Week 9: Moonlight & memories

I think this is the fourth year that we have run night swims and they continue to be popular. Each year we tweak how we run them and how we set them up. This year was the first year that we have started the setup in daylight the night before. That significantly reduced the stress that goes with getting ready on time (it takes a good few hours to set up), but the downside is that once it’s set up we have to stay on the beach - i.e. no sleep!! Still, it was nice to experience Dover over night, with the exception of the youths with their 80s size beat box asking for a light and regular rounds from the local constabulary, it was all quiet, just us, the ferries coming and going, the lights from the Disney cruise ship and the moon and starlight.

We even got to say good luck to Jon before he headed out for his solo swim and then saw him come back as all the boats heading out turned back again as the conditions were not as forecast. I was particularly impressed when he then rolled up his sleeves and helped with the night swim and went on to swim the Champion of Champions event. Fantastic resilience and adaptability to change.

Later on Saturday we had the pleasure of the company of the SwimTayka swimmers again. It’s not long now until the first swim goes ahead and I’m looking forward to tracking you across.

Sunday was business as usual. Lots of people from different groups chilling on the beach after their swims. That is until the heavens opened and people scarpered leaving the DCT beach crew and swimmer supporters getting a tad soggy!!

Your pod leaders’ observations

What did we notice this week?

There were many happy smiling faces during the night swim and from Paul’s view in the kayak, the swimmers seemed to enjoy themselves. From our vantage point on the beach we could clearly see all the blinking lights, including those who had a few directional control issues!

It’s great to practice something that simulates what you might expect to see on the day. Whilst on the big day you’ll be swimming alongside a boat rather than navigating a lit up swim zone, many swims start at this sort of time of day. It’s good to get used to putting suncream on in the dark, having breakfast at the wrong time of day and to getting to the swim in the dark. The water can look different. The air temperature can be different. But sunrise, sunrise makes it all worth it! Some seemed to be surprised by being disorientated and dealing with night demons. Some also had learnings around the air temperature dip that can happen just before dawn. Also once the sun rose there were battles with tiredness and motivation to keep going after the excitement of the night had passed. All good learning experiences. There were also learnings around the use of adventure lights lights and the importance of clear goggles. All of these learnings are ones which can be banked for the big day.

Swim buddies - there were many examples of swimmers helping swimmers to beat demons and stay in the water this weekend. It’s particularly lovely when we see it work both ways and the same swim buddies help each other either during different sessions or the same session. When you’ve succeeded despite the demons you have a skill that you can bank for the big day.

‘BUCKET!’ It was a big spring tide this weekend. At one end we had challenges with cut feet on sharp rocks at low water and at the other extreme we had several ‘BUCKET’ moments where the tide rushed in so quickly that it was only the buckets that saved the crocs from joining their owners for a swim. Even the kayak tried to make an escape at one point. I’m so glad we use buckets now and not just lines of crocs on the beach!!

Oh and I had a moment of ‘luck’ when a seagull pooped on me. Whoever decided that was luck has an interesting sense of humour! My hoodie was coated and the beach crew coffees had a narrow escape!!

Shout outs

When you are involved in a sport like ours, you surround yourself with people who routinely do amazing things. You’re all pretty darn amazing to be honest. These shout outs aim to highlight some of the breakthrough moments or big training weekends that we notice. There are many more. Please please give yourself a shout out in our Facebook group if you had a personal breakthrough moment or are proud of your achievements. I’d love to hear about it.

Josh Stratford 7 and 6.
Helen Powell 6 & 6
Phil Cooper for 6 & 5
Beth Marriott Murphy & Laura Hardy for their 6s
Everyone who did the Champion of Champions on Saturday and then swum on Sunday as well.
Lucy Bessant doing over 3 hours in skins - something that would have been inconceivable at the beginning of the season
Slipway Steve making 4 hours look easy
Loved ones and supporters who also stayed up through the night to support their swimmer.
And everyone who participated in the night swim. Whilst a very special session, it is still a challenge to get up at silly o’clock and throw yourself into the sea.

Any omissions in this section are purely accidental.

Channel swimmer on the beach!

We’re coming to that part of the season where swimmers are coming back, victorious, from their swims. This year we have medals for those who have training subscriptions for marathon swims (over 10 miles) and for English Channel solos.

We gave away two medals this weekend…..

