Some say that open water swimming teaches you more about yourself than anything else. After completing a 10km test swim in Lama Passage for the Great Bear Swim I have to agree. It truly was a swim, and experience, like no other.
My adventure started on a Friday with a three flight hop from Victoria to Bella Bella, Campbell Island. Once on the island, MJ, lead safety for the swim, and I made our way down to the dock to meet our hosts for the weekend; Kevin and Terry. There is a sense of calm about these two men that brings me a feeling of peace, something I need when swimming, and something that was instrumental in getting through my swim the next day.
We headed for Drifter’s Cove, Kevin’s off-the-grid homestead on Denny Island, and our home for the next few days. There are two cabins each with room for 4. And although they are off-the-grid they have all the modern conveniences a marathon swimmer could ask for including electricity, hot water, full cooking facilities, a wood burning stove to keep your toes warm and night, a whaling deck for watching all that goes by and if you smile and if you wink at Terry the most incredible camp-fire at sunset with Lama Passage as the backdrop.
The cold-water test
Drifter’s Cove is beautiful and as it turned out the perfect place for a pre-test swim. Within a few hours of arriving and after settling in, I jumped in the water for a two-hour swim to measure my response to the water temperature. The last time I was in the region the water temperate was a cool 10C (Celsius). My research told me it was about 12C. I was hoping for 13C.
JACKPOT! 14C.
I swam around in the safety of the cove for 2 hours pausing every 15 minutes so MJ could take my body temperature. We wanted to measure how quickly it dropped. The average body temperature is 37C; mine was 36.3C – and that was before I ever entered the water. Within the first 15 minutes my temperature dropped below 35 degrees; I was not feeling cold.
I continued swimming around always pausing to check how I was doing. MJ and I had talked about hypothermia prior to the test swim and agreed that we would use 35C as the safety cut-off. By the 3rd measurement my body temperature was just above 35C and I was not feeling cold. I wasn’t warm, but I wasn’t cold. We agreed to carry on with the experiment.
After several checks we could see that there was a correlation between the amount of effort expended and my body temperature. Oddly, when I same a bit of butterfly or sprinted before the temperature check, there was a drop in my temperature. When I swam relaxed freestyle my temperature remained stable just above 35C (view the log).
The temperature test was successful. I was able to maintain a fairly good body temperature for a 2 hour period. We agreed to move forward with the 10km test swim Saturday.
When I exited the water Terry and Kevin had a beautiful camp fire waiting for me. I curled up under a blanket and slowly began the warming process.
Lesson learned: Don’t swim butterfly during an open water swim in cold water!
Find out what happened during the 10km test swim soon.
Posted by Susan
So wonderful to hear of your experience….so inspiring Susan and what a wonderful friend by your side
Stay warm my friend!