No! Not that one in Chile, but salty one we like to swim in at the weekends...
Dover on Saturday was sunny, warm and flat, flat, flat. It was like Freda and Barrie had been up all night ironing the water. A perfect day to test the kids with a longish swim. An hour. With the water so flat and calm the harbour really does look like a giant swimming pool.
Not everyone is here this weekend as it's half term. Some are on holiday or school trips. There are still 12 of the young swimmers which is quite enough, with parents, for a merry band. Everyone is in a good mood, party atmosphere on the beach. Coffee brewing, sun cream being applied.
I haven't scheduled any kayakers for this weekend so have roped in extra swimmers instead. This weekend I have Jerry, Smiley Katie, Katherine M and Alan plus myself swimming with the kids, with Cliff joining us for the second swim as Jerry has to get off early. Jerry and Katherine have swum with us every weekend we've been in Dover now, and are really getting to know the kids well. Good for me and good for the kids, and now I can get great feedback from Katherine and Jerry on how the individual swimmers are doing. I trust their judgment fully.
I check in with Freda, having decided that the team should swim for an hour first swim. She agrees with the strategy. I want to give them a bit of a longer swim whilst the conditions are great, in case it clouds over or the wind picks up. Might as well push them past their comfort zone while conditions are good. An hour means that all the kids can do a whole circuit of the harbour (around 3km), which will be an adventure. They haven't even been down the far end of the harbour (towards 'Trumpton' and the knee ticklers) yet.
Sunblock on, and greased up, we set off into the water at about 9.45am. Actually, for all the sun and heat on the beach, the cold water (around 14C) is a bit of a shock! Soon get used to it though. The pack sets off to the left, swimming in an arrowhead off towards the harbour wall. They look lovely swimming together.
I am at the back with Sean, who is finding it hard to keep his head in the water. I keep encouraging him to put his head in, he keeps swimming polo stroke with it right out. He's a faster swimmer than this, but because he's keeping it out, it's making it much harder for himself. I wish I could do it for him but I can't so I just keep exhorting him. In the end I leave him swimming with Alan and head off to swim with Devon, Anna and Tom in our little pod. Devon has had 15 hours sleep this week in total as she's been off doing Duke of Edinburgh and is very tired (and emotional, her mom says). I tell her to take it easy and swim relaxed so she's swimming with our group, slower than her usual pace. She's getting a little cold so keep trying to encourage her to swim off and back in a loop. I can see that she's champing at the bit to get going. Tom and Anna are doing a great job - Anna is still recovering from a nasty bike accident and still has dressings covering her elbow and hip, but that doesn't stop her from giving it her all. Tom feels the cold but still swims along without a complaint. He keeps veering off to the right, which amuses me in it's predictability. Fortunately, when I call out to him if he's veered off too much, he can hear me and rejoins us.
The groups have now worked themselves naturally into comfortable groups. Katherine is up the front with Hannah (who between swims has her head diligently in revision), Dan and Ciaran. A healthy rivalry is developing between Dan, Hannah and Katherine! Not sure that Katherine is too pleased with it and is looking forward to whipping Dan in to shape. Ciaran continues to exhibit very odd resistance to the cold by wandering around after the swim in just a tee shirt. Is he trying to make me look like a softie?!
The middle group this week is everyone else - Abi, Ella, Amina, Daniel, and Matilda. Ella grinning and enthusiastic as usual, as are Matilda and Abi. Some of the girls are still on a high after their weekend swimming and walking in Snowdonia. Daniel is doing well still and fine in the water although he's cold afterwards. He recovers from the cold though, and it doesn't ever stop him getting in again.
But this weekend it's Amina who has hopefully set an example to them all. After having a tough time at the last Dover training session – having to be towed out by a kayaker as she was too cold – she took herself down, mid week, to Parliament Hill lido to do extra sessions in cold water. This weekend it was like she'd been replaced by her much more positive and hardy twin sister. Came out of the water, after an hour in the sea with the middle group, grinning from ear to ear. Great stuff. Just goes to show how much acclimatisation really helps.
The second swim for all was 45 mins, which they pretty much all completed. Pat on the backs to them all. They are really getting there. Next time I'm hoping for warmer water, coupled with much more choppy conditions to test them. Some long swims ahead, but I have no doubt at all that they will manage everything I throw at them. We are now only a handful of weeks away and we have to be as ready as we can for the challenge ahead...
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