We woke up to a strong wind and forecast 2 to 4 foot wind blown chop in the channel between Magnetic Island and Townsville.
The ferry ride over to the island was bumpy. That did not leave many, including the locals feeling confident about the day ahead and in the hours that followed I certainly found out why.
From the first stroke we headed right into the teeth of a now 30 kph wind and chop that just did not have a pattern to it. The first 3 kms was fine as I managed to find a wonderful rhythm. At one stage I was up toward the front of the main pack as I even broke out in a hum much to my paddlers delight.
All was going good until I got rolled by a wave set I did not see coming. It was there I accidently swallowed a few mouthfuls of water. From there until the 7km mark it was downhill as I struggelled to regain any type of rythym. My stomach was now doing laps and it was not long until I was creating a serious burley trail.
Over the next 2km four of these trails fed the sharks. Everything i tried to drink or eat from there on came straight back up within seconds. I was now getting very anxious as I knew I would have to do this swim without any drink or food, something I have never done before.
But these pauses also gave me time to refocus and get some words of encouragement from my brilliant support paddler, Matt. People asked me why I bring my own paddler to these events and today it provided exactly why. Matt knew I was having a real tough time and after decades of friendship he knew exactly what to say to get me through it. I knew he had my best interest at heart, something that is extremely comforting when u are out there feeling sick and all alone.
About the half way mark I decided my race was not about the end time any more; it was now about finishing. With Rottnest at front of mind proving to myself I had the mental toughness to overcome a mid race setback became my new goal.
I slowed my stroke as I started to remember all the advice I had recieved from Susan, Andrew and Luke. After a few mid race drills I started to get some rythym back and the last few kms went by far easier than the ones before. As i rounded the last can I actually started to feel like food again as a second wind kicked in.
After its all said and done, my time was nowhere near what I wanted for this race but on a positive note i proved to myself during this race my fitness is now sufficent to easily swim 8.5km in trying conditions...now to double it!
