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The first started at 6.50am. It was damp in the air and the wind was extremely strong. The waves at the shore were huge and the swell seemed unusually big. A sensible thing to do would have been wait for others to turn up and also to then go in on the girly beach to the left of the pier; of course my middle name is not “sensible”, which sometimes is a great shame. I stood at the shore for about 10 minutes trying to find a way in and during that time I was hit by about six large waves big enough to knock me backwards and throw stones at me; nasty blighters! After a few big breakers I found my gap and went for it, jumping straight in and swimming as hard as I could to get away from the swells. I soon found myself being taken out quickly and was up the silver ball near the helter skelter in no time. Looking back to shore I felt a little unsteady as the waves seemed to be getting bigger and bigger and at that point I decided to abandon going around the pier and to just head back. Unfortunately as I turned back around to face away from the beach I was faced with a massive wave that was about to break on me so I did the only thing and swum down and under it. Swimming deep under the waves is much safer than trying to go over or through them as you are the one in control and you can normally come back up cleanly. However today the undercurrent, or perhaps it was a massive rip tide, was so strong that as I went under somehow it grabbed my legs and spun me over backwards. Before I realised it I was being spun in a ball and didn’t know which way the sky or the sea floor was. Calming myself I simply let my body float until it took me back to the surface. As soon as I broke through the sea I came face to face with another wave of the same proportions and the same thing happened all over again. Once again holding my nerve I let my body float up, but I have to say that I was really quite scared that I’d surface and it would happen for a third time and again and again. Luckily the next wave was only half the height and I was able to swim over it. At this point, with my heart in my mouth, I swam to shore as hard as I could. Each stroke however meant I was facing the beach and away from the waves and that itself was scary. I did manage to get back to shore, but it took longer than I wanted and was really frightening the whole way. This was the first time I found myself being turned under so far out to sea. It’s happened a few times at the shore, but all that happens is you get a few bangs and scrapes, but way out there you genuinely wonder if you’ll make it back! A couple of BSC swimmer on the beach were watching me and sensibly walked back with me to the Arch and saved their swim for another day!
The second swim was at about 7.45am. After my shower and change into civvies I was ready to go to work for a warming coffee and a couple of Nurofen. But it struck me odd that no one was at the Arch at that time; usually there would have been Little Bob, Mike, David, Bella, Big Bob etc. So clutching my bag of wet swimming gear I left the Arch and wondered back to my beach to see if anyone was around. Not seeing anyone I wondered over to the girly beach and there they were; a more sensible place to go in. As they were just standing around I thought I’d wonder down and take a look; there was Mike, Little Bob and Charlotte on the shore line, none going in, and their was Bella and Big Bob out in the ocean making their way back in. Both made it safely back, but both were unnerved by the experience; Bella particularly seemed a little out of sorts and shaken by the intensity and strength of the waves and undercurrent. Rather than go back to the Arch they all stood looking to sea; David and Martina were still in there and about a third of the pier down. We stood watching them for a few minutes and it was clear that they were not making much headway. David, whilst being the elderly one amongst us, is a very strong swimmer and managed to head back quicker. He simply is not able to physically bring someone in with him despite being a fantastic swimmer and as soon as he was near the shore he called out that Martina was in trouble. Immediately Big Bob sprung into action and dived back in. Looking around me there really wasn’t anyone else able to go in and help so there I was stripping off my clothes, popping my wet trunks and goggles back on and heading out to help. Bob and I reached her pretty much together and took position either side of her. Just having us there as support was enough for her to swim in with more confidence and with us guiding her and shielding her as much as we could form the bigger waves we all made it safely to shore.
Walking back up the beach to the Arch we passed a council worker who was standing under the pier with fear in his eyes; clearly wondering what the hell we do this for.
20 minutes later, showered again, dried, dressed, hair gel in place and clarins moisturiser reapplied to my salt battered face I headed of to work for that coffee and those headache pills. 30 Minutes later sitting at my desk I realised being a simple office worker was not such a terrible thing to be!
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