Bondi Blue Water Challenge ocean swim
"Yes, Alice, I'm listening... go on!"
So I did my first ocean swim last Monday! There are some pictures on Flickr.
I went down to Bondi the day before (possibly my first time to Bondi ever?) to suss it out a bit. I practiced getting in and out past the breaking waves. Even though I was planning to do the swim the next day, I couldn't goad myself to swim out much past that. I think my upbringing left me with a very healthy respect for the water - being too far from shore just feels "wrong", like being in a car and not wearing a seatbelt, or cycling without a helmet.
Having wave after wave break on me, I couldn't help laughing at the futility of the ocean and wondering what I'd got myself into.
That night we went to see Welcome, a French film about an asylum seeker who wants to get to the UK, and a swim coach who teaches him to swim so he can cross the English Channel. A fitting precursor :)
On the Monday morning I was filled with nerves. The kind of trepidation I hadn't felt since... playing football! Where you suspect you are probably prepared enough, but can't be sure about what's ahead. In that regard activities like cycling or running just don't compare... you can always just stop. In the ocean? not so much.
I met my friends Teresa (who was not swimming) and Alice (who was enrolled for 2.4km swim) and Alice and I went in for a little warm up swim. The buoys were jumping all over the waves. The resemblance to a swimming pool was growing weaker and weaker.
We stood around waiting for the pre-race briefing, which was delayed as the organisers went out and rearranged the buoys to modify our course. Instead of swimming straight out in the middle of the beach, we would swim out in a kind of diagonal line and back. We started maybe 20 minutes late. I was in the second wave (20-30 yos).
Off I went...my newly learned dolphin dives worked great until I couldn't reach the bottom any more - which was pretty soon. Then it was just washing machine land for what seemed like ages. There seemed to be no one around me, which wasn't a surprise as I expected everyone to be much faster, but it seemed like I would never make it to the first buoy. Teresa told me later that during this time a lot of people got pulled back in/rescued because it was so rough. Sometime during my swim they cancelled the 2.4km swim and even the later waves of the 1km swim.
Near the first buoy some swimmers from the wave after me went past, with blue caps. The water is quite clear in Bondi and I could see smooth round rocks at the bottom. The next buoy was only 20 metres away so at least progress was visible, but it also seemed to take forever.
Reaching the second buoy meant - halfway mark! I got to turn around and just wash back into shore, right? :)
After the third buoy (another 20m away) we had to aim for two yellow "cans" set up like a gate. A lifesaver guy on a scooter floated past and asked how I was going. "I want to finish," I shouted back. "That's it, good girl, just keep breathing slowly!" he said. I tried to put my lap swimming habits into practice (like keeping my head down), but it was just way too tempting to look up when a wave swept me into the air. I don't know how one can avoid that.
Then it was back into the breakers, which tumbled me again. My goggles came off and I realised my cap was totally gone. A gift to Bondi. :) Somehow I ended up able to stand once again, and I staggered out to find myself surrounded by random swimmers. I thought I must have got way off course, but I found out later they just decided to swim near the finish of a race for some reason. OK...
Running up the beach I seemed to be the only one coming out of the water, and people clapping as I finished made me feel conspicuously last. However people were still finishing some 15 minutes later, so it wasn't that bad. :)
My time was 26:02, which was second last (of those who finished) in my category.
There are some other pictures here.
And that was my first ocean swim. :) Although the water in Melbourne is cooler, it's also a hell of a lot calmer. So I figure a tough first swim will make anything else look easy!