MY OPEN WATER SWIMMING EXPERIENCE
MY OPEN WATER SWIMMING EXPERIENCE, Saturday 4th June 2022 - written by Hari Subramaniam, D2 Squad
Waking up on the Jubilee weekend, but instead of the usual 7:15 swimming class, I was looking forward to a 6:45 open water swimming opportunity at Westhorpe lake. It dawned on me as we drove to the lake that it was going to be freezing. Not only had my dad woken me up early to swim, he was bringing me to a freezing cold lake in the tranquil but frosty twilight.
The night before I told my dad that I won’t need a wetsuit, I will jump in and get used to the cold, but as we arrived my views had suddenly changed. So we hired a wetsuit and slowly and precariously, with help, I slid the wetsuit on, learning about the precautions and tricks required so that it came back in one piece.
A few group pictures were taken by Gillian and then we were led down by Keiran to the jetty. By now, I had become used to the outside breeze, but I knew that the water held harshness. I walked past the ladder and went for the jump. This way I couldn’t climb back out if it was too cold. After submerging myself in the lake, I couldn’t even feel the cold anymore, in fact, I felt slightly warmer. The magic of wearing a wetsuit!
The lake had 400m & 750m routes marked with buoys. Kieran decided to lead us on a 400m swim, to begin with. From then on, we swam to the first point, then to the second, then the third, and then the fourth. I readied myself for the challenge ahead, as now we were to attempt the 750 metres. For this one, we couldn’t even see the point as it had been blown away the day before. Our only instructions were to swim to the end of the bank. This time I felt relaxed because even though we were swimming constantly, I could enjoy the tranquility. We then finished the 750m and because it was so enjoyable, plus spare time, we did another 400m. In total, we swam 1500 metres, but I still wanted to do more.
After the experience, I asked my dad to buy me a wetsuit because it was so enjoyable. Waking up early was worth it, because I got to have a joyous and unwinding experience. I look forward to doing more open water swims(hopefully my dad remembers to buy a wetsuit) and if you haven’t tried it, I would highly recommend giving it a go!
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Thank you Hari for a wonderful description of your open water experience. We'd love to see more swimmers giving it a go!
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