Blog M @mullycron - Tumblr Blog

How to create a Dream Team - JENBO Jets

As per tradition I organised an epic event for my birthday - 69km across Lake Geneva seemed apt for my birthday on the 6th day of the 9th month, so the idea was hatched…

The preparation and training took about 6 months, you can read about it here.

I had specifically booked the crossing over my birthday week. Like any other epic challenges, it’s about waiting for the right weather. Luckily for us the calm weather window occurred on the Wednesday which meant we could use Monday and Tuesday to prepare.

On 7th September our team JENBO Jets started the swim at 9am in beautiful sunshine and perfect condition, we all swam through the night with shooting stars above us, finishing in blazing sun at around 1pm the next day. There were plenty of songs, glow sticks dance, eating, sleeping, laughing and cheering in between swims.

Here’s a video of our swim that Bee’s made: https://youtu.be/9CeD28jPJA8

Lake Geneva at the shortest length is 69km which is over double the distance of the English Channel. We all swam 7 hrs each with Natasha finishing at the iconic Jet D’eau at 55th min of her 7th swim. For all of us it was the longest swim we’ve ever done. It was by no mean an easy feat but we all agreed at the end that it was very much within our comfort zones. This is what I think has contributed our success:

The Dream Team

Each of us had different skill sets and we trusted and relied on each other.

Jo was our strongest swimmer in both physical and mental sense. She was placed at the front to start our swim, but also the one to endure 3 hours of night swims as we knew that she would keep up a good pace and wouldn’t be remotely fazed by darkness or the cold. We all looked to her for motivation.

Bee was the most organised one, making sure everyone got their kit, she had the job of “herding kittens” making sure we were at the right place at the right time. When we had a car, she was the driver and most of the time the navigator too. We’d be lost without her.

Natasha was our communications specialist. Although we all chipped in to take photos and to tweet and Facebook, she was the one who organised it all and co-ordinated all the info to go out in all possible format. She was also fluent in French which made it easy getting around Geneva and communicating with boat crew. She helped our challenge to reach the widest possible audience.

Octavia who has previously sailed across the Atlantic knew the most about staying up all night and napping / eating in shifts. From the point of getting out of the water, she’d have a DryRobe and a cup of tea ready, she even knew who has white tea, who has black tea with honey, who has hot chocolate… She woke us up 45min before our swim to get ready and would make sure we have a lie down during our allocated rest hours. Not to mention making faces at the swimmer so we didn’t get bored. Since we only had 3 hours of down time between swims to fit in getting changed, eating and resting in, without Octavia’s support, it would have seriously shortened our recovery time and it would most definitely have affected our performance.

Finally, we also had Viv who I’ve known for 15 years. She hosted us in Geneva, and acted as our local land support. She picked us up from the airport, booked our transport to the start line, waited for us at the finishing line with flatmate Rhoda and ferried us back to her place and then cooked us dinner. That meant we were able to use her kitchen to prepare food for the swim, didn’t have to lug 20kg of luggage and water to catch a train which would have involved a platform change and we were able to get into recovery mode soon as we finished.

As their proud captain, all I did was to bring together a bunch of people - all brilliant in their own ways, who gelled well together to create this dream team. It was because everyone played to their strengths, we tamed an otherwise what could have been a monstrosity of a challenge.

Bonus!

Courtesy to Facebook, my uni friend Katt Cullen who I haven’t seen in 10 years got in contact because I had posted a photo of us in Geneva. It just so happened that she runs a radio show on World Radio Switzerland and of course we said yes to being featured! you can listen to us here on world radio.ch

Here are some practical tips if you’re planning an epic challenge:

Print out a laminated rota so everyone knows when they are swimming / eating / resting / on watch.

We had a transparent free standing water carrier each so we can keep an eye our on each other’s water consumption.

Have a cool box each with your names to keep all your food in, so someone can hand it to you.

Label everything from first aid kit to your swim costume stash, so they can be located quickly even in the dark.

A head torch is a must, but a solar powered lantern is even better!

Take spare batteries and portable batteries chargers.

Bring a variety of food and snacks, as you will crave different things throughout the day.

Make your transport to the start line and finishing line as simple and effortless as possible.

Take recovery very seriously, eat, stretch, lie down and close your eyes even if you can’t sleep.

Read more about our swim here on Bee’s blog: https://beebyme.wordpress.com/2016/09/11/the-jenbo-jets-swim-lake-geneva/

Touching France

When Eli got in at the 12th hour, it was apparent that we’re still not quite there yet. Gee would have to get back into the water. 5 years ago I crewed a channel relay when I was sick for 16 hours. I knew fine well how rough she felt, empty stomached, cold and nauseous wishing the world would stop rocking... but she only required minimal coaxing to get back in the water, what a champion! We watched and cheered as she got us closer and closer to France. When Gee got out blue and shivering from being hypoglycaemic, Eli and I helped her get changed so she wouldn’t have to look down. Relieved to know that was probably her last swim, it was back in horizontal position for Gee.

