Browsea Swim

Sun August 17 2008
Listed by Hollywoof!
Entrants (1) Club PB SB Pred Time WAVA
Hollywoof! Browsea island race Pre-race was much more relaxing than last year - been there done it before. Start was a bit frantic though - there was quite a fast current pulling everyone past the start line and there was some confusion on the hooter. First stretch was fast - caught up in the current I found myself out wide and flying along... first corner I discovered the problem of being out wide - took a long time to get to the corner - treadmill swimming. Alongside the bird reserve and Shiraz was alongisde me - hello... then I pulled away forwards. Next the big long bay where I lost Shiraz last year - she followed the coast line I went the direct route and somehow she got to the next turn ahead... this year I was not going to be so stupid.... only I could see how much of a detour the curve of the bay was... surely if I just cut across I would save loads of time.... five minutes later I could see Shiraz's white hat in a group with four or five others - all of them at least 100m closer to the shore than me.... and then the waves started.... bosh wallop roll bam.... by the time we left the bay I was down maybe 30m on them.... And then came the big waves... for the next two bays (no idea how long this was in metres) there was just wave after wave after wave. Fairly big and really close together, they kept hitting from the front and right. Really struggled here - missed a few strokes where I reached and started pulling only to discover the water simply disappeared beneath me; had lots of places where I just lost rhythm; a couple of places where I lost all momentum; also had one little chunder after drinking a little bit too much salt. Half way yacht finally came into sight; suddenly there were a lot of swimmers around me. Round the the pier, now with waves following rather than pounding. Looked to my left and saw a line of three red hats... meaning they were all blokes in wetsuits - so all of us should be racing. The next corner was a shallow one... I should have remembered this from last year - but instead I ended up getting beached (well actually it was more rock-pooled than beached) and having to drag myself over the rocks in maybe just 30cm of water. Then the long stretch home... the tide following us, much calmer water sheltered from the wind, lots more shallow (but swimmable) bays and one of the three red hats constantly on my left... and another one constantly behind me - I knew they were there as they were very very annoying - they must have hit my feet maybe 15 times during the way back. Then the guy on my left cuts across, then he's got clear water and he's pulling away. He looks good, his stroke looks strong. I consider letting him go.... But push push push - doesn't matter how good he looks - we've been together for 4 miles so he's no better than me. I take the inside line... push forwards.... push for home... for the next few minutes I see no-one. Don't know what's happened, but then I can see the finish line - the yacht with the flags - it's maybe 200m to go. Now where are my three red hat friends? I can't see them, but I'm guessing they are right behind me and since one of them has been brushing my toes for the last mile, then I'm guessing he's more than capable of coming past... so push push push... 50m to go - look left and back, look right and back. I don't see anyone coming... still paranoid about the others though - so still push.... Reach strong through the finish line, long strokes, strong strokes, even some leg kicking. Cross the finish line, get a shout from Shiraz. Get some soup to tack away the taste of the salt water. Time - 1:38:25 - thirty seconds faster than last year - but in much harder conditions. Shiraz meanwhile was about two and a half minutes ahead of me - she was behind me at the start, opened up the gap during that bay, then kep going much better through the rough stuff. She's was also helped by having a bit of a ding dong battle with another lady in the second half. At the end she was delighted to have beaten me.... but then she was a bit upset when we found out she was fourth lady.... knowing that the first three would get trophies and knowing that she'd let that other lady get the better of her in the closing stretch.... Then at the end there was a lot of hanging around... the RLSS crew do a lot of safety and paperwork for the race and it took a long time before they did the presentations.... and then came Shiraz's moment of glory - they announced she was first lady.... much to our amusement.... although the real lady was very very indignant about the result - clearly no sense of humour.... some five minutes later, the real results have been calculated.... and somehow Shiraz is third and so she does get her moment of glory and a plaque to keep (the reason for the earlier fourth confusion was that we think someone was entered in the wrong category...) Unaffiliated 1:38:25 19.97

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