Swim around "The World"

WillersWillers Member
edited August 2012 in Event Announcements
Hi All. On the 21 November 2012 I am going to take on the biggest challenge of my life. I will attempt to be the first person to swim around The World. Not the globe, but a man-made development in Dubai! The reason for setting myself such a gruelling challenge is to raise awareness and also money for research into Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. I started training in January this year so hopefully by November I will be ready!

I joined this website about a month and a half ago and have been reading lots of the discussions to learn as much as possible - of particular interest has been all the posts about waterproof sunblock - swimming at midday in Dubai is a real concern! Anyway all the approvals for my swim recently came in and I went public last week and I wanted to let you all know about it - you can learn more about the swim at my website http://www.swimaroundtheworld.me

I hope you like the concept and if anyone has any advice about this type of warm water swim I would love to hear it!

Kate
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Comments

  • loneswimmerloneswimmer IrelandCharter Member
    Kate, great idea for a swim. Put it on my Twitter. I look forward to seeing the planned route. Plenty of warm water swimmers around here who can help better I think.

    loneswimmer.com

  • evmoevmo SydneyAdmin
    Awesome, Kate! I hope you'll keep us in the loop about this.
    Willers wrote:
    I hope you like the concept and if anyone has any advice about this type of warm water swim I would love to hear it!
    Drink lots (and lots and lots) of fluids, and more electrolytes than you'd otherwise consume in a saltwater swim.
  • WaterGirlWaterGirl Scottsdale, AZCharter Member
    The hottest swim I've done was 6 hours in 85-degree fresh water. Air temperature was 85 degrees at the start, 110 degrees at the end.

    I always use Carbo Pro (Maxim) mixed with water, cranberry juice and apple juice. Plenty of potassium, but very little sodium. For that swim, I tried using salt tablets. I HATED the salt tablets. (I've never heard anyone else say that.)

    All my feeds were frozen solid at the start. They thawed sufficiently to drink by the time my first feed came around. By the end, they were HOT. I refused to take my hot feeds, so that meant 0 calories for the last 90 minutes or so. That was bad.

    The most important thing is to keep feeds cold. If you have a cooler on the support boat, that should be no problem.

    I can only tolerate about 100 calories per 8 oz of fluid when it's hot. I suspect I could double that in cooler temperatures, but I haven't tried it.

    As long as I am well hydrated before I start, I never have a problem with dehydration while I'm swimming. I bring extra plain water just in case, but I don't drink it unless my feeds get too hot to tolerate.
  • I am surprised it hasn't been done already. Have a great swim.
  • ssthomasssthomas DenverCharter Mem​ber
    The hottest swim I've done was Tampa Bay- and it was pretty cool day, comparatively. I made sure I had extra water on board to help with dehydration. I also added some electrolytes, which I don't normally do. I'd take a regular feed (Carbo Pro, water, red powerade) and then take additional water if I was still feeling thirsty. I also made my feeds a little more frequent than usual, with the thought that my stomach might not be able to hold as much liquid if I was hot, so if I wasn't eating as much at each stop, I'd still be getting the same calories. Turns out, the day we had wasn't all that hot so I didn't struggle as much as expected with the heat.

    Cold feeds would help tremendously- I'd definitely make sure you have a cooler and plenty of ice.

    Also, I believe I started a sunblock thread right before Tampa because I was worried about the sun. The best sun block you can get is Desitin, i.e. baby butt cream. It's thick, it has zinc in it, and it won't wash off. Nothing gets through that stuff. It's messy and doesn't look cool, but if you don't want to get sun burned that's the way to go.

    Good luck!
  • courtneypaulkcourtneypaulk Richmond, VirginiaMember
    You may want to experiment with Endurolyte capsules (Hammer product). I have found when swimming in warm water that these help tremendously - and quickly - when I start to feel the impact of the warm water.
  • Thanks Water Girl - that is so helpful and really reassuring to hear you swam in 85 degrees. The temp here in November will be 28 degrees so about 82 fahrenheit. I did my first sea swim "post dubai summer" last saturday and the water was still pretty hot (33C/91F) and I was in and out the sea for 1 and a half hours drinking continuously and felt okay and hydrated. HOWEVER.... by the time I got home, the headache had set in and the nausea and then eventually vomiting! Oh dear. Likely heatstroke. I am very fair and used to british weather though so I am prone to heatstroke! But annoyingly I believe I was hydrated enough just my body overheated?

