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Thrill of the open water

What actually goes on in the world of open water swimming? Swimmer Ridzwan A. Rahim offers some insight.

ONE of the most liberating things I’ve have done for myself was to learn to swim. I used to fear deep water. At 33 however, I decided to change. I took up scuba diving and freediving. I learnt proper swim techniques and even lifesaving. Now at 40, I cannot look at seas and lakes without wanting to jump in.

My biggest love is open water swimming. I relish being out in the open sea in little more than swimming trunks and goggles. My body is a vessel. The heart pumps blood to the limbs to carry this vessel across oceans.

By definition, open water swimming means swimming in any naturally-occurring body of water such as lakes, rivers and seas. Distances can go from as short as 750m to 6km and 8km. Once you hit 10km, you start getting into marathon swim territory.

The big difference from pool swimming, aside from exposure to the elements, is the absence of a black line at the bottom to guide your swim. In open water, you rely on sighting by lifting the head out of the water to stay the course. If you don’t sight regularly, you risk wasting time and energy swimming longer distances than necessary.

How can people swim so many kilometres at sea when there are so many others who can’t even complete 50m at the pool without getting out of breath?

Pacing and breathing. Just like in other endurance sports, if you over-exert, you’re doing it wrong. Swim to a rhythm and swim within your limits. The worst thing that can happen in an open water race is failing to finish within the cut-off time. In a typical race, 30 to 40 per cent of participants do not finish their swim. They get fished out of the water by a boat. They injure nothing but their ego.

KEEP CALM

Some people think our biggest worry in water is sharks. Well, if you’ve ever scuba-dived in Malaysia, you’d know that our sharks are small and do not like humans. So, in Malaysia anyway, sharks are no threat.

Others think we worry about water depth. I say, unless you’re a freediver aiming for the bottom, why does depth even matter? Fact is, the human body has a tendency to float. Our body fats as well as air in the lungs and sinuses help us do this. It’s not easy to sink to the bottom of any large body of water. You actually have to work at it.

What about cramping though? Well, cramps usually happen with vigorous kicking. Sea water gives you extra buoyancy. Your body can go horizontal without much kicking. You can then use upper body strength to propel yourself forward.

In open waters, it’s crucial to stay calm and tread water when emergencies like cramps occur. So this sport is not terribly extreme, but it’s no walk in the park either.

What goes through our minds during a swim? Probably a combination of the following:

Taste of sea or lake water in mouth and nose.

Worry about getting kicked or given a wedgie by other swimmers.

Soreness in shoulders and neck.

Difficulty in seeing buoys.

Anxiety at being alone.

“Am I moving? Why is that kayak following me? Am I last?”

Also, because a swim may take hours to complete, most swimmers have a strategy to deal with the tedium. Runners can listen to music. Swimmers don’t have that luxury. So what do we do? We hum tunes in our heads.

Diana Nyad, the first person to swim 177km from Cuba to Florida without a shark cage, hummed John Lennon’s Imagine a thousand times over during her 53-hour swim. My tune, for some reason, is always Hello Dolly by Louis Armstrong.

DARE TO DO

I got into this sport on a dare. In 2012, Dave, an Australian friend and fellow scuba diver, had heard about my regular swims at the pool and challenged me to join him at Kapas Marang, a 6.5km swim from Kapas Island, to the Terengganu mainland.

Not wanting to chicken out, I said yes and found a coach to train and correct my strokes. Months later, Dave and I made that swim. I’ve since repeated the swim twice. Kapas Marang was my first open water race. Yes, I certainly did go from zero to 6.5km in one morning, but it was not as reckless as it sounds. I was already an experienced scuba diver. Being out in the open sea didn’t freak me out.

More than just a physical activity, open water swimming to me is about goal setting. I love planning and executing swims, and derive immense satisfaction from having completed each one of them.

I’m most proud of my recent swim from Alcatraz island to San Francisco city. Although the distance was only 2.4km, the chops, strong current and frigid 15 degree C water temperature made it a big and scary goal.

We were given 75 minutes to complete the swim. On top of that, I was attempting the swim like a true San Franciscan - without using a wetsuit! Just in regular trunks. In the absence of any cold body of water to swim in, I resorted to soaking myself in icy water at home every day for half an hour to condition my body.

My effort paid off as I was among the 600 people who finished the swim, 140 of whom were without wetsuits. All these experiences suggest that open water swimming is perfectly doable if you train for it and operate within the limits of sensibility!

The writer will be taking part in the Oceanman Malaysia 10km Open Water Race in Putrajaya in March.

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