Swimming

OW is just getting warmer - it was genuinely 5-6 degrees warmer in the water than outside in the New Forest last weekend. Who cares what's going on outside - you're gonna get wet anyway.

The lake at Blenheim on Sunday was 13 degrees. Brrr.

OW is just getting warmer - it was genuinely 5-6 degrees warmer in the water than outside in the New Forest last weekend. Who cares what's going on outside - you're gonna get wet anyway.

yeh but, no but, yeh but - it is nice when it's sunny and the water shimmers and you actually warm up in the sun afterwards instead of trying to get jeans or joggers on when youre still damp and them clinging to your legs and then having a tantrum like Basil Fawlty ........

But yeah.......... I just dont have the ompfffff at the moment, plus my closest lake has closed to swimming....(princes club)
There is Ham lake, which RG active use, but it's more of a puddle.

If i was closer to OW, I wouldnt have so many excuses....

The basil fawlty bit is about right :)

#goesbacktonotreadingthisthreadhonest

Managed to get some work as swim teaching assistant, even though i seem to have volunteered in the interview somehow and wont be getting paid for 4/5 weeks training..............
Got 2 hours tomorrow , with as far as i can tell very small kids... I dont even wanna teach kids !
Ok, I know i have to get experience first and there is nothing wrong with teaching kids.... just wanted to help adults out more in the long run...

I could be moaning on here a bit over the next few weeks, apologies in advance.

Am really quite nervous about tomorrow.... : /

Good luck with it, the main lesson is making sure they pee before getting in. If you manage that, you've done all the adults a good service already.

Off down to Folkie tomorrow, hoping the wind dies down, my mates have a Channel relay next week. I was offered a late place on it, but work militated against it.

That's a good one, I hadnt thought about that !

I wonder how the channel swims are going so far this year, it surely has not been great conditions ?

Don't know actually - will find out this weekend and report back Monday. I've got three friends doing solos this year, but not until late July, early August and mid-Sept....

living close to the Mersey, I reckon I could get some sudden OW Swim practice later today #movingvaluablesupstairs

Good luck with the coaching N-N, keep us posted on progress...

Good stuff chaps. Best of luck with the teachings NN. Let me know if you want to practice on someone. And supporting the Chanellers of course mister Lancer. Will be sertiously impressed if you decide to go for it.

Turned up at Otter last night to find it was the club championships. Signed up for the 400m free and 100m IM (then thought better of it and withdrew my name from the IM).

Was my first race since my pre-teens. Really nice atmosphere, bit competitive but mainly very supportive and pleasantly informal.

I was in lane 2 for the first heat of the first round and did 5:55. not helped by the fact I got water in one goggle from the start, got flustered and nearly choked on the the first few tumble turns and lost count of how many laps I'd done so didn't know when to push...[/excuses]. Still quite enjoyed it though. Came in only half a length behind the club secretary who I was using to pace myself, knowing that she's quicker than me over distance. I was happy to let her get away but just in sight. Think I finished third out of five in my heat. Couldn't really see what was happening in lane 4 and 5.

As the the second and third heats got underway it was obvious there was no way I was going to race again so I wandered off to get changed. Watched a couple of later heats from the balcony. Some of those guys are just phenomenal to watch. So effortless looking yet precise and deliberate with their technique. It looks more like tai chi or something. By which I mean you can't see the portion of the stroke where they're actually applying effort as in any way distinct from the recovery. It all just looks like one, almost ritualised, smooth and precise set of gestures - and almost as a side effect they're travellilng forwards though the water at a rate that's creating an acual bow-wave.

We left after a short while of watching this, my friend commenting "Come on... this is depressing". Haha.

Good stuff chaps. Best of luck with the teachings NN. Let me know if you want to practice on someone. And supporting the Chanellers of course mister Lancer. Will be sertiously impressed if you decide to go for it.

Turned up at Otter last night to find it was the club championships. Signed up for the 400m free and 100m IM (then thought better of it and withdrew my name from the IM).

Was my first race since my pre-teens. Really nice atmosphere, bit competitive but mainly very supportive and pleasantly informal.

I was in lane 2 for the first heat of the first round and did 5:55. not helped by the fact I got water in one goggle from the start, got flustered and nearly choked on the the first few tumble turns and lost count of how many laps I'd done so didn't know when to push...[/excuses]. Still quite enjoyed it though. Came in only half a length behind the club secretary who I was using to pace myself, knowing that she's quicker than me over distance. I was happy to let her get away but just in sight. Think I finished third out of five in my heat. Couldn't really see what was happening in lane 4 and 5.

