TBBC day

Today was Total Brain and Body Confusion day - a swim of unspecified length / substance, with Owen, Lisa, Eddie, Ned and assorted others enrolled in the task of frustrating and tormenting us. I have to admit that I was pretty nervous before we started - I don't do well not knowing what I'm going to be doing, and found not knowing how long we were going to be in the water very hard to get my head around. We started off with two laps the "wrong way" round the island, and then I was sent back out to do two more in the usual direction. Then, in to the slip in the hope of a feed. Lisa sent me back off to a buoy and back, by which time she said that my feed would be ready; but when I got back, her, Eddie and Owen were standing "chatting", ignoring me. I wasn't sure whether they were genuinely caught up in conversation, or whether they were messing with me, so I asked whether I needed to get out to get my own feed (which probably sounded really rude, but it was a genuine question...). Owen turned round and headed over with a cup, which he then "accidentally" spilled, and I was sent off to the buoy again while another was prepared.

After my feed, it was back off round the island again, and then Ned told me to swim up to the neck of the cove and back until they were ready for me to go out with the boat. After a while, I was sent out to the mouth of the cove, and then a small bunch of us turned to the right, and were instructed to head towards a headland. There was a quite a choppy swell rolling in, and I struggled for a while until I adapted to a longer, slower, more streamlined stroke. The coastline was absolutely stunning, and by the time we rounded the headline, I was having an absolute blast. At one point, I saw the crew on the boat all staring into the water and pointing - I later learned that they'd seen an enormous jellyfish - something which I'm glad I didn't know at the time! Just beyond the headland, we were turned around and headed back through the waves back to the cove. This was harder going, but a huge amount of fun. I could feel the stress of the rough waters on my shoulders, and for a brief while, found myself wondering how I would cope if it were like this for the whole of my Channel swim. But I put this thought aside and just focused on swimming - it was exciting and utterloy joyful, being tossed around in the bright sunshine as we paddled our way back up the gorgeous coastline.

Heading back into the cove, I ran straight into thick weeds, and realised that while I'd been out, the water had disappeared! I half-crawled, half-swam through the thick weeds towards the slip, where Ned told me to climb out, warm up and have some food. I saw most of the others were already out, but I was suspicious at first that this was a trick, and that I would be sent out for one more! But happily, this wasn't the case. I was out for 5.15 hours, which I was pretty pleased with.

So, another good day of swimming. Just the 6 hour swim to go....