Sub-60 in the Tropics!
I stepped onto Aore Island beach exactly 57min and 28 seconds after leaving Luganville! The ear-to-ear smile wrapped across my gob expressed how I felt. Tired, but thrilled. Possibly the best event I’ve competed in to date!
Santos – Aore Island Ocean Swim
The annual 2.6km swim between the islands of Espiritu Santos and Aore is now an international event, involving ni-Vanuatu swimmers and canoe/out-rigger paddlers, local tourism operators and residents, swimmers from Australia, New Zealand, the U.K. and the U.S.A.
[/caption]The celebrations began on Monday with a canoe race – including one white-fella kayak. We have some great pics to follow!
All I needed to know and more …
… about tropical ulcers. Look them up, they’re gorgeous. I have one the size of a 5c coin in the middle of my right calf.
Fortunately we met a couple of Doctors (literally a couple, husband & wife) at the airport this morning who prescribed & issued antibiotics on the spot.
I’m now keeping it out of suspect water (practically every body of inviting water within spitting distance), bathing it in saline solution and crossing my fingers that the ab’s will kick-in quickly enough to allow me to swim on Tuesday. A bit of a long shot.
On the bright side we’re settling in to our beach front villa. Kelvin’s practising his swimming & I’m off to have a massage after lunch.
Cross #1 off the list
Despite the grey outlook, most of the competitors were happy with the conditions on the morning of the 13th June in Port Vila. The previous day strong winds were raising a hearty chop across the harbour which proved challenging to some of the seasoned swimmers who chose to venture out for a final training session.
The mixed field took off from the start line in a single wave, shortly after 8am. The race leaders completed their circumnavigation in 40 – 45 minutes. The bulk of the field took a little longer.
I was just pleased to tick-off the Port Vila Swim completed -1:05:05.Nice to finish it off. Wasn’t feeling to hot for most of it, so pretty happy with that time. Completely dehydrated (the harbour water seems excessively salty??) and extremely tired afterwards. Went to sleep for about 3 hours. Managed a walk into town around 4pm.
Fortunately the “Awards Dinner” was held at our hotel – we didn’t need to travel anywhere. I managed to eat a little, stick around for the speeches and catch up with a few people we’d met earlier in the week.
PS: It turns out that I was carrying a fairly significant infection at this point, and probably should have been checking in to the hospital rather than the race registration at 8am. Consequently I should be fairly happy with a time that was only 1.30 (approx) slower than last year.
MOORINGS HOTEL
We’re currently located at Moorings Hotel, on the Port Vila waterfront. It’s a lovely little place about 500m out of town. The louvre windows hinge back to reveal uninterrupted views out to sea. Spectacular.
The MOO Bar & Restaurant serve a range of predominantly western food and cocktails – although they do make the most of the fresh produce, particularly the fruit. We’ve sampled a range of fabulous cocktails, + the MOO Burger, MOO Juice (fresh passionfruit syrup, lime juice & ginger), and the locally brewed beer.
Yesterday at Lelepa Island we had a more traditional meal (fabulous).
We’ve swum/snorkelled every day – heading off now to swim with the Port Vila Masterbathers.
All going well the Iriki Island swim will go ahead on Saturday. If not, we’ll just continue to have a great time here.
Kelvin the Mighty Snorkeller
I had doubts re: Kelvin’s swimming abilities – he’s actually quite competent, & loves snorekelling.
VANUATU ROCKS
Internet access limited. AWESOME holiday. A little doubt about the race. May/may not go ahead.
Water play
We tried to combine babysitting and a training session last Saturday. Our plan was for my partner and our three year old friend to paddle in the learner’s pool while I did a short training session. Our plan didn’t suit the three year old. Instead we all spent thirty minutes together in the learners pool – for the first twenty minutes I was in a headlock.
The best thing about the morning was that after twenty minutes we were rewarded with a huge smile as she launched off on her own within the safety of the floatation ring and zipped beneath the water curtain. For a little tyke that dearily wanted to swim, but didn’t want to get her hair wet, that moment was magic.
Mid-winter swim … without the chill
The count down to Vanuatu is on – two days before we fly out of a (forecasted) snow-chilled Canterbury, making a bee line for the tropics! The islands look mighty inviting at present.
Having shaken-off the shoulder injury (more or less) I’ve spent quite a bit of time in the gym recently, working on strenght and flexibility. It will be interesting to see what impact the change in training routine has on my times, and the way I feel in the water.
The Takapuna swim (apologies for failing to report on this earlier) was AWESOME. I didn’t quite make the time I was after, but I did meet all my other goals. Now that I know I can comfortably swim my ‘own’ race, it’s time to focus on getting the best time I can – so I’ll be aiming for the hour in both Port Vila and Santos.
Swim your own race
Sun, sand and surf celebrated the closing of the summer in style, along with the 750 hardy souls who joined me on the beach on Saturday morning (20th March) to take part in the Sand to Surf Ocean Swim.
The highs: I finished. My back/shoulder didn’t seized up. I set a time faster than my estimate. I’ve got some benchmarks to meet next month.
The lessons:
1. Don’t panic about not finishing.
2. Don’t panic about coming last.
3. Don’t panic about not swimming fast enough.
(There’s a theme forming here).
4. Don’t panic about the what the swimmer next to you/in front of you/behind you is/isn’t/might be doing.
Which could all be summed up as
5. Don’t panic.
Or
6. Swim your own race (which is very good advice which I’ve read somewhere else).
Running through ‘proper’ surf at the beginning of the race was a challenge and definately an area I need to work on for next year. More importantly, I need to focus on lesson 6 (above) and keeping my stroke rate up. I spent so much time on the negative self-talk that the energy going into my stroke rate dropped far too low.
So, lots to improve on, which means plenty of scope for better times in the (near) future.
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