Lance had told Jo to power out as we were quite near the coast and if we don’t push and get to France before the tide changes, then it’ll be another 6hours of swimming. So she swam flat out, by the time I was standing by to get in, Lance said I would probably be doing the landing if I push hard.

The sea had been choppy in all directions since sunset. Robert got knocked into the boat, I was swallowing the sea... In the water I could see a speck of light from the light house at Cap Gris Nez, but against the pitch black sky it was hard to tell whether it was 1km or 5km. None the less I swam like I was being chased by a shark, all the way. Eli and Arabella were waving glow sticks at 15min intervals. I was feeling surprisingly fresh considering it was past 1am and we’ve been up since 5am the day before. Gunning hard out also meant I wasn’t cold, I was determined to touch France.

Gradually I could just make out the rocks under the light house. The girls held up their hands to signal 5 minutes. I kept pushing and pushing and kicking hard to generate more speed. The rocks were getting bigger and I was but a couple of hundred meters away. The dinghy appeared next to me, this could only mean one thing, I was getting escorted to shore!!!

All the sudden the boat siren sounded, I turned to look at Eli, she was waving and shouting something that I could’t hear. Never mind, I’d carry on swimming anyway... and then Rob came up from behind me! Chase, was my immediate reaction, so I did. Eli and Arabella were shouting and waving, “You gotta get out!!”. “WHAAAAAT?!!!!!” was the only thing I could think of saying.

Anyway, I got out, Rob climbed on to the sharp rocks called “Dragon’s Teeth” at the bottom of the lighthouse in 4 minutes (cut his foot open). The boat horn sounded and we made it to France in 15 hours and 4 minutes!

For people who’s not familiar with channel swimming, reaching France doesn’t mean that we could just hop out and spend the weekend there. No, the French coastguards would never allow it! (In fact, you can’t even start your swim on the French side!) So once Rob got back on the boat, we were heading straight back to Dover. We huddled up in whatever nooks we could find on board to get out of the wind and splash, quietly contemplating what we achieved in the last 15 hours, the 4 weeks of waiting, the 6 months of training... that pretty much put everyone to sleep. By the time we got back to Dover Marina car park, it was almost 5am, 24 hours ago we were just getting up to start our journey!

Unfortunately the car battery was dead because we accidentally left the light on, but Lance and Foxy were kind enough to jump start it for us so we could drive back to London. I had the impossible job of staying awake to navigate while Gee drove, I lasted till Peckham, luckily no human was hurt.

#channelswimming

The Channel at night

By the time Gee gets in for her 2nd swim, the sea wasn’t so flat any more... (but still very calm by English Channel standard).

Air temperature was cooling and wind was picking up. We were dressed more like Arctic explorer than swimmers.

At the 8th hour Jo hit a solid patch of jelly fish, there was no escaping, so she swam backstroke while squealing until we told her the coast was clear (about 45min later). I had totally forgotten to tell her that I’d brought anti-jelly cream... oops! The poor girl showed us the welts all over her arms and legs the next day...

The sun was beginning to set and I was told to put some lights on when I get in. While I was getting tangled with a glow stick and smeared with UV paint, Gee had disappeared. Just as I was about to get in the water I found her bent over the side of the boat... uh oh!

During our Gibraltar strait crossing I vomited in the water while she was drafting behind me, so it was only fair that she got me back this time (theoretically speaking).

By the time I got out (9th hour), Gee was looking worse for wear. Her medication didn’t fulfil the promise of 24hrs cover and had wore off prematurely. So I bundled her up horizontally in a sleeping bag and fed her whatever she could hold down (incidentally, mint tea with sugar worked a treat).

By now it was pitch black, apart from the precarious close encounter with a cruise ship, the only light we could follow was the one off the side of the boat.

Once again the team took turn to swim their 2nd swim.

Click here for the next post: Touching France!

Swimming across the English Channel (the wrong way!)

After briefing from the observer, skipper and pilot, our moment has finally arrived! Gee as swimmer no.1 got to start from Shakespeare Beach basking in the sun.

The boat’s siren signalled the beginning of our crossing. With long gliding strokes, she quickly took us out of the harbour and into the channel. We sat at the side of the boat cheering, waving, tweeting and taking selfies...

An hour went by quickly and Jo hopped in as instructed to take over.

However... shortly after she started, the propeller was tangled by a lobster pot rope. Lance had to get his scuba gear out to sort it. In the mean time, Jo spent 10 minutes swimming around the boat, showing off her butterfly skills.

Once they got the boat going again, Jo continued while I got changed. Unfortunately I had left my usual Spiderman cap behind due to all the rushing about, but luckily I had a spare pink Melbourne Brighton Iceberger cap in my bag! This is how we would change over, the new swimmer has to jump in behind and overtake the swimmer coming out.

The water was just over 16C but for some reason it felt quite cold (probably due to the lack of sleep and shortage of breakfast). By the time I got out, Gee had to help me get changed.

