DCT Week 18 - who turned off summer this weekend?
A change in weather
We really do see it all in Dover. Last year we started the season with hailstones. This year we’ve had blisteringly hot weekends, windy weekends, rain and now a cold weekend. It was definitely warmer in the water than out at times. It’s easy to think that the summer is done, but we’ve been here before and I suspect a typical September Indian summer is just around the corner. August does tend to be a bit windy at times and just when the nerves are frayed, September can be gorgeous. I have done some amazing swims in September.
I’ve been pretty tired this week, which is fairly typical for this point in the season for me. Running Dover is so much more than sitting on a beach at the weekend. There is a lot of planning and communication that goes on, alongside running a business and earning a salary. When I get tired, I also get cold. This picture is Mandi & I on the beach after the start on Sunday. Spot the difference in layers!! OK, so there is a bit of poetic licence there, but I wasn’t too hot in all those layers, well not until I had a hot flush (but that’s another story!).
I don’t know if you are one of the contributors to the COVID-19 Symptom Study (ZOE), I am. Each day I log how I am. I’ve noticed that if I report any symptoms of not feeling great for two consecutive days (not even ones seemingly related to COVID-19), I get asked to do a COVID-19 test. I’ve now done a staggering 5 of these. The latest was this week. Just after last weekend I was feeling particularly off colour, possibly just a cumulation of exhaustion that can happen at this point in the season. So I took myself to the testing station as suggested. I was really quite nervous about this one, not because of what it might mean to me, but because of what it might mean to swimmers who are about to do their swim.
If I tested positive for COVID-19, I could use our digital records to let everyone who I’d been in contact with know. Whilst I had the reassurance that we have pretty good COVID-19 protocols primarily to protect YOU from US when you are on the beach, that would be little compensation if someone was asked to self-isolate whilst waiting for test results and meaning they may miss their swim. Worse still if they also tested positive.
As humans we are not perfect and as we work as a team on the beach, and remind each other if we are about to do something and forget a piece of PPE.
I tested negative which was a relief.
It did remind me though that I actually am exposed to very little risk of contracting COVID-19, generally. I work from home. I only go grocery shopping every 2-3 weeks. We have strict COVID-19 protocols at the swimming club. Chances are, if I had picked up COVID-19, it would have been in Dover.
So, whilst we will continue to protect you from us, please can I remind you of our request for you to return the favour and wear face masks on the beach if at any point you are likely to be within 2m of the beach crew or of each other. It would reduce the risk of causing someone’s swim to be cancelled for potentially avoidable reasons.
DOVER SWIMS
Saturday:
Swimmers: 7 (over 2 start times)
Water temperature: 18.5C
Air temperature: 16.4C
Conditions: Force 5 gusting F6 from NNW. It was overcast with ripples on the water and rough along the buoy line.
Sunday:
Swimmers: 6 (over 2 start times)
Water temperature: 18.4C
Air temperature: 15.8C
Conditions: Choppy with some swell. Fairly rough at high water but calm by ferry wall. Force 5 gusting 6 from N. Mostly overcast with light rain at times.
Quick facts:
It is at about this point in the season where our numbers start to thin out. Normally, though, that is from a starting point of large numbers. This year we’re going from small numbers to really small numbers! Probably the sort of numbers that Freda had when she started training in Dover.
We had 8 swimmers join the long swims
And just 1 swimmer swim both days
Well done to Joe who swam an incredibly strong 6 hours in challenging conditions on Saturday and came back for a slightly shorter swim on Sunday.
We welcomed 4 new swimmers this weekend.
A few of us enjoyed a social distant fish & chip lunch on the beach at the end of training on Sunday.
Margaret & Vera after their dip
CHANNEL SWIMMER ON THE BEACH
It was lovely to see Phill Crutcher back on the beach and back in the water for his lap of honour on Sunday. Don’t forget to return to the beach to celebrate your success with you. We love to hear your stories and congratulate you in person.
OTHER GOINGS ON
It really is lovely to spend time on the beach at weekends. At the busy part of the season it’s pretty full on with always something that needs to be done. At this point in the season we can enjoy the smaller things. Like watching Keith & Mandi trying to unravel a bundle of rope used for the feeding bottles that somehow became very tangled when just sitting in a bag. Or watching Jon be a bird magnet.
Jon’s corner
Perhaps we need a Jon corner rather than an Emma Corner. Jon’s words of wisdom this week were that it’s best to get in and do your swim straight away rather than leave it to the end of the session (I completely agree with that and it can be tricky to get in on time when you’re used to also being a volunteer). His other words of wisdom were that it is good to have someone to be accountable to. If you’re training in Dover with DCT then you have that with the beach crew. If you’re training independently, then tell someone what you plan to do and tell them what you actually do. You’re far more likely to do what you promise if you’ve told someone. It’s far easier to justify in your head getting out early if you’re only accountable to yourself.
