Dolphin Address 15
November 22th 2007
It is not that I want to nag or boast, but little by little it’s getting a bit chillier. The water is not too bad. The ocean is like a giant warm water bottle that only cools very slowly. The beast was in the changing. The icy winds chill you to the bone.
Many years I swam summer and winter in a flooded old sand
quarry. In the coldest I used to take two 2 litre coke bottles, filled with hot water and wrapped in a towel for isolation. Out of the water again I poured these under the zipper, so it felt as if I was walking about in a mobile bathtub. My club mates joked about being ‘hardy’, but my body tells me one cannot really get used to cold.
In Dingle I always swam with Fungi in my trunks, but in the end only looking at the sea would give me shivers on the backbone. Then Keith leant me a 3 mil wetsuit and I never really took it of again.
In Holland I used to hang my wetsuit in the shower compartment to dry out of the sun. As this is not possible here I either put my suit, like the rest, away in the waterproof red bag of Ortlieb, or I let it dry overnight, as sunlight is disastrous for neoprene.
If changing into clothes has taught me one thing it is in&out without chatting yourself cold. Also it is clever to change in halves. First your under half in suit, then take of sweater, T-shirt or whatever and finish the upper halve. To get your clothes on again it is the reverse, so first dry yourself thoroughly, get dressed and only then take of the under halve and socks.
The coldest in changing for myself I find it’s the trunks, as I store it wet. You may think getting into the entire wet wetsuit is colder as it covers the whole body. I find this very untrue. In my early wetsuit years it used to make me feel indestructible. This is the psychological effect of being unstoppable and fearless. In a way it is comparable to the club members that during changing go on complaining how cold they are, because then you are. Cold.
The life of a dolphin swimmer simply is no bed of water lily’s. But today, White Strand, she can be so adorable. ‘You’re a little bit early, honey’ I can remember from a popular TV program. Same here. I still had to put on the monofin and then I prefer to have both my hands free. But if I let the WaterWing float unattended for just a moment Dusty’ll take off with it and might not bring it back. But everything went nice and lovely and as affectionate as I have not seen her for a long time. Normally I am the guy that goes deep and fast. There are plenty people who want to stroke her. Maybe she was so close because the vizz was so bad. One does not know and that’s the end of it.
If looks could kill I had become a murderer this afternoon. After 15 minutes of profound wellness a jet ski tore by and broke the charm. I continued to swim some over at the clear side of the bay, where there was an extraordinary vizz of 5, 6 metres, but no dolphin. She was being exhausted by a tall bold type that was ego freaking on speed.
No alternative then getting into my clothes again. Sometimes my fingers are so cold that it hurts to pull a zipper. Sometimes I rapidly pull back my arms horizontally whole and half for some warmth. Fortunately the bus has an excellent heating: within 5 minutes it is agreeable and after 15 minutes I have to turn it down. After swimming it is recommendable to keep warm and asap get something warm to drink, in my case coffee at gasoline alley. The feel good that stays with you for the rest of the day is the tingling.
Maybe the time has come to put on my 7 mil suit. It is light blue, only the red S on the chest is missing.
Jan Ploeg, Meadow Fanore, November 22nd 2007
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