Robert took over my place as I rewarmed, refuelled and went downstairs for a lie down.

By the time Eli got in, we were already coming into contact with cargo ships.

In the meantime, it was all about refuelling and snoozing for everyone else.

Arabella got in at the 6th hour as the token breast stroker.

Click here for the next post: The Channel at Night

The Last minute prep (for a channel swim)

Luckily Jo the machine Dale was available to swim and since her team’s attempt earlier in the season was aborted, it worked out pretty well. We were quite prepared to go with 5 swimmers, since trying to find someone who’s a) willing b) capable c) available d) has all the paperwork last minute would be tricky. Clearly, we’ve under estimated Serpentine Swimming Club’s vast pot of such candidate. Rob Fisher who had completed a solo crossing this year came on board at the 11th hour and at 6:30am on Sat 2 Oct we all met up at Clapham Junction to head down to Dover.

Within 12 hours we managed to hire a people carrier, bought 20L of water and got all the supplies and logistics sorted.

People prone to motion sickness sitting at the front.... with Gee driving and Eli documenting. I was supposed to be navigating, but was distracted and we took a half hour detour...

Leaving captain Arabella, Rob and Jo tucked behind in charge of passing breakfast overhead.

We encountered operation Stack en route, and at one point we were stuck on the road for quite some nail-biting time...

Luckily we made it to Dover Marina with 12 min to spare... boat was quickly loaded and we met our observer “Oh, hello ladies!” Del Boy, skipper ex-marine Foxy and the particularly gaseous Pilot Lance.

Arabella’s pep talk for Jo.

Click here for the next post: Swimming across the channel the wrong way.

#channelswimming

Wishing and waiting and waiting some more.

It’s 8pm in the evening, we’re all glued to our phones waiting for our captain Arabella to update us on her daily phone call to Mike our pilot. Everyday for 4 weeks we were sitting and waiting and wishing for our chance to get out and swim the English Channel. For 4 weeks the updates followed the same pattern: Fri - this weekend is dodgy, Sat - possibly Thurs, but you never can tell, Sun - probably maybe, Mon - weather is moving, looking at next week… So on and so forth. Several times we had a “Well, there’s a small window at 11pm in 48hrs, but he gap is only 10hrs, there’ll be force 5 wind after that” from our pilot, but we didn’t like to take the risk of an aborted swim.

While waiting, I managed to do some catching up with the Serpentine Swimming Club and even stepped in to play a home game for Central Lacrosse which I was involved for a decade.

The week slot that we were booked in was from 5 Sep, I was hoping that our crossing would coincide with my birthday on the 6 Sep, but the wind was too strong, so we were deferred to the next week. The week after was a total wipeout. At week 3 there seemed to be a perfectly fine weather gap, however since it wasn’t our slot, the pilot had to prioritised his other clients. As it turned out, there were 3 teams of injured veteran soldiers raising money for Help For Heroes Charity attempting the Arch to Arc challenge (Run from London to Dover, Swim to France, then cycle to Paris).

As those 3 teams and the rest of the channel swimmers’ escort boats headed out, we were enviously tracking their progress online. Unfortunately the weather turned nasty after 9 hours and many of the soloists were pulled out including my friend and motivation speaker Cliff Golding. 2 out of 3 Help for Heroes team made the swim in around 20 hrs and they all continued their journey to Paris.

By week 4, most of us have given up in our mind. Natasha and Andy wouldn’t be able to make the weekend because of other commitments; I had to fly back to Melbourne on Monday; the season is coming to a close as it’s already October. Our chance of heading out was looking pretty slim. Once again we referred to Windguru website for some favourable forecast. It showed a calm blue gap for Thursday, but within hours the gap had turned into angry red squares with big numbers. Over Skype our team spoke about exit plan, refunds and commiserated each other.

By Wednesday, the forecast had changed from this:

To this, within hours...

“Guys, I’ve good news!!!” Arabella started the Wedesday update e-mail with this! There was apparently a good chance to head out on Saturday 2 Oct. So we had to find 2 other swimmers, get all the paper work sorted within 48 hours!

Click here for the next post: Last Minute Prep

#channelswimming #waiting

Dart 10K: swimming against your head.

A week has already past before I was thawed enough to write a report of the Dart 10K swim… This is what happened last week:

In true Emily style, I flew in from Melbourne to London and headed straight down to Devon for the Dart 10k swim from the airport. In total, that was a 23hr flight and 4hr of sitting in a car.

Water temperature of the River Dart was allegedly 13.5C but other sources said it was 15C. George, Jo-the-machine, the Channel Butterfly guys, Gee and I were a few of the lucky (or crazy) ones who were granted a non-wetsuit entry (only 22 out of 850 swimmers on Sat were sans wetsuit). President Norman, however wasn’t so lucky, his application was declined and had to endure teases of being in a wetsuit.

