When the ocean wins

[crazycanuck]

I entered an event http://www.busseltonjettyswim.org.au/index.html and prepared by swimming in the pool & ocean *. I wanted a challenge & thought I could do it. I'd only ever done a few 1.6km OWS's and had no idea how i'd complete it

It's been quite windy the past few days & thought nothing of it . Wind dies down all the time, right?! Urm..no..

I showed up at the start this morning & thought "ok,it's windy but i'll give this a shot". I saw the white caps & tried to ignore them.

Our wave sets off and I immediately think..go away waves..go away...Swim swim swim..wave..swallow water..wave..swallow water. Breastroke for some reason & try to calm down.. Ok, past first silver bouy..Swim swim..swallow water..
This is crazy..what am i doing trying to battle waves & wind when i have no clue how. Will i even make it to the end of the jetty? Should i? We're swimming into the ocean and back, not along it..I swam for a little bit more but then realized i'm not a strong ocean swimmer esp in the conditions that we had.

I put my hand up & waited for one of the volunteer paddlers to come and speak to me. I pulled out. I felt like such a failure. Then again, it's not cool to drown on a Sunday . I can assure you I wasn't the only one keeping the Surf Lifesavers on thier toes!

I would love to try it again but i think i might do it as part of a team. I think i'll beg & plead anyone(that's a good swimmer) with a kayak to teach me how to handle these types of conditions. I need to spend time treading water about 1km from shore somehow...ANy other ideas?

Perhaps I just need to toughen up even more. I mean i'm a tough chick but when it comes to natural elements, I feel I fight a losing battle.

I just hope when I do it again, the weather is much better than it was today.