Sea Swimming Blog #9
Day 42 Sea Swimming.
#9 of the blog.
Today was a windy day!
It started off pretty damp and grey but brightened up a bit in the afternoon.
I felt like trying out a new location and, despite knowing the wind was brutal and the sea conditions were likely to be rough, I thought I’d take a look at St Ouen.
I’d anticipated that should I make it into the water it wouldn’t be for a proper swim - I had a photo in mind of having some waves crashing behind me as I walked out of the water but as the wind was so intense and the fact the tide was on the rise, I was reluctant to set the camera up on the tripod just incase it was blown over or submerged.
As I was about to walk back up the beach I noticed some stunning Crepuscular rays (also know as God rays) shining down on Corbiere lighthouse in the distance so took a photo of that dramatic scene.
A few kite surfers were taking advantage of the high winds and flew across the waves and sky which made me think that a different location would be a much better shout as I didn’t feel like getting smashed into… little did I know that I wasn’t much safer on the beach.
I walked up the sand towards the sea wall and suddenly heard a strange noise behind me.
As I turned my head to look over my left shoulder, the noise became a scream and then a loud thud as a kite surfer flew out of control and crash landed onto the beach about 15-20 feet away from me.
It was a bit of a shock!
Luckily another kite surfer who was preparing to get in the water was on hand to help restrain the injured kite surfers kite whilst I asked what I could do to help… “ring an ambulance” he said.
A few days earlier my phone had stopped working so I was pretty much useless in this scenario… luckily a few other people ran towards us and called the ambulance instead.
“Are you ok? Is anything broken?” asked one of the helpers
“I think I’ve broken my leg” replied the man who fell from the sky.
Having established that there was very little I could do (I must admit, having the camera around my neck I was tempted… but restrained myself!), I got back in the car, headed to St Brelade & past the ambulance along the way.
Daylight was fading and there appeared to be hundreds of surfers in the water as I drove down the hill to St Brelade.
The gravity of what I’d just seen began to dawn on me but I grabbed my gear, headed down the beach and into the water to my cold and dangerous safe place.
“A ship in its harbour is safe
but that’s not what ships are for”
- William Shed