    @ssthomas - will be buying a cooler and Desitin asap

    @courtneypaulk - googling Endurolyte now :-)

    @haydn - the world was only completed in 2008 and so far no one has been given permission to swim it. I was very lucky to be given the go ahead so hoping I make it!
  • gregocgregoc Charter Member
    Make sure you swim a "triple crown" and the "oceans seven" while you are there.
  • @Gregoc Ha ha that is a great idea :-) The route is just being mapped now and I am making sure I swim the "English Channel"!!
  • Hi Niek- thanks for sharing! Have been meaning to log on and do this :-)

    Only 6 days to go for my first marathon swim! No real idea how I will handle it. I started training in January with 2km swim sets - I hope I have done enough training to now! Time will certainly tell. There will be some strong currents against me at the 10km mark but hopefully some currents helping me at the 17km mark :-)

    Any last minute advice greatly appreciated! Especially how to cope with salty water. I don't know if I am making this up but I swear it seems salty here than any other sea! I blame the desalination plants along the coastline that throw excess salt back into the sea!
  • ssthomasssthomas DenverCharter Mem​ber
    Mouthwash helps me with salty water! I rinsed 3-4 times across Catalina and had sores in my mouth for a week. I rinsed EVERY feed across the English Channel and while I still had some swelling, I was mostly back to normal the next day.
  • loneswimmerloneswimmer IrelandCharter Member
    Make sure you dilute your mouthwash 2:1 or 3:1 first otherwise it might burn later on. I imagine freezing some of the pre-mixed feed bottles would be a good idea also, for later in the swim, and keeping everything in a cooler.

    loneswimmer.com

  • Thanks guys! Mouthwash bought and diluted :-) Had never thought to use it so regularly as every feed but yeah if it stops your mouth being a disaster for days afterwards that is def a good plan!

    Loved the link to the checklist - relieved to see I have most of it laid out already. Just bought the Cadbury chocolate rolls yesterday :-)

  • ZoeSadlerZoeSadler Charter Member
    Good advice!

    I packed diluted mouthwash and painkillers in my Channel box this July. I never asked for the mouthwash or painkillers during the swim. When I got back on the boat at the end of my swim I said "Can I have some mouthwash please". I took one sip, my mouth felt like it was on fire and spat it out immediately, but couldn't stop the burning even after throwing water in my mouth. I couldn't eat properly for about 3 days afterwards or lift my arms up!

    Moral of the story: it might actually be a really good idea to use mouthwash and take painkillers when doing a long swim!
  • paulmpaulm Senior Member
    Does anyone know how Kate went ???
  • ZoeSadlerZoeSadler Charter Member
    Hi, her blog says she made it in 10 hours 56 minutes. Nice one Kate!
    http://www.swimaroundtheworld.me/
  • Hi Guys!

    Yes Zoe is right 10hours 56 minutes :-) At 10km point I was on track for a 10 hour swim but evil currents between 12-18km slowed my progress right down. It felt like every 1km marker buoy took a lifetime to get to! Then from 23km to 25km was also a particularly dark period as I could see the big houseboat at the finish line where all my friends and family were waiting but I just didn't seem to get any closer. Awaiting my official timing etc from support crew but I was told I did one of my fastest km's on the last km - I was very desperate to finish :-)

    During the swim physically I was fine - it was entirely a mental game. Although I had to wear a nose clip from 11km onwards as my nose felt like it was on fire. It is now a full 3 days later and I have some residual bad chaffing marks that have turned into scabs and my mouth/tongue still feels horrid and very sore from all the salt water but otherwise physically I feel great!

    If you want to see a clip of me stumbling out the sea - I have just loaded a news report onto my facebook page www.facebook.com/swimaroundtheworld

    Thanks for all your support! Giving myself a few weeks off but suspect I might then be looking for a new Middle East swim challenge :-)
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