You've gotta have a laugh!

When I was 18 I took a ‘gap year’.  I didn’t know enough about the world to be able to choose what I wanted to study or ‘be’ and so I opted for a year of personal exploration.  I fell into a job as a swimming instructor for a local holiday park.  My goal was to earn enough money to take me to Australia – the land of dreams! 

The job was perfect.  I was able to do what I love most whilst teaching children and adults a skill that they would cherish for the rest of their lives.  Everyone has a different motivation to swim – some want to be able to survive if they fall into water, some want to explore another world and some want to learn so they can enjoy the activity with their children and grandchildren.  I loved every reason and every person I taught.  My ethos for teaching swimming was…you’ve gotta have fun! 

One of the main reasons I found myself teaching adults was because as a child they’d often had a teacher who made the whole experience torturous which lead to a fear of water. If you don’t enjoy the water, swimming becomes a way to survive only….which suggests there is something to ‘survive’. 

If you create an environment which allows a child or an adult to just feel the water around them, feel the properties, taste it, swallow some – then they’re more likely to be inquisitive and explore what they can do in the water – dive, sink to the bottom, float, glide, create bubbles.  There is no end to what water can do and what you can do it in and so it’s not just necessary to learn the skill of swimming, but to enjoy everything around that skill.

This post was inspired by a swimming experience yesterday.  Steve and I woke at 5am and made our way to Shelley Beach (nr Manly) where we met 5 or so other swimmers prepped to complete a 6 hour ocean swim.  Most of them were training for the English Channel.  My goal was a 2 hour swim. 

Steve was my paddler and jumped in his kayak.  Strapped to the back was a shark guard.  This is a device which has a long tube floating out the back of the kayak, emanating an electrical pulse.  [Tip: don’t touch the tube, it’s for sharks!]

I entered the water feeling quite apprehensive.  More so because I had never had to swim with a shark guard nearby and although it’s there to deter the sharks..I felt even more nervous!  We left the bay but shortly after, Steve capsized.  There was a flurry as he got himself back on the kayak, and I tried to swim after our bottles and snacks!  Steve was off though….so I had to leave the bottles floating away.  I then caught up only to find myself in a swarm of jellyfish…panic set in.  I switched to breaststroke to calm myself and just get through. THEN…Steve was tossed over again…and this time, he landed on the shark guard giving him a mighty electrical shock.  The look on his face will keep me chuckling for a very long time!  We decided to head back to shore and not venture out any further.  The sea was very choppy and there was a big swell making it quite awkward for kayaks.

It was at this point that I flag – you’ve gotta have a laugh!  Although it looked unlikely I would complete my swim, I was looking upon this situation with a great delight, enjoying the fact that Steve and I had shared this humour together, we’d both faced some fears and we’d laughed about them.  I was more proud of that than I ever would be finishing a 3km ocean swim. 

We both had a paddle around the shore, discovering baby stingrays and the odd jellyfish.  (Fun fun fun!).  When the other swimmers made it back for their feed (90 minutes later) I decided to jump back in with them and complete this swim.  One of the guys also training for Rottnest was now a bit slower so I was able to keep up with him.  We didn’t have a kayaker next to us – it was just 2 swimmers and the sea!

Whatever you do, embrace it.  If it’s in the water, feel it, let it hold you.  Above everything else, remember, you’ve gotta have a laugh!

The Jaws of Life

Before the news hit this week that an American had been killed off the coast off Rottnest by a shark, it had entered my mind that the biggest challenge I am taking on here is not the training or the distance - it’s what lurks beneath!  

In speaking to people about ocean swimming, the only thing that seems to ever deter them from trying it themselves is the fear of what they could bump into or get swallowed up by!  Having been an ocean swimmer for over 5 years, I can tell you the scariest thing I have bumped into is a plastic bag or lump of drifting seaweed!  I have seen some extraordinary things but they are far from scary. 

At Brighton Pier there is a landing platform which the Icebergers use, and just underneath it there is a large Sting Ray...called Oscar!  He’s a fairly old chap and used to have a companion but sadly he died (of old age).  Oscar sits on the sea bottom and doesn’t bother any of the swimmers.  One morning last year, I was a bit late for my swim and was heading out on my own to catch up with the bunch when, from the corner of my eye, I could see a dark shadow looming towards me but pretty quickly saw that it was Oscar.  Now he’s about 5ft wide, brown and has a gentle manner.  He swam underneath me and kept pace for about 100 metres or so then went on his own merry way.  It was absolutely wonderful!  

There is nothing scary about seeing an animal in their own environment and as long as you don’t threaten them, you’re very safe.  This is a different case with some sharks, but remember, you are in their environment, so it’s important to respect that.

Although I say this, there is actually a very real fear with sharks on this Rottnest swim, as we’ve seen in the news this week.  However, I’m not willing to let fear take control and I want to take this opportunity to find out more about sharks and understand what we humans are actually scared of.


Did you know?

• Sharks have inhabited the oceans for over 400 Million years. They are about 150 million years older than the early dinosaurs.

