I am very pleased to be able to say that yesterday I swam solo from Cottesloe Beach to Rottnest Island!  It was a tough, but on the whole thoroughly enjoyable day, and I feel on top of the world to have successfully achieved this important interim goal.

Saturday day began for us at 3am, with Breakfast then a short drive to meet the all important support crew at the boat-ramp at Hillary's.  It was cold and dark, the swell was substantial, and the worries about whether the event would go ahead  persisted.  Still, no SMS from the organisers had been received, so we had to assume it was all systems go!  So, Nick (paddler) and I left Sascha (wife) to meet with Tim and Simon (skipper / boat owners).  We drove down to Cottesloe beach to get ready.  I later learned that whilst we were driving the 50km or so, the boat was painfully bashing through big swell in the dark to make the rendezvous at 5.30am! Nick and I tried to chat about normal things in the car, but my nerves were shot and as soon as we arrived at the beach I had to run off to visit the bathroom! 

Prep on the beach involved layers of sunscreen and a mix of zinc (nappy rash cream) and vaselene, designed to stop me burning and also keep me warm.  I had also sparingly applied wool-fat (lanolin), and standing on the start line realised I should have not been sparing.  Others were glowing yellow from head to foot, with the waxy substance plastered all over themselves! 

At 6am the WA Premier called the start, and together with about a hundred other soloists I made my way into the water to swim out and meet the paddler and boat.  All went well which was a relief, as without both of these attachments you're not allowed to proceed past 1500m.  The weather looked good, with a reasonable swell but no real wind, everything was looking positive!

Almost as soon as I'd started to find my rhythm, I felt this electrifying pain across my face, left arm, and chest.  I had been stung by an invisible blue-bottle.  Much more painful than any previous sting, and within the next 5 minutes I had received four or five more.  Each causing me to stop and yell out in pain!  I kept thinking of Diana Nyad who tried to swim from the USA to Cuba, and got thwarted by jellyfish, and her "I will not give up" resolve.  I decided firmly, that I would not give up, and prayed that they would not continue.  Thankfully that was the last of them but I did swim with a tingling left arm for the rest of the day.  Link (highly recommended) here.  http://www.ted.com/talks/diana_nyad_extreme_swimming_with_the_world_s_most_dangerous_jellyfish.html

Without waffling on for too long, it's worth saying that the rest of the swim was ok.  The last 5km were into a heavy current which was tough but good practice for the Channel.  I had some issues with my food (big tummy cramps and gas), narrowly avoided running into the back of and being run over by a few of the thousand or so boats which were out there (absolute chaos), and managed not to see any of the three sharks which were sighted elsewhere in the fleet!

I feel as if I swam well, learned a lot about nutrition and needing to keep myself mentally entertained, and importantly having decided that I would cross I managed to visualise myself on the finish line the whole way across.  This was amazingly powerful. 

I recognise I still have a really long way to go until I am capable of swimming the English Channel, which could be equivalent to three crossings like yesterday, but it was a really important step on the way.

I have made so much progress, and need to say a big thank you to the crew  from yesterday for making it possible to swim, my wife for ongoing support and understanding, the coaches who've helped (Vlad, Charm, and Ben), sponsors, and friends family and colleagues for always asking how it's going and really making me feel you're part of the challenge.  Thank You!

I am sure I will write more about this later, but just wanted to let you all know that I made it, and WE DID IT!  Thank you all for your ongoing support. 

After all the months of preparation, the first big challenge en-route to the Channel has arrived.  On Saturday I will swim from Cottesloe Beach (WA) to Rottnest Island (20km).  Standing on the beach yesterday looking out to the island, I could not see the island due to heat-haze (35 degrees C)!  However, I had the same sensation as I experienced last September when I stood on the Dover foreshore and looked over to France.  The thought “I’m going to swim from here to there, and there’s nowhere to rest on the way across!” is daunting, but strangely exciting.  It seems to awaken the primeval inner workings of the brain.

Conditions on Saturday are likely to be tough (click here) with a 3.5M swell and 20 knot winds.  Perversely I relish the tough conditions, as hopefully it will affect the faster “pool swimmers’” state of mind more than me!

I will have a support crew to guide me and feed me, with a guy on a kayak and a boat with skipper, observer, and supportive wife on board.  It will likely take somewhere between 7 and 8 hours to make the crossing, and during this period I could stop for as many as two feeds an hour.  A major issue is likely to be sunburn, so I will get fully greased up with lanolin (wool fat) and zinc beforehand! 

This will be the longest every swim for me, and I am going in with the attitude that I must persist and cannot give up.  I will swim until I have a handful of sand in my hand.  I am also very much looking forward to having a few beers to celebrate.  It’s been two full weeks with no alcohol and no coffee.  I miss them both!

Fingers crossed you’ll hear from me next week with stories of challenge, but success.  I’m off for a final session in the pool, then for dinner with training buddies.

Very brief update today as conscious that I waffled on a lot last time I wrote!  Today I have some brilliant news.  I have regained my positivity and my belief that I am actually capable of succeeding in the challenges I have set myself.

You may have gathered that I've been a bit flat, feeling slow, and filled with self-doubt.  Well, as often happens in life, there was a random trigger which caused me to do something about this.  I caught the ferry back to Manly from work one night last week (something I never do) to meet a friend for dinner.  As we were leaving I thought "It's only 11km from the bridge to the wharf, so let's see how it feels..........".  I was horrified as the expanse of water opened up in front of me, and could not help thinking that in only three weeks I would have to swim almost twice this distance.  It was a real wake-up call, and I immediately realised I had to do something to prove to myself it would be ok.  After all the rain we've been having I was keen to avoid the ocean, so I put together a "pyramid"-style programme (100m, 200m....1000m, 1500m, 2000m, back to 100m) totalling 15km which I could do in a pool.  It provided the perfect opportunity to practice my feeding (both fluid and food), and test everything out for the big day at Rottnest. 

Everything went brilliantly.  After about 5km I relaxed and felt myself getting stronger, and towards the end I was still swimming well and could have happily carried on. Overall it took less than 5 hours, which I think is brilliant.  I can't tell you how relieved I was, and now I genuinely feel great about my endurance.  I must stop giving myself a hard time for being slow, because when I was in the pool with the general public today I was one of the faster swimmers in the fast lane!  It's just Vlad's squad which is filled with super-humans.......testament to him and the other coaches.

Thank you all for your support.  Fingers crossed all will be well for rotto.  Just need to avoid getting my two year old's tonsillitis......................