At the registration desk, we were duly greeted by a very enthusiastic Rod Newing who sorted out our entry packs. Plenty more familiar faces were at the start line, including a few #Wswim girls: Debbie and Catherine, who I used to coach, getting ready for their first 10k, as well as a colleague of Gee’s and a whole troop from the Serpentine swimming and running club. I’d even managed to catch a glimpse of my good friends Meg and Rochelle from NZ who just so happened to be visiting in the area. It felt like all my friends were gathered in one place, dressed up and ready to party, except the dance floor was a cold river and we were dolled up in swim kit and goggles.

On entering the river, it was apparent that the water was indeed 13.5C. I powered out for 20m to generate some heat, Gee was at my feet until we merged with a massive pack of swimmers. Spotting skins swimmers were thankfully easy, I could see George and Jo ahead and Gee a few swimmers in to my right. I swam as hard as I could in order to stay warm, but after 3 km or so, I was getting colder. I tried to kick harder, but all the sudden, for the first time ever my calf cramped up in a swim. It must have been a combination of 27hrs of sitting and the cold. I flexed my ankle and did a “thumb-up” with my big toe until it eased. The trade off for relaxed kick was that I couldn’t generate enough heat, my teeth started to chatter and my mind started to wander into the dark end.

The first feed station was at 4km, it was a floating platform in the middle of the river. I grabbed whatever orange drink that was on it and swigged it while treading water against the current. That brought on a new wave of cramp that crept all the way up my Quads and my entire right leg had ceased up. I rolled on to my back and stuck one arm in the air waving frantically trying to catch the attention of the safety kayaker, who rushed to my rescue. Thank goodness she wasn’t about to make a fuss and just let me hung on to the edge to straighten my leg out.

By the time the pain had subsided and I could just managed to leave my legs trailing behind while I swim, the field had petered out. George, Jo and Gee were no where to be seen, I was shivering quite badly by now, chattering in between breaths and groaning into the murky water clawing the water with numb hands. “Get out, you can get out!” it kept repeating in my head, “Get on that jet ski, get out on that bank…” over and over again. I tried to lengthen my stroke, get back into a rhythm, and staying as streamline as possible. Every time I hear “Get out!” in my head, I’d reason with, “but Gee / George / Jo / the girls I taught are still in the water…” , “I can’t let the people who sponsored me down.” Instead, I just focused on getting to the next feed stop.

Soon, I saw Rob and Kevin who recently broke the world record of swimming a butterfly English Channel relay, both in Speedos. On a different day I’d have joined them for at least a little bit of butterflying as support, but not today. I cheered them on in my head and continued to struggle to the next feed stop. It was rammed with people and at a part of the river where the current was particularly strong. I grabbed on to some poor guy in neoprene, wrapped my legs around someone else for stability, and grabbed some jelly babies. I later found out that skins swimmers could have asked for a hot drink! If only I knew… it would have made a world of difference!

The water tasted saltier and saltier, and the river widened so much that, at some point it seemed like I was alone in it (even though there were 850 people in the same patch). I had to tread water and get my bearing. In the far distance I could pick out a kayaker pointing to the right, there seemed to be a port with lots of sail boats on that side of the bank. I was really hoping that was the finishing line and aimed for the shore. Gradually, more people appeared around me, some from the slower pack who started half an hour before us and a few people in white caps from the fast group who had caught up. I stumbled up the beach, shaking like I had Parkinson’s disease, grunting like I was at Wimbledon. The walk from the beach to the actual finish line was cruelly long and sharp underfoot.

When eventually we got there, I was finally greeted with a cup of hot chocolate and escorted straight into the warm up tent filled with slightly hypothermic people. Catherine was already there wrapped in multiple Ikea blankets looking rather pale. “Emily!”, Gee ran over, she was dressed but clearly still blue on the lips and shivering. She found my clothes and fed me tea. It was another hour or so before we were warm enough to get out of the tent. Outside, we bumped into George, Jo-the-machine and the rest of the Serpies such as University-Challege-babe-Sarah, Barrister-John etc. The rest of the day we spent eating, drinking and sharing stories (sitting in a pub with wild hair and in a DryRobe).

It wasn’t until when we got back to London when Rod mentioned about swim time did we realised that Gee was first non-wetsuit woman out of the water at 2hr26.25, 4 seconds before Jo-the-machine, with me and George trailed behind at 2hr38 and 2hr41. George then swam the same 10k again the next day with another 850 swimmers, where one of my previous coaches Dan Bullock of SwimForTri was the fastest swimmer overall at 1hr56min. Both Debbie and Catherine successfully completed their first 10k!

If you’re kind enough, please help me support Frank Water charity: http://www.justgiving.com/EmSwims

While I write this, my channel relay team #NoChlorine has been waiting for a week for the weather to break so we could swim to France!

#swim #Dart10k #open water

Swim for friendship, love and adventure.

