Night Swim

Fiona, Debbie, Clive, Lynne and Orlaith

When Fiona and Orla turned up with tinted goggles (not great for a night swim!), and Debbie calmly announced that she’d discovered her new (untried) wetsuit was actually a men’s medium, I wasn’t sure how successful this night swim would be. Discovering that the temperature of the lake was 12 degrees didn’t help either.

I kept telling myself that this swim was all about getting used to navigating in the dark. Yes it was going to be extremely cold, but this swim was about overcoming the fear of being alone and having practically no points of reference for checking progress and position.

The safety briefing was a bit silly really. “If you get into difficulties, lie on your back and put your arm in the air, and a kayaker will come over and help you.” We had light sticks attached to our goggles, but there was no way anyone would be able to spot a swimmer on their back with their arm in the air!

And then there was a glimmer of hope in the safety briefing. Although we were registered to swim two 750m laps, we were given the option of coming out after lap one. So, if it was too cold, or it was too scary, or it was too tiring, we could come out. I knew, however, that there was no way super-competitive Fiona would bottle it after only one lap, and I knew that Lynne wouldn’t be able to face her Reception class on the Monday morning if she wimped out, so two laps it was for me too.

It took a while to get the 200 or so swimmers into the lake, so our two-minute acclimatisation in the water turned into a twenty-minute acclimatisation. (Okay, it was probably only five minutes, but it felt like twenty, and treading water in 12 degrees wasn’t pleasant.) And then the hooter went, and 199 elite swimmers surged over the top of me. Now I know why the other members of my team were treading water miles away from me at the side of the start.

The sun setting over Bray Lake just before the 'race'

Despite the kayakers with torches and marker buoys with light sticks, we couldn’t see a thing. All we could do was get into a rhythm and think about getting to the end. I don’t know if there were any fish in the lake. I certainly couldn’t feel any. It was for me, surprisingly, a very pleasant swim. It was probably a bit like exercising in a floatation tank. No-one to chat to. Nothing to see. Just time to think. The other swimmers had left me behind. I didn’t see them again until they lapped me and surged over the top of me again. Twenty-three minutes later and I was at the end scrambling back onto the pontoon.

Well, we all finished. We all did the two laps. We all survived the cold and the dark. And, I think we’re all a bit more confident about doing the real event. So, job done. We’ll be putting some more training events into the calendar, and they’ll be cold ones!

Congratulations go to Fiona, Debbie, Lynne, Orla, Steve and Andy for taking part and finishing!