2015 sporting challenge: August 2015

Smeaton's Tower

Plymouth breakwater barely visible on the horizon

Of all the events this year I've entered, this is probably the craziest. 2.2 miles of open water swimming seemed like a good idea at Christmas, after a glass of wine when I was left to my own devices too much If only I hadn't had a laptop and credit card to hand, I might never have entered.

Keeps the jellyfish away

Plymouth breakwater is one of the largest freestanding marine structures in Great Britain. It's arc spans over 1500m and it's over 13m wide. It protects the harbour from south westerly gales. For more, see:
http://www.engineering-timelines.com/scripts/engineeringItem.asp?id=99

Registration

The week leading up to the breakwater swim must've seen a surge in the use of the BBC Weather app by the open water swimming fraternity. 4 or 5 days out, it seemed like we'd have to contend with strong winds and a downpour. In the event, the conditions turned out to be perfect. A light southerly breeze. Some sun. Calm waters. Bingo. This didn't fully alleviate all nerves at registration as the scale of what we'd signed up to finally sank in. Had an enterprising solicitor offered will writing services at the start, they'd have done a brisk trade.

I wondered whether the possible exception to the anxious might be certain of the Devon Wild Swimmers. For some of these hardy souls, the swim alone wasn't enough of a challenge; they elected to do it sans wetsuit. Goose fat was liberally applied. Thoughtfully, the organizers said they could disembark last from the boats at the breakwater. Rather them than me. I have no pride and was happy to take all the warmth and buoyancy I could get from suiting up.

Snook on the back of the obligatory team photo

There was a great atmosphere. It turns out a fair number of Plymstock Road Runners moonlight as swimmers. It was good to see friendly faces and exchange some banter. We were well supported.

Soon enough we left the Barbican and headed on our 20 minute journey to the breakwater. I looked back a few times to see which buoys I would be able to sight off. I should have studied this earlier from dry land as the angles from the boat were deceptive. Rookie.

Nearer the breakwater I spotted a jellyfish. Thankfully that was the only one I saw the whole day. Afterwards, I was reliably assured by a friend that he saw "thousands" a metre and a half below us. Sometimes, ignorance is bliss.

In we jumped, careful not to lose goggles. We fanned out and I avoided the prow of one of the boats drifting towards us. There seemed to be a false start of sorts, but soon enough there was a short countdown and off we went.

Off you go, crazy people.

There was very little to sight off beyond a huge yellow buoy fairly early on which I made the mistake of swimming to the right of. Smeaton's Tower was a constant, small blip on the horizon which we were aiming for.

I fell into a good rhythm and kept going, for may be 20 minutes or so. I thought I was doing fairly well (I had no-one around me apart from a guy on a surf board). I was disabused of that notion by the marshall with a loudhailer who instructed me to take a 90 degree left turn and head back into the pack! Unwittingly I got caught up in a current that dragged me far to the right of the field.

The middle section of sea was wide and seemed to take ages, but the tide started assisting us. I cramped in my right calf which was worrying, but managed to shake most of it off. Eventually I made it to shore. 1:01:50. Nothing I'd drunk before tasted as sweet as the bottle of water I was handed on Tinside beach.

The arena was busy with those welcoming us home and we swapped war stories. I think in the end most were just happy to have finished.

Later, plotting my course on a GPS, I saw that I'd swam in a crescent moon shape with a distinctive triangular eye in the middle where I went particularly wrong. Added at least another .1 mile, which sounds nothing but felt like plenty.

I am delighted that as a result we have raised nearly £1,500 for Jeremiah's Journey and St Lukes. Thank you to those who have supported me. If you would like to sponsor me, please go to:

http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/StephenDilley

Here is a link to BBC Spotlight's coverage:

https://www.facebook.com/bbcspotlight/videos/1003868956345269/?fref=nf