It’s been a while since my last post. Since crossing the Gibraltar Strait, I’ve pootled Busselton Ironman, practiced butterflying in a few glacial lakes in NZ and moved to Melbourne. The open water scene here is considerably smaller (what with sharks, deadly jellies, crocs and all) but it’s equally as enthusiastic. I’ve been swimming with the Glammourhead Sharks (the equivalent of Out To Swim) and with the Brighton Icebergers (the equivalent of Serpentine SC), both recommended by their respective sister clubs.

It’s been nearly 9 months since I left England, a place I spent 20 years in, I went back in August for the EuroGames in Stockholm and the Henley Bridge to Bridge swim. “It’s a long way to fly for a few swim races!” I hear you say. Yes it is, and there are plenty of swim races this side of the hemisphere too. Truth to be told, I missed my friends, my team, my coach, I’d fly to the other end of the world for a week just to see them again.

After 4 days racing in a pool in Stockholm, with barely enough sleep to recover, we arrived at Henley at “sparrow’s fart” o’clock. Henley this year was surprisingly sunny, quite a contrast to last year’s dark, rumbling sky, torrential rain and distant thunder. 500 cheerful swimmers started in 3 waves and began their 14km journey down the river Thames (For international readers, this is up stream from London, so relatively clean and leafy). With water temperature at 18C, and sun on our back, having to wear a wetsuit seemed like a typical over zealous English health and safety overkill. Once again, my best pal Geraldine was swimming right beside me. We also bumped into plenty of Serpentine chums at the start with Rod Newing in the earlier wave and bikini cladded Alice Gartland (one of the lucky few who managed to get a non wetsuit slot) who happened to be round about the same pace as us.

The mass start was pretty messy as people swam over each other, I soon lost sight of Geraldine in the swamp of thrashing black neoprene, but ended up swimming next to Alice (pink bikini, easier to spot) for most of the way to the first lock. The river is divided into sections by locks and weirs, so we have to get out every 3-4km and re-enter the water. These were also our feeding stops with drinks and sweets and crisps available for our grubby shrivelled mitts to grab. Geraldine and I regrouped at the 1st stop and after a few photos with Alice, we all set off together again.

By now, people have settled into their pace, some in groups, we were in the gap between packs, relishing the space and away from flailing arms and legs. Whenever I breathed to the left, I saw smart yachts moored on the bank and when I breathed right, spectators were walking alongside cheering swimmers on. I’ve been having a neck niggle for the past couple of weeks, so I’ve left Geraldine to do sighting ahead for me while I swam next to her. We were both tired from the pool races, adding to the lack of current; I pleaded for a gentler pace, thankfully it was kindly accepted.

When we got out of the 3rd lock at 10km point, I stood on a sharp branch and opened up the side of my toe. Blood, mud and river water made a jolly good mess. The medics duly gaffer taped it up and although it also functioned like a small parachute around my toe, it stayed on till the end. By the last 4km, the fast wave have caught up from behind and we’ve caught up with the slow wave in front and everyone’s finishing around the same time. We gave each other a prod, a smile and pointed at the finishing line, swam over, grabbed the ladder and climbed out together. It most certainly didn’t feel like 4 and half hours have past! At the finishing line, we also bumped into one of my coaches from SwimForTri in London Dan Bullock who was the pacer for the 3.5hr group as well as Charlie Frith from the Serpentine running club.

Sun continued to shine, with post swimmers sprawled out basking in the warmth. It couldn’t have been a more beautiful day to journey down the Thames amongst friends. People kept asking me about medals in Stockholm (yes, I got a couple) times at Henley (4 hrs something). Do I care twopence about medals and PB’s? only to make my then and now coach proud, but for myself? no, not really. Some people are driven by fame, glory and bling; personally, I swim for friendship, love and adventure.

Next up: Dart 10k and English Channel Relay!

Gibraltar Strait - the aftermath

After posing for a quick photo on the African rock, Emilio who was driving the RIB waved at us to get back on the boat. So we swam back and inelegantly clambered on to the RIB. It took us to the pilot boat before speeding off back to Tarifa. The return journey was equally as choppy and took more than an hour (usually 40min). I took my wetsuit off soon as I could and felt much better without being strangled by a layer of neoprene. Suzanne and Geraldine didn't feel so great...

Rafael greeted us on the shore and took some photos to put on our certificates. We found out we'd taken 5hr 50min and almost 18km to swim the strait due to the strong current, apparently we almost got pulled out at the last part but we just managed to push through. Our route was plotted on the map and where the dots are close together were the tough parts.

Filip drove us back to our accommodation to shower and change. We headed out for dinner afterwards. Surprisingly, there was little appetite, we couldn't finish 2 delicious pizzas between us...

A few days later we met up with Bobbi-Jo and her swim mates Tony and Christian for a swim down in Playa Chica. Their crossing on the day after us took 3hr50 around 15km. Rafael said they had normal predictable current while conditions were broadly the same. Nick Adams, Prince of the channel who crossed it a few years back talked me through all the details before the trip said they waited for a whole week without a window of opportunity for 3 times, and it was the 4th attempt before they could head out. Just goes to show how every crossing is different and no 2 days present the same challenge. But "With a bit of luck" and "A little help with my friends", I've "Had the time of my life". (thrown that in, just so you know how it feels to be sea sick).

