You never know how a swim event will turn out. I’ve encountered challenging conditions, last minute cancellations, pollution that’s made me sicker than I ever want to be again. And cold. There’s always the chance of being kicked in the face and climbed over by the competitive too.
I’m not selling them am I?
BUT whilst I would never let any of the above stop me from entering more because I’ve never regretted a swim yet, you gain something from each one. Be it experience, resilience or something that wasn’t altogether awful, there’s always enough of the perfect ones that fill me with the awe and gratitude that keeps the lust for wanting to swim in beautiful locations going.
The Scilly Swim Challenge had the potential to provide incredibly beautiful swims. Aquamarine, crystal clear waters, wonderful marine life, swimming from island to island. Yes, some of the swims crossed large stretches of open water which could get a bit rough but the potentials outweighed the risks. Or so I thought...
Leading up to the event, I had been worried about my ability to swim long distances in a sea colder than I was used to but the acclimitisation swim the day before allayed those fears. We swam in skins to keep our wetsuits dry for the next day and the quick dash in the shallow bay was not only as cold as we’d feared (at round 15 degrees) but as crystal clear as it’s possible to be. The sea wasn’t as salty either. We emerged elated and excited for the next day.
Day 1 arrived and was supposed to see us swim 3k south-west from St. Mary’s to St. Agnes, then 6k north to Bryher, via a quick stop on the sandbar that is Samson. However, the weather wasn’t great. It was grey, windy and too choppy and we were told that plan wasn’t possible. Instead, we were to put in a 3k around the bay from Porthcressa beach then later that day swim out the bay then head north-east for 6k.
It was colder than the day before as we headed out of shallow waters and the ice cream head kicked in for a bit. I learnt a lot in that first swim.
Scared of losing sight of the kayak with the flag and finding myself alone, I pushed to keep up near the front of the large ‘pod’ of middle speed swimmers I was in. That was no fun. We had swum over some of the most stunning, large kelp I’ve ever seen and I wanted to enjoy that, but the pace was relentless and the faster swimmers in my pod weren’t worried whether they drowned me or not. I decided afterwards it was up to the safety kayakers to look after me rather than me try to keep up with them.
This served me well as Nikki and I hung right back at the start of the second swim and there were enough of us at this more comfortable pace that they split our pod in two and slowed our group down. Fabulous! We were brought to a halt a few times to keep the group together and that was nice because it gave us a chance to check in with each other, make sure we were ok and have a bit of a chat. Conditions got rougher once out the bay, there was more swell once we passed the headland but nothing we couldn’t cope with. We passed over deep sections where all we could see were the silver bubbles from our breath in dark green water, a small section of shallow, warmer water filled with flowing seaweeds and we were having a great time, elated that this longer swim was going so well and we weren’t struggling at all. Somewhere around the 4.5k – 5.1k mark we encountered the first of beautiful jellyfish. Deep purple, fluorescent pink, beautiful blue, in many shapes and forms. Deep enough not to worry me, I was wide-eyed and saying WOW WOW WOW as I breathed out underwater.
Then there was one at my level. Then another. Then many, many, many others. It was impossible to avoid them, we were getting stung on anything not covered by neoprene and judging by the shouts and shrieks of everyone around us, so was everyone else. Then we hit a wall of them. As deep as you could see and everywhere, centimetres apart. One stung across my nose and face and having been stung by jellies twice elsewhere in the world, I knew I’d had enough of this m’larkey – that was enough for me. I put my hand up and when a kayaker came close enough, I hung onto the front of his kayak, legs wrapped around it keeping everything I could out the water. If you tried to swim on your back, they stung the back of your neck. The safety boat came over and I joined 7 other swimmers already pulled out. Another 4 followed and before we knew it, all 9 safety boats were decanting their swimmers into the spectator boat and going back for more. Many started shivering uncontrollably, one was definitely going into shock, the rest of us filled with adrenalin, but cold. I later learned that all the swimmers had to be pulled out. Not the best start to our swim venture. There were easily tens of thousands of jellies in that first swarm.
Day 2, we headed off at dawn and the first swim was supposed to be an easy 600m between Bryher and Tresco. I swore if I saw one jelly, I was out for the day. There weren’t many but I lost count and swam in panic, almost swallowing one until we emerged 800m later onto the beach. True to my word, I called it quits and joined the spectator boat. Nikki and our friend Ali decided to continue to swim between Tresco and St. Martin’s but within minutes of leaving the shore they hit the next swarm of jellies and all of us swimmers that were now on the spectator boat could hear them screaming. With neoprene gloves and boots on as well as a wetsuit, Nikki adopted a heads-up style, hanging onto her towfloat, batting the surprisingly meaty feeling jellyfish out the way (or so she thought). She still sustained another sting to add to the nasty one on her neck from the day before. Ali just found the jellyfish accumulated in front of her towfloat. To make it even tougher, the swimmers then hit a current that made reaching the beach impossible. Even the kaykers struggled. Nikki and Ali had had enough.
We walked over St. Martin’s where the last swim to Tresco also had to be cancelled due to the jellies but the remaining swimmers had a lovely 1.5k swim within the bay.
Nikki and I both decided to not go ahead with the Tresco 360 and didn’t regret out decision. The thousands upon thousands of jellies we saw and the stories we heard from the swimmers and kayakers were enough to know we’d 100% made the right decision. We did our own Tresco 360 however, walking all the way around the island discovering castles amongst heather-covered hills, beautiful coastline and beaches that would rival any in the world with their white sands and aquamarine seas.
So, is it unfinished business? A swim I need to do still? Well, having discovered that in the 11 years this swim has been going, they’ve managed to get round only 3 times and only had good conditions in one year, it’s a no. What did I learn from this swim? Aside from how stunning the Isles are, just how quickly things can go very wrong, very quickly and even the best risk assessment can’t always predict everything. Oh, and the seagulls will nick your sandwich as you’re eating it – just ask Nikki!
I will return because the jellies were unprecedented, the locals on the islands had never seen this before. We did manage a couple of jelly-free swims away from SwimQuest which reaffirmed to us that without jellies the seas NEED to be explored but perhaps by kayak and snorkel.
by Donna Trethewey @midlife_outdoors_addict on Instagram
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