Sea Swimming Blog #40
Day 79 Sea Swimming.
#40 of the blog.
Amazing sunset tonight… looks beautiful doesn’t it?
But just because something can be beautiful doesn’t mean it can’t be deadly.
Today’s blog may seem like a bit of a social responsibility post and I guess that’s what it is.
You may or may not have seen the recent footage of a female sea swimmer in Bristol having to be rescued by the RNLI and then treated by local paramedics after she got into trouble whilst attempting to swim out to the pier.
If not, here is the link…
And, closer to home, in the past two days there have been at least two incidents here in Jersey where people have got into trouble at Bouley Bay - one being dragged along on their back by the incoming swell whilst on the slip - and another getting into difficulty after facing strong currents on their swim and being forced to seek refuge on the rocks.
Today I ventured down to St Aubin… if you’ve read any of these past posts you may have read I like to swim there.
I thought I’d spare both you the readers, and the members of the Bathing Beau and Bluebells, any more photos from there today so I planned on taking my waterproof camera in, swimming out and filming the journey… I didn’t have anywhere to mount it so swam one armed… after all I know this swim and area well…
Whilst I was annoyed at the time that the video function wouldn’t seem to work, in retrospect it was a good thing, as I came back into the shore and put it away before returning to the water for a proper swim.
Jenny warned me that there was a strong current a little further out than I had initially been today but after swimming here so often I listened but admittedly didn’t think it could be that bad.
I swam out to the first buoy Wilson, then onto Gracie… and noted that it felt a bit different to normal.
It wasn’t particularly choppy but there was a rolling swell - and a strong current.
I started swimming back and for the first time thought, “shit, this is pretty strong”… suddenly, when in that position, the distance between yourself and the shore seems further than normal.
“Ok, here we go” I thought and swam hard… much harder than normal… after quite a few strokes I stopped for a second to check out my progress… “mmm… still quite a bit to go”.
I decided to do a bit of backstroke to get my breathing under control and regain composure… then flipped around and again swam hard… I was dragged away from the normal slip exit and had to make an additional effort to beat the current and swell of the incoming tide to get back on track and make it out.
As I was getting changed, another guy came down, no safety float and all by himself, just about to enter the water with the tide even higher and the entry now even more hairy.
Jenny went to tell him about the strong current and the dodgy entry/exit and he replied “I’m not scared of anything” before he ran down the remainder of the slip and jumped in.
We watched from the shore to make sure he was ok and thankfully he didn’t venture further than Wilson.
The moral of the story, as if it wasn’t already obvious, is that the sea is a beast… much more of a beast than you, I or the most experienced of sea swimmers will ever be.
If in doubt, stay out.
And even if you are sure, don’t venture too far from the shore.
“He who lets the sea lull him into a sense of security
is in very grave danger”
- Hammond Innes