PS in case you're wondering, we're called "Team Poubelles" because of the amount we eat and we'd always finish what others can't to avoid wasting food.

#gibraltarstrait #owswimming #poubelle #swimming #channelswimming

Gibraltar strait - against the current with dolphins

After the little peachy incident, I switched to just drinking water to clear the taste in my mouth, I tried to cram half a banana in at the next feed, but it refused to stay. Suzanne had asked for feeding every 30min instead of 45min, which was just as well. The sea was getting choppier and many cargo ships crossed our path and generated huge wakes. The sea temperature however, remained high at around 21C. By now I was acutely aware that I was way too warm, dehydrated and soon I'll have nothing in the tank if I can't hold a feed in or if we don't get there soon. The salinity was high and with the buoyancy of the wetsuit I wasn't able to kick at all, which meant I was overloading the arms. For the first time in a swim, my lats and triceps were tired.

Africa's hills gradually got bigger, we were well over 3/4 way in. I still couldn't hold down a feed, so when Filip signalled last mile, I only drank water, thank goodness that stayed put. Suddenly I saw something semi translucent a few meters underneath me, turns out they were big squids! Shortly after, 2 dolphins followed, I managed a massive under water grin. I never thought we'd be lucky enough to encounter wild life, so was very chuffed to see dolphins. A sneak peek at Filip on the boat, seemed like he saw some dolphins too.

Soon the water surface got calmer as we near the African coast, but the captain radioed in to say the current is changing and we needed a push hard to get out of it to get to shore. So we went for it, then suddenly a pod of maybe 50 dolphins swam into view less than 10m under us. Most of them swimming entwined in pairs with their juveniles, their belly stripes shimmering in the sun. Their clicking and high pitch communication can be clearly heard in the water. We were all swimming in the same direction for a little while before they veered off.

Feeling elated about dolphins sighting, we got closer and closer to shore. The details of the rocks and beach began to appear and it looked like we were but 800m from touching it. The captain once again radioed to say push as the current is very strong along the coastline. Geraldine switched on her outboard motor, kicked hard and sped away, Suzanne followed. With my legs still floating too high to kick and by now really no food in the tank I was struggling to go up a gear. Very soon they were out of sight,

In a pool, it would take me about 12min or so to do 800m. That last stretch however, took almost an hour. It became clear that that current was too strong to swim perpendicular into shore as we were getting swept out and sideways. So the pilot boat guided us to approach land at an angle. The RIB had gone with Geraldine and Suzanne and the captain was standing at the back of the pilot boat clapping and beckoning me to go towards him. It felt like swimming on a treadmill and I wasn't sure if I was actually moving forward. We've missed the first landing point and got swept Eastward.

Another cove came into view, the captain pointed at it so I gave it everything and pulled forward. One stroke at a time, and eventually I saw sand below! I couldn't be bothered to lift my head to sight, so I just followed the sand and watched it become shallower and shallower. Some slippery rocks appeared, I grabbed it and used it to push myself forward. Finally I stumbled up on to the rocky beach and did a double fist pump at the pilot boat.

There was a big square rock in the middle of the beach, so naturally I climbed on top of it. In the mean time Geraldine and Suzanne re-appeared on the RIB (they had landed somewhere else 4 minutes before), they leapt back into the water and swam up to join me. We stood on the rock hands in air chuffed to bits that we made it to Africa!

Click here for the aftermath

Gibraltar strait - Go go go!

At last! We got the go ahead for Wed 8 Oct 10:15am. So we rehearsed the feeding with Filip, told him which ones are our spare kit and prepped our food and drinks the night before.

When we arrived at the harbour an hour before, a lady came up to us and introduced herself as Bobbie-Jo. She said she was to swim the strait the next day so she came down to see us off. We met the captain, the other 2 crew, between our limited Spanish and their slightly better English we thrashed out the starting and finishing procedures.

Once lubed up and wetsuits on, we were on Columbo Uno setting off around the harbour with Filip on the little support boat. Ironically, our starting point was in front of the Asylum Seekers detention centre for the people who illegally got here from Africa. Once the tide changed, the captain signalled for us to swim in to touch the rocks. With one hand on the Tarifa coastline, feet treading the crystal blue water, we started our journey bathing in glorious sunshine and calm water.

Rafael had explained before that the current is strong in the first half, so we heard the captain said "Go, go go!", we set off at a good pace swimming side by side. Sand and foraging fish slowly disappeared underneath us, but the sun continued to pierce into the water. In no time, Filip signalled for our first feed. I was too warm to drink the hot stuff, so I had a cold one and some peaches. Suzanne in her Ironman mode declined food and just had a drink. The current did feel strong and it quickly got choppier as we entered into the shipping channel territory. One random wave hit me square on mid-breathing, salt water was getting up my nose and into my mouth. I changed my stroke to fit the swells and waves, following G's left knee. Suddenly a school of tuna came into view, which made us quite happy.