Jon Southey - marathon swimming medal following his successful Windermere swim

Melanie Holland - the first lady ever, and only the second person to complete a Jersey to France two way swim!!

A few of our end of session celebrations

Swim stats

Before I start to share stats from the weekend, given that we have almost reached the end of another month, I thought I’d give you another update on how many people are now signed up to do some or all of their training with us:

Membership:

We have:

141 Members
99 Non-members who simply pay as you go

Training

62 People who have a monthly or annual solo or relay training subscription
178 Pay as you go swimmers

Weekend Stats

Note: Water temperature taken during the swim session in the harbour. The lowest recorded reading is shown here. Air temperature, wind direction & wind speed taken from the Port of Dover app.

Saturday (3am start):

Swimmers: 28
Water temperature: 16.0C
Air temperature: 14.2C
Conditions: Swell to start, otherwise calm. Swim from moonlight to sunshine. F3 SW

Saturday (SwimTayka session):

Swimmers: 9
Water temperature: 15.9C
Air temperature: 15.5C
Conditions: Sunny & flat, bit of chop later. F1 gusting F2 E. Busy water with BLDSA CoC event also taking place.

Sunday:

Swimmers: 34
Water temperature: 16.6C
Air temperature: 17.6C
Conditions: Flat at start and end, however either side of high water there was a nasty chop. Light sea mist, cool breeze. Rain at the end. F3 gusting F4 NE.

Volunteers & beach crew

Thank you to the pod leaders and to our volunteers. Kirill was on the rota for Sunday and thank you to everyone who helped out on both days. Thank you to Piers for helping with mixing feeds on Sunday.

A special shout out to Brian Alborough for his SUP based safety support for the night swim. Also to Jon who was due to be out on his own solo which got pulled before he got wet. Rather than disappearing off to bed he helped with the start of the night swim before then completing the BLDSA Champion of Champions event - that demonstrate impressive resilience to accept a significant change in plan.

Reminders

Remember to book your sessions online. Bookings close 24 hours before the session, it would be a massive help if you booked by Thursday morning.

The system doesn’t arrange automatic refunds, so please message me if you cancel ahead of these deadlines and I’ll arrange a refund.

You don’t need to sign into the website to book a session - just pop your email address in to the booking system and it will remember you. Remember to click into the discount code box if you are a subscriber and it will auto complete your discount code. If you are a pay as you go swimmer and are also a member, remember to use your discount code to get your membership price.

As we’re now at the end of the month, those who have a monthly subscription that runs from 1st of each month, your next payment will be taken on 1st July. If you no longer wish to continue your monthly subscription, please remember to cancel. If you need help with this, please just ask.

Pod Ponderings: Unwanted passengers

Demons, most people come up against them at some point in training or on the big day. I have certainly faced more than my fair share. At the time you don’t always recognise them as demons, they’re clever like that. They can present themselves as something that feels very real.

There was a swimmer a couple of years ago, let’s call him Max, who had previously had shoulder issues, and had surgery to fix the issue. Nothing was going to get through the reconstruction that surgeon did. However, the fear of what could happen isn’t as easy to get rid of.

I remember one particular training session where Max came to the beach because his shoulder was hurting and he needed to get out. I said ‘Max, look, there’s the seal!’ For Max, this was exciting. He swam off towards the seal like an olympian. All thoughts of a sore shoulder were forgotten.

The thing is, the shoulder pain was real. I know it was. It’s just that the real pain was created first in the head.

Max spotted this for himself too. The shoulder pain demon didn’t come back after that.

Think of these demons as unwanted passengers. They’re coming along for the ride with you uninvited.

You could ask them to leave.

You could just say to them, I know you’re there. I’m not interested in what you have to say. Come along for the ride if you want, but we’re going my way, not your way. That way, you acknowledge them and then take the wind out of their sails.

Have you spotted demons in your swims? How do they present themselves? Do you need help to deal with them? If you do, get in touch.

Next week

We have another 10 hour opportunity next week on either the Saturday or Sunday. If you are interested in testing yourself over a 8 or 10 our swim, please get in touch for further information. The start time for these swimmers only will be different.

Photos

A few photos from the weekend….

Spotlight in the shop

You’ve now seen the medals, we sell these too for those who don’t have training subscriptions with us. And who doesn’t love a badge!! Which ones have you earned?