Many swimmers, of long distances, have told me that training camp was the step they needed to swimming further, and I am keen to level up my game. So, I decided to gift myself with a swim training camp from Big Bay Events.
I loved it. All of it. I swam further than I ever have before, I rubbed shoulders with beginner swimmers and experienced swimmers and learned from all of them. It was a weekend of learning and gaining experience in almost every aspect of my swimming journey.
Se7en Things I loved About Swim Camp
- Swim Friends for Life: I feel this is the most essential aspect of Open Water Swimming, so many days we just wouldn’t make it into the water if we didn’t have friends alongside us. We really forget how much we need a community around us, to keep us going when the going gets tough… to inspire, to push and to believe in us. I made new swim friends, found great inspiration and encouragement. From absolute beginners, to experienced channel swimmers there was space for everyone to learn and grow. Swim friends for life, it was lovely.
- Just Stay in the Water: I discovered that I could swim much further than I thought I could. For so many reasons, I want to swim far, my dream goal is a False Bay Crossing, but just couldn’t ever imagine how to swim further than the odd 10-12km distances that I have been swimming. It turns out that the trick is, trust your crew and stay in the water and keep on swimming.
- The Learning Curve of Nutrition: The Friday night we all met in Langebaan and had a planning meeting… getting to know each other and our goals. And looking at the swim conditions and routes to choose from… and then we spent the rest of the evening talking about nutrition. Turns out a couple of gels and an energy drink are not actually going to get you that far… there is more to mastering the swim and a lot more to staying happy for the long haul. Carbohydrates, Proteins, mixes and of course the favourite Rooibos tea and honey… even a year ago I didn’t know the truth about the power of a warm drink, with honey. Thanks to my fabulous coach at OceanFit, for teaching me to never swim without it.
- All the Steps to Reaching Your Goals: One of the nicest things about the camp was that of all the swimmers there, they each had very different goals. Some swimmers were qualifying for their English Channel Crossing, some swimmers were aiming for the False Bay Crossing Qualifying swim, some folk (no names mentioned) traveled from Joburg, had never swam in the sea before and are aiming for a Robben Island Crossing in the New Year… they happily swam 12km down the Langebaan Lagoon and I think they have a very good idea of open water swimming, going forwards. Massive respect to them and all the best for their Crossings!!!
- Superb Support Crew: I have to say that with an excellent support crew beside me: They answered questions, they kept me fed with snacks, they let me know how far I had gone and how far I could still go… and once they knew where I hoped to get to, they made sure that I got there. Absolutely no opportunity to say, enough’s enough, they were there to support me through. It is so encouraging to have supportive crew, and of course… just stay in the water and keep swimming. As a back of the pack swimmer, I am always a little weary of boring the crew, with hours and hours of sitting on a Rubber Duck beside me. But they were encouraging all the way, and more than that, they helped me to love my long swimming!!!
- The Location: Langebaan is a great place for a weekend away, particularly for a swim weekend. Whatever the weather, you are bound to get a good swim in and guaranteed to be able to test out your swimming skills. We were fortunate to have just enough calm weather for a long long swim, and just enough chaos to add a whole new wild level to night swimming.
- Logistics, Logistics, Logistics: The camp was well organised, we literally had to show up with a great attitude (not a problem if you love swimming!), our food for the weekend (self-catering is a thing, when every swimmer wants their own special pre-event meal) and prepared for any and every kind of swim. Friday night we got together to plan, Saturday morning was a long swim of varying lengths, for each swimmer. The swim was followed by some rest and recovery, followed by an evening briefing on the swim, and Sunday morning we had a fresh start and a night time swim down the lagoon, which was wild and wonderful and totally worth the sunrise.
And that in a nutshell is swim camp with Big Bay Events… Would I do it again? Absolutely… again and again and again!!!