VOLUNTEERS
Nicola - thanks for helping out on Saturday
Thank you to Paul, Mandi, Nicola and Keith for helping out this weekend. Thank you to the local swimmer who grabbed the bucket of crocs that made a break for a swim as Mandi & Paul were frantically undressing to make chase! No crocs were lost or hurt in this production!
If you’d like to sign-up to volunteer, please use this link and select volunteer rota. There are a number of ways that you can help and full training & PPE is provided.
Next year we will be particularly reliant on volunteers to join us as some / all of our 2020 regular volunteers will also be training. If you’re curious as to whether this is for you, it may be worth taking a look this year to assure yourself that this is something that you’ll enjoy helping with.
BADGE WEEKEND
Because of the need to minimise large groups at this time due to COVID-19 restrictions, we can’t hold our traditional end of season BBQ and that is a shame. So what can we do? Well, we thought that if you still wanted to achieve something this year and your other plans had been postponed, then why not get yourself a badge on our last weekend of the year.
Chances are that the water will be too warm for a qualifying swim, but you could still do a back to back 7 & 6, after all, don’t they say ‘Go big or go home!’? What a way to end the season.
So if you’re tempted, book in to the sessions in the normal way. You’ll only be able to select 6 hours, but don’t worry, there will be 7 hour options for anyone who wants them on the Saturday. Badges will be available at £4 each to those who complete a 7 & 6 on the same weekend.
Come on, you know you want to….
I know of 4 people already interested.
Book your session here. Choose Dover weekend training sessions. I have now released all sessions for the remainder of the season.
EMMA’S CORNER - REMEMBER YOUR ‘WHY’
We all have our own unique story for taking on a swim, be that a relay or a solo, be that the English Channel or somewhere else in the world.
We do the training and sometimes, just occasionally, we lose the love for it in training or on the big day. We let the demons in. The demons can feel real but they are really not.
Your ‘why’ is your rainy day insurance. It’s the thing that can help you remember the reason that you made the decision. If you have a good ‘why’ it is this that can help you through a bad patch.
In my experience, those who have a compelling ‘why’ do not lose the why even if they lose the desire for a moment or two. If they walk away from a swim or don’t make it on their first attempt, for whatever reason, the ‘why’ remains at the back of the mind. I’ve actually lost count of the number of people who come back saying that they didn’t make it 10 years ago or they had this dream as a child and it hasn’t left them.
Remember your why on your big day. It doesn’t matter what your why is, it is your why, and no one elses. If you have a wobble, even a small one, remember your why. Because you will be back and you’ll have to go through all that you’ve already been through all over again if you don’t just finish it on that day. So really, it’s much easier physically and mentally to simply keep going and complete your swim on that occasion than to have to come back another time, you’re already well invested. Mark my words, you will be back again.
My story
If I think back to how I got into the sport. I was a distinctly mediocre late onset master swimmer. I enjoyed the camaraderie of competing with my fellow masters swimmers at the club. I soon learned that I needed to do the things that other people didn’t want to do in order to get anywhere. I didn’t have the benefit of years of club swimming as a child to fall back on. The things that other people didn’t want to do included the longer freestyle events and events like 200m butterfly. I made my niche at the margins of events.
Since I was doing the 1500m type events I thought I’d try the odd open water swim. They weren’t so bad.
Over the period of 2003-2005 I worked on my speed and got to the point where I could qualify for the European Masters Championships to be held in Stockholm. The World Masters Games were also being held that summer in Edmonton in Canada, not too far from where my sister lived (Calgary). There were no qualifying times for the World Masters Games, just a limit to the number of events that you could enter. In the case of both the European Championships and the World Masters Games, you could also tag on an open water event too. I thought why not.
The World Masters Games came first. I had been able to choose between the 1km, 2km or 3km distances. I figured that those who could would do the 3km, those that couldn’t would do the 1km and no one would enter the 2km. I was right. There were only 3 competitors in the 2km event and I walked away with a bronze medal (note, I would also have won a bronze in the 1km event with more entrants in it).
The relay that started it all
Life was pretty good. A friend called me in that moment and asked me to be part of a channel relay. Before I had time to work out when or what it entailed I said yes. It was only 3 weeks away. I was petrified. I tried to fail the medical! But the day (15 years ago on 29th August) was incredible. We got across in a ridiculous time (9 hrs 40mins) and I was left wanting more. Now I didn’t know that it was a ridiculously fast time at that point and I had no idea what a solo would entail. But then, right there, that seed of curiosity was planted. Everything that I have achieved since came down to the chain of events that took me to Canada. It has been a whirlwind of adventure.
My ‘why’ remains around curiosity.
What is your ‘why’?
PHOTOS
A few photos from this weekend.