By 3rd feed, I had developed that horrible bitter salty taste in my mouth and Suzanne seemed to be veering off course and dropping behind. Geraldine ploughed on at good pace, I focused to stay with her and trying to get Suzanne to draft off us. I took a breath and all the sudden the 3rd feed came out as I breathed out in the water, little chunks of peaches floated past... At the time I thought I was being discreet as I carried on swimming without even pausing my stroke. Later on I found out that Geraldine was in fact swimming behind me at that point...

click here for part II

Gibraltar strait - Mañana, mañana

Having felt ready for the last 5 months, the day has finally arrived to head to Tarifa, our starting point to swim the Gibraltar strait.

Our team has 2 new members - Geraldine Treacher who also swims in the same lane as us at swim club and fellow Serpentine swimmer; also my Swedish flatmate Filip who'll be our feeder. Since the swim camp, we went to various swim events to get some milage in, including a few 5k's, Dover's notorious Champion of Champions (5+3+1 mile); Henley Bridge to Bridge (14km). We also spent a couple of mornings swimming back and forth in front of Dover Harbour under the watchful eyes of General Freda (and a fair bit of taunting from others as we were in wetsuits).

Gibraltar is a funny place were political conflicts regularly holds up incoming traffic but you can walk out of the border without having to get your passport out. We got a cab from the Spain side who took us to Tarifa in 40 min (costing 60 euros).

We'd booked a townhouse via airbnb which is lovely with plenty of room for the 4 of us to potentially hole up for 10 days. As the plane touched down, we could see boats' reflection from the glassy flat sea. Tarifa was however, noticeably windier.

We got in touch with Rafael, the guy who's in charge of the swim who told us to meet him at 11am the next day (which meant that we won't be swimming then. We later found out that someone was swimming on that day). From looking at the weather and wind forecast, the conditions looked almost perfect, so we were a bit annoyed that we weren't heading off. Towards the evening, Rafael e-mailed to change the meeting to 6pm... It's all beginning to smell a bit fishy, but eventually when we met the guy, he seems warm and friendly. He spoke in a cautious tone about the possible current strength and directions of the strait and drew multiple arrows on the map and explained the tidal situation. We gathered the main gist that current is the strongest near the coast in the first half, past the middle it'll begin to push you towards land.

He said, looking at the tidal calendar and weather forecast, Monday is no good, but let's pencil in to meet 9:30am at the harbour for Tuesday swim. Lo and behold, Monday evening he says we won't be swimming on Tues, but maybe Wednesday. It is now Tues, there's hardly any wind, water is calm and very sunny. Perhaps we'll have to get used to the Spanish way, always mañana, mañana.

Changing brake pads: when the grooves are disappearing on your brake pads, they’ll need to be changed. If you switch from aluminium wheels to carbon wheels, you’ll need to use carbon specific pads (obviously vice versa). Make sure you bought the right kind of brake pads, they’re usually called “road inserts”. Undo the bolts with the correct size Allen key, slide out the old pad (may need a good shove if it’s stuck with dirt), then slide in the new pads. Brake pads are labeled ie. forward, left, the groove is for the space for the little bolt that you just took off. PS front and back brake pads are the same.

To adjust brake or gear cables, simply give the adjuster shown in photos 1/4 turn. If unsure which way to turn, put your finger on the cable and feel whether it’s tightening or loosening as you turn it.

For the rear gear, turn the pedals as you turn the adjuster, you’ll see the rear mech eventually go into the right gear. For the front gear, you don’t need to turn the pedals, you’ll see the front mech move as you twist the adjuster.

The basics of road bike gear and brake system: they’re all controlled by cable tension. Most of the time when your gear is playing up and brake feels spongey, it’s because the cables are too slack (could be a combination of heat, slipping through the bolt, minute stretch of new cables. Sometimes, cables can be too taut, but this rarely happens. The shifters (the thing on the handle bars that you wrap your hands on when riding) makes the cable a bit tighter or slacker depending on whether you shift up or down.

5 steps to become a successful athlete

When I was little, I used to think Olympians and other incredible athletes are born special, with amazing genes which I don't have. So I've been told anyway (by tiger parents). How else could they have been that fast /strong / good/ keep going for so long?

Fast forward 20 years later, I'm friends with pro athletes, record breaking swimmers, Olympians, I've trained alongside them. Hang on a minute, I've won races too, made it to several world champs, I've even beat Sporty Spice in a triathlon! How did that happen? I don't have special genes!

As it turned out, tiger parents may have your welfare at heart, but not necessarily your interests. The truth is, it's all about hard work, discipline and persistence. To grasp a technique, you need to repeat it hundreds, thousands and millions of times; to be fast, you need to handle the pain and recover well; to go long, you need fight the boredom, manage niggles and eat well.