• The modern sharks have not changed much in the last 60 million years.

• Being the apex predators in the ocean, they are maintaining the biological balance in that very complex ecosystem.

• The bigger sharks keep the numbers of other predator fish and smaller sharks at a viable level. 

• They keep water-birds and seals at viable numbers too, who otherwise would eat too many little fish which again are food for the fish that we people need.

• Without sharks the ecosystem will break down, not only will the reefs die the whole ocean will die as well.

Instead of killing sharks, shouldn’t we be trying to save them?  Fisheries Minister Norman Moore has issued a directive for fisheries officers to trap and kill the shark that attacked the American in a bid to protect public safety. 

Do they not see that by killing this shark, they’re putting thousands, even millions, of more people in danger?

“If we humans continue to destroy this controlling factor in the ocean, we will eventually create the largest ecological disaster in the history of mankind.” (Source: http://www.sharkprotect.com)

In my bid to understand this exceptional creature, Steve and I are booking a Shark Dive Xtreme where we get to dive with sharks and rays for 30 minutes at Sydney’s Ocean World.  We’re both obviously quite nervous but ‘knowledge is understanding’ and I am on a mission to understand!

I would love to hear your comments on this – what’s your view on hunting this shark? And before I sign off here’s a question for you:

What is more dangerous to people - a shark or a wasp/bee?

Just keep smiling

Today I went to a Rottnest Channel info session run by Vlad and Louise who coach at VladSqaud.  Definitely the most terrifying part of this journey towards this ridiculously challenging goal.  What am I doing?!  'Just keep smiling' I said repeatedly to myself as I sat there and listened to these extraordinary swimmers - to give you an idea, 2 of them had just popped out of a 4 hour swim lapping Bondi bay, 3 of them had recently completed the Denarau to Beachcomber Island swim in Fiji (oh..and one of those swimmers did a double, and not only that she is the winner of Rottnest for 2 years running!), 1 of them was training for the English Channel and 1 of them was sitting quaking in her shoes wondering what the bloody hell she'd got herself into.

I suppose reality had to hit at some point.  


The good thing is my timing doesn't seem too far off.  I start training with this group next Monday for a 19 week program taking us right up to the Rotto swim. I have to complete a 10km qualifier sometime in December or January so currently keeping focused on that.

I left the session (which was held at the inspiring Bondi Iceberg Club) and walked along the coast to Bronte where Steve and I regularly go for a dip in the rock pool.  


This place is magical.   It somehow has the power to wash away any feelings of doubt in oneself and then replace it with an overwhelming sense of ability, strength and reassurance.  This is just what I needed! There were only a couple of swimmers in the pool and it was truly delightful.  I strapped on my goggles and dived straight in....Waaahoooo...thrilling!  I seemed to glide through the water - my muscles gradually remembering their moves.  I'm back in the swim!

Bronte

Feel the fear and do it anyway

Before I even placed my toe into the water this morning I had endured an incessant amount of negative thoughts all aimed at sabotaging my goal to complete a swim with the Icebergers. 

I was curious later in the day as to why I had put myself through that extra challenge and so here are my ponderings...

I was woken at 7am this morning by my alarm clock and my first thought was “It’s too early, I need a sleep in”. First hurdle.

I swung my legs out and sat up. “It’s so cold..the bed is so cozy” Second hurdle.

What was I dreading you may wonder.  I was on my way to do a 1.4km swim in 13 degree water with no wetsuit and very little training behind me.  I was fearing the cold.  I was fearing not being able to do it and failing. I was fearing that I would not live up to expectations. 

Now then, only a few weeks ago I would have let this fear take control and I would have surrendered to a whole host of other fears, taking me on a very fast spiral downwards to a pit of negativity, guilt and depression.  

This is where I’ve been for several months and yes, it probably sounds serious to you, but these negative thoughts which have continued to pile one of top of the other, are stopping me from doing lots of things.  By setting myself this tremendous goal to swim Rottnest, I am hoping to re-familiarise myself the essentials of positive mental conditioning.

“I feel a tingle in my ear, maybe it's the start of an infection, I best not swim' Third hurdle.

“It's raining and probably not great weather for a training swim” Fourth hurdle.

“I feel ill” Fifth hurdle.

And so it goes on. I'm actually exhausted before I even put my bathers on as I've had to break down every single one of those thoughts to even get me to this point.

Why have I created so many barriers for myself knowing full well that what I’m about to do will make me a happier and stronger person?

At what point does the fear disappear?

Can we eliminate those feelings of fear when we know what they are? Label them. Reveal them. Strip them and embarrass them-surely they won't come back?!

I can tell you this though.  I felt the fear...and I did it anyway.  That’s a win..for today.

Tomorrow..I have to get up at 7am again and go for another 1.4km swim in 13 degrees water.  I know I am going to fear it, but maybe I’ll only have 4 thoughts instead of 5 to battle with.

And so the journey begins!

"Your fears are not walls, but hurdles. Courage is not the absence of fear, but the conquering of it." — Dan Millman