As the the second and third heats got underway it was obvious there was no way I was going to race again so I wandered off to get changed. Watched a couple of later heats from the balcony. Some of those guys are just phenomenal to watch. So effortless looking yet precise and deliberate with their technique. It looks more like tai chi or something. By which I mean you can't see the portion of the stroke where they're actually applying effort as in any way distinct from the recovery. It all just looks like one, almost ritualised, smooth and precise set of gestures - and almost as a side effect they're travellilng forwards though the water at a rate that's creating an acual bow-wave.

We left after a short while of watching this, my friend commenting "Come on... this is depressing". Haha.

Thats a really good explanation Dooks, and why i love swimming so much.... all of those swimmers were scraggy little mites once, struggling to even maintain a kick or float.... Swimming is a skill that is learnt and when it is done well, it is beautiful to watch, the human land dwellers turn into something aquatic in front of your eyes and it seems oh so natural.... years of practice :)

well done on the 400m ! Sounds like you did well. You are brave. There is no way I would have even considered an IM, next time though huh ?

good luck nick nack
nothing more rewarding than working with kids, enjoy it

^ winning the Euromillions?

(kidding)

This is the first weekend of Channel swims. My group started their relay at 1am, expecting to get in about dinner time tonight. We had windy conditions all weekend, but it cleared up yesterday after I left and they should have perfect conditions all the way across. Water's still about 14 degrees, which should be fine for them, as long as they don't encounter a cold trough in the separation zone.

I had to decline a place on that relay due to a new project starting at work today, which has now been put back to next week. Bah!

Cool, let us know how they get on.

Saturday was okay, a little nerve wracking as a couple of the lessons i was helping with were non swimmers in medium depth water (deep to them) I have not encountered this before and they obviously need your support, we took one each, but doing two alone scares me....

Also some (apparently 25 to 50m) swimmers got in and had to swim a square, along the wall to the deep end, along the wall, down the lane rope and back across to me. One made it all, one had to be helped from the lane rop onwards and luckily i was watching the other who dissapeared under the water before he even got to the deep end, right by the wall, I thought within a second is he coming up or floundering..... I then swam quickly across to him and lifted him up. He was floundering. I sat him on the wall and said have a little rest (he was out of breath), i was shaking. The teacher came over and i told him he went under, the teacher looked like he didnt believe me and said he was fine last week. so i left the teacher to assist him, but the kid didnt want to get back in ( so i think what i did was right) He did get him back in the pool but he needed to stay near him and then said to me that he was going to keep an eye on him.
What if i hadnt have been there ? Maybe he would have surfaced and found the wall, kids do, do that and seem to be fine, but how do you know ?

Anyway apart from that was ok. One little girl around 3 yoa was amazing, really good so well behaved and did everything she was asked to do, little cutie too.

blimey. in at the deep end eh?

sorry.

Cool, let us know how they get on.

Currently about 2 miles off Gris Nez. Constantly checking position of the Sea Leopard on this, nervily:

http://www.shipais.com/currentmap.php?map=folkstone

Don't know exactly where the tidal flow is, but think it will be changing to take them back past GN, and then they'll land on the sandy beaches to the east, all being well.

seems to be going a bit south at the moment, like you say should S back at some point....

http://www.shipais.com/shiptrail.php?mmsi=235023771

Actually if you look at the history they've had a really long southerly current ?

Left at 1am ? What was their ETA ?

tides turned, starting to S back now.

Tis, It looks like half of your swim wasnt in the lake ! ;)

And you only swan 5ft uphill. Lazy.

Currently about 2 miles off Gris Nez. Constantly checking position of the Sea Leopard on this, nervily:

http://www.shipais.com/currentmap.php?map=folkstone

Don't know exactly where the tidal flow is, but think it will be changing to take them back past GN, and then they'll land on the sandy beaches to the east, all being well.

Did they not make it ??? :(

Did they not make it ??? :(

No, they didn't. I was watching as they got within 3 miles, then they seemed to move about in the same area for a c.3 hours. Next thing, the Sea Leopard was on its way back across the Channel.

Just been talking to the team cap'n - the winds changed and the swell was c.8 foot. A couple of the team could have made it, but others weren't as strong, and some were getting sick. You have to stick to the relay order - if one person can't do their shift, the whole thing is blown. The guy I was going to replace was the weakest link, unsurprisingly - not that I'd have made a positive difference overall.

They'd have made it easy if is wasn't for those pesky winds. Weather wasn't meant to change till Weds, but it fucked up early and fast. The stronger ones have solos later this year, so hopefully that's their bad luck out of the way.