Relocated swimathon

 Last year a group of Wellington swimmers travelled north to participate in the Swim for Starship Swimathon at Mairangi Bay. It was such a good day, and such a fun trip that I was very keen to go again in Novmber 2021. A group of 5-6 of us were also eager, and we booked flights. Of course, with the delta outbreak in Auckland going on and on, things had begun to look a bit sticky in October, and just when I was trying to decide whether to cancel and credit my flights, AirNZ made the decision for me by cancelling our flights.  A couple of weeks later, Swim T3 put out an announcement that the Swimathon itself would need to be cancelled because of restrictions on large gatherings.

Still, the opportunity to do a long day of swimming remained appealing, and as I needed to do a 5-6 hour training swim, I decided to do my own swimathon here in Oriental Bay. 27 November seemed like a good day to do it, so I set up a donation page for Starship  and planned what I'd do. The Mairangi Bay course is approx 1 mile (1600 metres), so I settled upon a course of approximately the same length, conveniently marked out by our local landmarks: beach - 2nd buoy - fountain - pontoon - pontoon - beach. It's about 1250-1400 metres per lap, depending on whether the buoys have moved and how straight you swim. I decided to do 15 laps, so the total distance would be just over 20km. My plan was to swim two laps (touching sand between every lap, of course!) and then have a quick fuel stop. 

On Thursday afternoon we felt heartened that Met Service suggested a change of wind direction from gusty northerlies to light southerlies at around 9am on 27 November, making for a fairly calm day of swimming. However, by lunchtime on Friday, the northwesterly wind was gale-force, and the forecast for Saturday was 20km northerlies, changing southerly at around 4pm. Bother. However, 20km is very swimmable, just a bit sloppy. 

Sarah, Eliza, Mike and I assembled on the beach just before 7.30am on Saturday, established a feeding/aide station under the pohutukawa, and hit the water. The breeze was lively, but aside from a bit of chop heading out to the second buoy, it was pretty OK. There was also a nice push from the second buoy back to the fountain, which boded well. These conditions continued into the second and third laps (Rebecca joined in from the third lap).  However, from the fourth lap on, the wind seemed to pick up a bit, and the chop moved from mischievous to boisterous to unruly. We had an extra swimmer, Nathan, with us for a few laps as well and his fresh arms provided additional motivation. 

The helpful push back to to the fountain disappeared with the changing tide, and from that point on, we just had irregular waves slapping us from the side all the time. Despite this annoyance, the navigation remained fairly consistent, although the sun made it hard to sight the second buoy by mid-morning. Eliza had to leave for a while to attend a work commitment, and then Sarah also needed to stop as she had another swim engagement later in the afternoon. Rebecca kept on doing her laps, and then Gerry and Kelvin joined for time as well. I swam about seven laps on my own. I'd imagined this could get slightly grim, especially as the conditions became more uncooperative, but once I was completely 'inside' my own head, and just thinking about swimming and some other ponderings that moved through my mind randomly, I didn't mind. I could set my pace, not worry about being faster/slower than any companions, and focus on swimming well and concentrate on maintaining a consistent speed - just enough to be a bit out of breath after each lap. 

Choosing to do two laps at a time was, on reflection, a wise choice. On the odd-numbered laps, I'd be energised by a snack/drink; on the even-numbered laps I'd be eagerly anticipating the next snack/drink, and thus try to reach the shore as quickly as I could. The self-imposed carrot/stick approach worked well, and energy remained high. I had chosen to mix a stronger carb drink to see whether I'd also need some actual food with it. For the first five laps, the drink on its own was enough, but after that noticeable hunger crept in, so had a banana or half a sandwich (cream cheese and tomato) and a couple of dinosaurs on each break. This was good and useful knowledge, as part of my training plan this summer was to do a long (6hr) swim, and take nutrition seriously to see what worked and what didn't. 

Anyway, the day went on, the chop became choppier, and my neck chafing increased. Despite it all, spirits were high. Geraldine arrived to swim some laps when I'd completed my tenth circuit, and then Eliza returned to swim the final three laps. This was great, as she brought some fresh arms into the adventure, and her speed put me under a tiny bit more pressure. Of the final three laps, the last/fifteenth one was the quickest, judging by the 500m split average. We exited the water, to be greeted by a small party of dressed people wearing party hats, Rosie the dog also in a party hat, and a special swim-themed cake by Gráinne! I also learnt that rather than decreasing, the wind had increased throughout the swim, peaking at about 45kmh, which would explain the uncooperative chop, the white caps, and the spray! After a quick shower - as I definitely need to wash away the salt - it was party time! I was surprised and delighted to have such a lovely little occasion put on by my dear swim friends! It was gorgeous!

Overall, a great day's swimming. I enjoyed it all (apart from some occasional moments of annoyance with the uncooperative waves), feeding went well, the company was great (thanks, everybody!) and the cake at the end was ... the icing on the cake. The only ill-effects are some slightly stiff arms, colossal thirst, and a chafed neck.