On the menu for the day: a 26.4km solo attempt under the watchful eye of swim buddy Martyn Webster and pilot Urs Gonzenbach. Martyn kindly sourced the boat and pilot so all I had to do was swan into town, eat some carbs, then get the show on the road the following morning!
We decided to make the attempt from North to East, which is unusual, but any wind that was forecast on the day was expected to be from behind us, and as a predominantly left-sided breather, I would be able to take in more of the sights.
We got ready and I set off from the steps at Tiefenbrunnen at 07:46 on Friday 20th June and finished at Rapperswil at 17:14. The water at the start was 21c and at the finish 4c higher, so with 30c air temps at peak this swim was all about skin care - I was ‘ghosted out’ with factor 50 creams and used sudocrem zinc in liberal quantities!
In my head I divided this swim up into 4 sections:
1. Start (Tiefenbrunnen Badi) to Kuesnacht (ca 5km) - warm up
2. Kuesnacht to Meilen (7km) - main set 1
3. Meilen to Staefa (7km) - main set 2
4. Staefa to Rapperswil (7km) - home straight/warm down
On the day, the conditions of the first half were unpredictable, with wind and chop not allowing for much rhythm. However, conditions settled down upon hitting Meilen (about half-way), and it felt like I was able to hold water and pace. Meilen to Staefa felt longer than it should have, but before I knew it we were in the final bay with 7km to go.
I vowed not to look up until the final 1km (as anything can happen) and the finish just tortures you otherwise.
With my mascot the lucky duck looking on as usual, I thumped out the swim in 9 hours 28 mins, which was comfortably inside my goal of 10 hours.
Inside the 'golden' final km (awaiting a champagne finish at Rapperswil Badi), left of pic underneath the castle with the alps in the distance!
Feeding every 45 mins, I got through about 3 litres of heavily diluted maltodextrin with orange squash, 1.5 litres of flat coke, 4 potatoes, 1.5 bananas and 5 Kagi melted chocolate biscuits (local offering chosen by Martyn as an homage to the region).
Everything went reasonably smoothly, so experience counts for something!
I would like to thank Martyn (right below) and Urs (left below) for looking after me on the day but also to Tony Ross for keeping me company in training and Kirsten White (Body Wellness Pilates) for Pilates sessions in the 6 months leading up to this swim.
Midsummer sunset the following evening from the finish-line at Rapperswil Badi:
#comfortablynumb
