The swim started out at Doctor's cove. I'm so glad I had been there in October and it was all familiar because it was pitch black. The water quickly dropped from 67 to 66 and 65 stayed there until the sun got fairly high in the sky. I was able to stay warm by swimming fast until I started throwing up my feeds and then everything in my stomach. For me that was the low point of the swim. I know that if you can't keep calories down you get hypothermic very quickly. Fortunately we narrowed it down to the Carbo Pro. After a feed of just water my stomach was very happy and we started experimenting with the back-up "food" I had brought. Curiously enough, it was Boost that worked the best. On the Boost I was able to pick up the pace and my spirits. The night was more that half over and I was going to make it to dawn.
When the sun came up at 6:30 my son (who was a hero paddling expertly all night) told me that I was more than halfway. I could see the Palos Verdes hills clearly. It was at that point that I knew I had a good chance of making it. I knew the sun would warm me up, which it did. After it got light, my pacers jumped in one at a time for an hour each. The water was the most beautiful blue I had ever seen. Mind you, it is 3,000 feet deep. There were lots of little fish and I saw a salp. I got lots of brief stings from loose stingers from Jellyfish. Never did see a whole one. No shark sightings either.
The end took about 4 hours. It was a nail biter, especially for those on board. The current and the wind worked together to push me west and I almost missed Point Vicente. The boat was pointed almost 90 degrees to the line I was supposed to swim. I had to sprint the last 3 hours and gulp my feeds in 10 seconds. Fortunately, the water temperature dropped to 65 degrees and numbed my aching shoulders and I was able to sprint. I pulled into the kelp just in the nick of time before I got swept around Point Vincente. Unfortunately I had to swim another half kilometer to get to some rocks that were smooth enough to land on in the surf. The chief observer, Forrest, swam in with me to keep me sprinting and to negotiate the kelp and rocks. Thank you! My other 2 boys and Frances, my trainer, hiked down a 1000 foot cliff to meet me at the finish. Final unofficial time was 14 hours 24 minutes. I am very happy with this time. I swam faster than my body wanted to go!
We saw dolphins playing in our boat`s wake and seals bobbing on our way back to the marina.
A special thank you to my family and pacers Deb, Thie and Kim. Thank you to Andrea for blogging. I'd like to especially thank Gary who joined the team yesterday to paddle for me after my other son got sick. Gary quit smoking to come on the swim! Thank you to Chris the assistant observer who was very helpful to me before the swim and to the crew during the swim. And last but not least, Captain David and the crew of the Outrider who were superbly organized, professional, friendly and only slept 3 hours before my swim and go out on another swim in 5 hours. 9 in a row!
Here`s the link for the video of the ending. http://youtu.be/aJx9KYVOpe0
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