this weekend for the CS&PF dinner (plus a great chance to get in a couple of research interviews).

It was a beautiful afternoon on Friday when I arrived and the harbour looked very peaceful - it felt a bit odd to be down there and not be planning to spend a whole day swimming up and down.

Dover's not the loveliest town in the world, but you've got to love somewhere that includes a special logo on its harbour usage signs for distance swimmers....

On Saturday afternoon, I went to the CS&PF AGM, where big changes were afoot - with Mike Oram stepping down as Hon. Secretary (to be replaced by Kevin Murphy), and several new people bringing expertise in the fields of law, medicine and accountancy to the new committee. This felt like a really positive set of changes, and happily, the meeting passed largely without controversy.

Before dinner, a bunch of us went over to the White Horse pub to perform the Channel swimmer's ritual of adding our names to the walls of the pub. The walls are packed with years of swimmers' names, but I managed to find a little strip to make my mark on. To be honest, I didn't think that I was that bothered about it, but when it came to it, I enjoyed it enormously and it feels great to have my name up there among all those other swimmers.

Then on to the dinner in Dover town hall. It has to be said - hats off to all those involved in organising this - nice food, good company, and a great chance to celebrate all the successes of the year. The highlight for me though came during the raffle, when, to my enormous surprise and delight, I won a free Alcatraz swim, donated by the nice people at Swimart. The timing is perfect for my California trip this summer - what a huge stroke of luck, and a fantastic treat.

The only blot on the weekend was the fact that I've got a galloping chest infection, which even after a week isn't getting any better. I probably shouldn't have gone this weekend, and was a bit spluttery, but I really didn't want to miss it...and to be honest, a heady combination of over-the -counter medications combined with a few glasses of wine held it at bay for most of the evening! So, no training for me recently....but at least I had the perfect excuse for not joining this morning's sea swim!

Daily News of Open Water Swimming

Good news - my research has been featured on Steven Munatones' website, Daily News of Open Water Swimming. It's been up for a couple of days, and has already had an amazing effect on the number of visitors to the site, plus plenty of new contributions. Very exciting.