As I write this blog, swim chum Vicky "Rocket" Miller is 7 hours into swimming from England to France. It usually takes people around 12hrs+, but by the look of the charts, she's almost there. No, she doesn't look like Michael Phelps (actually she kind of resembles Anne of Green Gables). Every weekend she spends hours swimming in Dover harbour, by hours, I mean 7hr on sat, 8hr on sun, that kind of thing, rain or shine, in chilly, sometimes frigid cold water. There marks our difference when competing in the notoriously gruelling Champion of Champions race (3 races of 5,3,1 mile back to back, non wetsuit, cold water) She won it with an aggregated time of 3hr 45; I came 12th with 5hr10. The difference between me and a whole bunch of swimmers who pulled out was that I refused to listen to the voice that said "get out, it's warmer on the beach" (and not have slashed my hand open like Chris in the photo did. Vicky on the left.).

Leon, whom I met at a training camp won an Olympic medal in diving (which I didn't realise for days hanging out with him). He talked about stories of repeatedly failing before success. He's taken up triathlon and I asked how he paced himself, he said "I just go as hard as I can until I'm sick in my mouth". Ever since, that's all I can think about during a sprint or Olympic distance race.

So here are 5 simple steps to becoming a successful athlete:

1) Play to your strength. eg. If you're tall, try basketball, if you're carry a lot fat, be a channel swimmer!

2) Pick the right race. If you want to win a race, pick one that you can win eg. no luck in basketball, try handball. If you want to learn something new, pick a race that you can't win but will be racing alongside people much better than you are.

3) Train smart, eat well, sleep early. Always give it your best.

4) Be patient. It takes 6 weeks for you body to adapt to small changes. It takes several years for your body to adapt to high volume training.

5) Learn how to look after niggles and injuries; differentiate between good pain and bad pain. Failing that, have a good sports massage therapist / physio / Osteo at hand.

Guide to going to UTÖ swimrun

If you're travelling from outside Sweden, here's some useful travel tips to get to UTÖ:

Getting into Sweden: fly to Stockholm Arlanda or Bromma airport

Getting into Stockholm: from Arlanda, either take the airport express (20min, 260SEK, but only 480 SEK for 4 people) or the airport bus (serves Bromma, too) run by (Flygbussarna, Swebus and SL) 105SEK takes 45min, or commuter train J36 (30min) All goes to Stockholm Central Station (also called T-Centralen). You can buy a zone A-C ticket (125 SEK) from ticket counter at Arlanda, then you can take the commuter train from the airport all the way to the port with the same ticket. If you get said ticket, make sure to show it to the attendant inside the glass box who'll let you through the turnstile (don't need to do this as you exit).

From Stockholm central station, take the commuter train (pendeltåg) to Västerhaninge (pronounced "fair-ster-horn-ing-ah". Although, when we were there, there were engineering work, so we changed at Farsta Strand) where there the frequent bus 846 (which seems to be free) outside the station will take you to Årsta brygga (Årsta pier) where you catch the Waxholm or a Silverpilen ferry to UTÖ (about 1hour). The pier that you want to get off at Utö is called Gruvbryggan. The race organiser organises free ferry transfer, but say if you arrive earlier / decided to stay for longer, the ferry is 75SEK per person, if you wear the race t shirt / hoodie, they just don't seem to charge you at all. See here for ferry timetable. Look for Från [from] Årsta till [to] Gruvbryggan (Utö) and the correct day: Fredag [Friday] Lördag [Sat] söndag [sunday]

Once at Gruvbryggan pier, head up the only road that goes uphill. UTÖ Vardshus provides a variety of accommodation choices depending on your budget from hostel bunks to cabins to hotel room. If you're staying in the hostel, then look for the big white house with lots of balconies on the right hand side half way up the hill. Cabins to the left; Hotel at the top of the hill to the right with a big UTÖ Vardshus sign.

(photo: of cabins)

Room rate includes breakfast which is an elaborate buffet that would impress most travellers (no porridge though, but I didn't miss it.) I had freshly made waffles / muesli/ yoghurt / fresh orange juice / crackers / eggs / fruit / berries instead).

There is a supermarket if you walk right at the pier, where you can buy supplies to cook your own dinner at the hostel or cabin. Or just eat at the hotel restaurant for gourmet dinner served by handsome waiter / beautiful waitress in white captain's uniform (expect to pay for the high standard though).

Once you've finished the race and want something more than a race t shirt to go home with, head to Hamnmagasinet at the harbour. They sell cool UTÖ logo beanies / stripey t shirts / hoodies with a maritime theme.

Please see here for an interactive map of all aforementioned places.

PS Just about everyone speaks fluent English, so just ask and say "Tack" (thank you).

All info as of June 2014.

#uto #utoswimrun #otillo

Trending Blogs

Recently Viewed Blogs

Blog M