The swim brought storms, though stayed mostly clear and, blessedly, the wind stayed south-westly/westerly, so we were not being blown backwards this time. The pre-swim brief warned us that the water temperature was unusually low; during the week snow landing as rain meant that the cold spots dropped to 15 or 14 degrees. I later learnt that around a third of the swimmers retired before the finish due to the cold.
Arriving in Windermere the night before the event, I had made sure to have a quick acclimatisation dip; I didn't know the temperature then, but felt it was markedly colder than in 2008, but the dip did the job and took away any nagging doubt for the morning about just how cold would it be.
Infact I was pleased that the cold didn't really affect me whilst I was swimming, only once I'd finished; the worst of it was swimming in to the cold patches in the shallower parts around the islands at the halfway stage - here cold springs flow in to the lake reducing the temperature still further.
As for my trusty crew in the support boat, I was in the hands of my fellow "Applelips Brothers" band members, Clamp (bass) and Dave (drums). The trip had already taken on a more surreal air than I'd expected, as Clamp and Dave had renamed themselves Hilary and Tsensing. Their far from lucid explanation for this seemed to stem from an excursion they had taken by foot in deep snow up an Austrian mountain 'because it was there'. During their trip they were suddenly and mysteriously met by a lady that they were convinced was Nepalese and undoubtedly an apparition, appearing as she did out of a blizzard seemingly from nowhere. They experienced an epiphany and immediately took it as a sign to start their descent to the base camp, immediately hitting the bar for their customary piccolo beer and shandy-chaser.
On the drive up to Windermere Dave - sorry - 'Tensing'(!), read out an article about claims of sightings of "Bownessie", the monster rumoured to be lurking in the depths of Lake Windermere. So I had added concerns that whilst gayly swimming along I might suddenly be rudely deserted, should Hilary and Tensing think they get a 'sighting'.
But Dave in particular had my respect; notwithstanding his near-sinking in the previous year, he was up for this 2nd attempt - cruel of me to take advantage of such a slow learner, I know! Dave had time to manage the video with one eye on his Cannes entry. He also marshalled everyone's feeding and the navigation(-ish), whilst Clamp recalled bygone days as a junior county rower and took the oars for the whole journey.
the swim was relatively uneventful, it has to be said.
Still in hero-explorer mode, the boys had planned to liven things up by making me pay homage to Captain Mathew Webb's swim in 1875; their plan was for me to mimick his feeding. However, I suggested I wait until near the end before eating a pork pie and swigging brandy! And as for wearing a 1 piece woollen bathing suite, I declined this suggestion altogether on the grounds it didn't comply with BLDSA race-rules. Anyway, that plan came to nought, as by the time I was ready to risk the pie and drink, Hilary and Tensing were wiping the last crumbs away, slightly the worse for wear.
And after 7 and a half hours I was officially announced at the finish and crawled from the water. [Note to self; gibbering to a local reporter after a 7.5 hour swim standing in one's budgie smugglers is no defence to becoming hypothermic, no matter how attractive she may be.]
Thanks also go to Kirsty, Clamp's better half, who got me dressed and made sure I didn't completely lose the plot.
No comments:
Post a Comment