Swimming

Swim Serpentine 2020 cancelled.

In two minds about it, was looking forward to only doing the 2 mile option, but also starting from no swimming since March was going to make it less enjoyable.

Will roll over my entry to 2021 and then aim to go for a proper PB (taking ~15 minutes off).

Wild Wye also cancelled. It was my main swimming target for the year.
I might go and swim it anyway, at least I’m thinking about it which helps keep me motivated.

I’ve been doing laps in the pond at BPP but my GPS uploads always look like this: https://strava.app.link/5wMD5xwro9

I’m using a Garmin 620 - is that the problem? Would I get better results with a swim-specific thing? I don’t need anything fancy but would like to know how far/fast I’m actually going.

Probably, yes. I've always found GPS a bit unreliable when swimming but usually better than that (eg https://strava.app.link/HVlVYY0vo9 with a Fenix 5x)

A cheaper option to try is to put it in your hat or tow float although I once tried the later with a 910XT and didn't have much success.

Better leisure?

My pool has been back for a month and I’ve put in just short of 40k.

Feeling much better for it but hungry.....

Praying we don’t get shut down again in a couple of months.

Swim outside, less likely to get locked down. Start now while it is still warm.

Def been considering it.

Beckenham place park isn’t too far from me

I'm thinking of signing up for the Polar Bear Challenge this year, maybe gold level. The swims don't seem too daunting but getting to a pool/pond might be tricky especially with all this working from home lark. Anyone else?

https://polarbearchallenges.com/

This sounds ominous. :(

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/swimmer-missing-english-channel-a4536791.html

It sounds fucking stupid.

Surprisingly alive
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-kent-53980060

Fucking idiot though

Apparently he's raging, as they picked him up just before he completed a world record 2-way crossing.

But seriously, this is a weird one. Anyone still alive after 8 hours is not simply mentally ill or drugged up, they clearly have some background in swimming. But if you know anything about Channel swimming, you know that trying without a pilot is pretty suicidal. You need someone reading the tides, weather, traffic, timings etc, as well as a crew to ensure you are fed and watered.

Chances are he either swam out into the Channel for a couple of hours, realised his mistake and swam back towards land or, more likely, he got caught up in the tide and taken up towards Goodwin Sands and then swept back down.

Glad he's alive, and it's quite amazing that he might claim he had been over there and was just coming back ... in eight hours ...

It would be interesting to hear what actually happened, but I guess it may well be one of your optons.

Glad he's alive, and it's quite amazing that he might claim he had been over there and was just coming back ... in eight hours ...

Nah, that was just me chatting shit. Hoping more info does come out about it. Channel swimming is an expensive business, pilot boats were a good couple of grand last time I used one, so may well be someone who thought he was a good enough swimmer and thought he could cut out the middleman. This is a good advertisement for the pilots.

Oh, I see, I thought you had some inside information. It wasn't totally inconceivable that he might have gone a bit incoherent during such an experience or was unhinged enough in the first place before he attempted it.

Thinking about it, I don't recall many people coming out that incoherent after extreme swims, other than through hypothermia. I've encountered a fair few hallucinating/otherwise incoherent people on ultraruns or at the business end of ultratris.

I've found garmin to be OK for open water...perhaps a little temperamental.. my longest swim to date was recently: https://www.strava.com/activities/3936619053

Years and years ago (like 40+) when I was a child we were on holiday in Folkestone. A chap came over in the morning and said 'are you going to be here a while? I am training to swim the channel, I wonder if you could watch my clothes. I'll be a while, don't worry about me'. The day happenned and he didn't return. It got towards when we were going back to our luxurious caravan and my parents were quite worried 'on the one hand he said he'd be a while, on the other, this is a very big while. They weren't entirely sure whether to call the coastguard or desert the clothes when back he breezed, without a care in the world.

In other news, I had a pal Rob, who did the channel. He definitely DID hallucinate, and knew that he would from talking to others. He told me he found it quite comforting because he knew he was at 'that' part. He came out of it and finished his swim. I seem to remember that he was the longest duration swim of the year, whcih meant the tide had taken him a phenomenal distance.

EDIT: A quick look at the CSA website tells me it wasn't the longest crossing

Yeah, pretty common behaviour on Folkestone - we always trained there rather than Dover too. Would usually have a beach butler giving feeds every hour for a longer swim, this guy was clearly hardcore enough to go that long without food and water (unless he had some gels in his trunks).

My mate went on the first (i.e. coldest) tide of the year a few years ago and did 21.5 hrs, ending up swept to the wrong side of Calais. Won some CSA annual award for endurance as it was the longest, coldest crossing of the year. He has a proper walrus build, and had trained for cold water for years. An RNLI guy told us that if someone fell off a boat in that temperature, after 20 minutes they'd be looking for a body.

Tide does play a huge part - my first crossing (2-up relay), we tracked about 36 miles for the 20 mile crossing. That's not unusual.

Marathon swims 2020 cancelled (finally): https://www.marathonswims.com/covid-19faqs

No great surprise and it takes the pressure off having to go from near nothing to 10k in 3 months.

Will defer to next year and hope civilisation hasn't collapsed by then.

Hadn’t noticed this thread before! I’ve just moved to a house on a big beach in the west of Ireland, and having watched people swim from the pier most evenings I bit the bullet and ordered an orca open water wetsuit (which is probably over kill given how mild the Atlantic is this time of year).

It arrived last week and I’ve gotten out for lengths of the pier a few evenings. The stronger swimmers seem to swim along three buoys that are more exposed, but given I’m a total noob I figured I’d get used to being in open water first!

I bit the bullet and ordered an orca open water wetsuit (which is probably over kill given how mild the Atlantic is this time of year).

You never need a wetsuit, skins all year.

given I’m a total noob I figured I’d get used to being in open water first!

I'm a bit wary of the sea. If I were you I'd make friends with the regular locals and swim in a group.

Too late, wetsuit already purchased.

I would only ever get in if there were other people already in there (at the pier, not in the Atlantic)

I'd recommend getting one of those tow along buoys.

I swim in the sea near me once a week all year around and it's been invaluable. Both for safety and carrying snacks and a bottle of water.

I took my daughter's favourite cuddly toy (https://shop.rnli.org/products/monte-the-dog-plush-toy) out for a 1.5km swim on Lake Annecy the other year in my tow float. She loved the idea of that. He did get a bit squished once it had been inflated but recovered well.