I LOVE OWS
YOUR STORIES
Every issue we ask you, our readers, to tell us why you love open water swimming. This month Gary Emich talks about swimming with sharks, piranhas and the Loch Ness Monster…
The way I view it, 70 percent of our Earth is covered by water. If I stay on land, I only get to see 30 percent of
what the world has to offer. Just as each country has its own culture, personality and differences, so do their waters. The differences in temperature, clarity and salinity in one country’s rivers, lakes and seas can be tremendous – that much is obvious. But what you may not know is water varies vastly in its temperament. In some places the waters are calm and relaxing. Ah, the memories I have of weeks spent swimming in the Bahamas, the British Virgin Islands, Baja Mexico, Croatia and the Greek Cyclades. The clarity of the water opens up an unbelievable underwater universe, with wildlife unlike anything topside. The sun, tropics and warm ocean waters recharge my batteries. I leave feeling totally at peace. Other waters launch you right out of your mental comfort zone. “What were you thinking?” I ask myself moments before plunging into the 13˚C waters of Loch Ness, with swirling grey fog enveloping me in the pre-dawn darkness. “Is Nessie really a myth?” At the Amazon in deepest Brazil, my wife just shrugs and gives me a ‘you-made-your-bed’ look as I jump into the muddy brown water, replete with piranhas and candiru fi sh (anecdotally reported to swim up your urethra if you urinate). In New Zealand’s National Aquarium (OK, technically not open water), I can’t help but think, “Well, they wouldn’t let us do this if it was dangerous, would they?” as I swim with and pet 10ft sevengill sharks. And despite hundreds of successful Alcatraz crossings, I always wear my game face – the cold water, challenging currents and ever- present but unseen sea life may provide more of a swim than I’ve bargained for. Countless bodies of water exist so you can push yourself
Do you Open Water Swimming? Write to us and tell us why and you could see yourselves on these pages. Send 600 words and a photo of yourself to info@
h2openmagazine.com or our postal address (see page 3). Please include your name and address.
THEY WOULDN’T LET US DO THIS IF IT WAS DANGEROUS, WOULD THEY?
physically and mentally. My solo 20km Rottnest Channel Swim, in Australia, is proof of this. I covered the fi rst 15km in 4:20, and calculated a fi nish one hour quicker than planned. Then the gods turned the day upside down – a current from nowhere! I battled the last 5km in 4:25 – slower than my fi rst 15km! But these are precisely the times you discover what’s really inside. Instead of giving up or feeling sorry for myself, I was furious that these last three miles were taking so long. How many times had I swum three miles in practice? I was not giving up! Finally, relay swims of the English Channel, Strait of Gibraltar, Bay of Napoli, Catalina, Santa Barbara, Monterey Bay, Key West and Manhattan each provided a measure of mayhem and misadventure: a 2am start in pitch blackness; a tanker about to run me over; a rifl e- toting pilot – “in case of sharks”; a bagpipe playing pilot – “to honour the sunrise”; a three-hour swim in 31˚C seas; and a co-ed team who decided the entire relay was to be swum au naturel. And those are just a few of the memories that pop to mind. If I stay on land, what adventures would I miss? How can I NOT love open water swimming! ∆
Gary Emich has swum Alcatraz more than 770 times – without a wetsuit. Co-author of Open Water Swimming: Lessons from Alcatraz and co-host of Lane Lines to Shore Lines: Your Complete Guide to
Open Water Swimming, Gary’s website is
lanelinestoshorelines.com
Illustration © Emily Davies 2011 66
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