Kamilla Boross - Around Gozo

Clockwise circumnavigation of Gozo from Hondoq Bay

34.9 km (21.7 miles)

12 hours, 31 minutes on 1 July 2024

Observed and documented by Rossana Oddi

Contents

Swimmer

  • Name: Kamilla Boross
  • Gender: female
  • Age on swim date: 41
  • Nationality: Hungarian
  • Resides: Msida, Malta

Support Personnel

  • Laszlo Dohany - feeding
  • Dominic Cachia - pilot

Observer

Rossana Oddi - Open water swimmer.

Escort Vessel

Name Type Port
unnamed Scorpion 17ft St Pauls Bay, Malta

Swim Parameters

  • Category: Solo, nonstop, unassisted.
  • Rules: MSF Rules of Marathon Swimming, without exception or modification.
  • Equipment used: Textile swimsuit (Arena women’s Tropic swimsuit pro back low), cap, goggles (Arena).

Route Definition

  • Body of Water: Mediterranean Sea
  • Route Type: circumnavigation
  • Start & Finish Location: Hondoq Bay (36.027855, 14.323252)
  • Minimum Route Distance: 34.9 km (21.7 miles) (map)

History

Several previous swims of same route, none officially documented.


Swim Data

  • Start: 1 July 2024, 04:02 (Europe/Malta, UTC2).
  • Finish: 1 July 2024, 16:33:48
  • Elapsed: 12 hours, 31 minutes, 48 seconds.

Summary of Conditions

Feature Min Max
Water Temp (C) 25 27.7
Air Temp (C) 24 33.1
Wind (kph) 1 10

GPS Track

Trackpoint frequency: 5 minutes. Download raw data (CSV).

Click to expand map.

Speed Plot

Feed Plan


Observer Log

Download PDF


Notes on the documentation

When I, Kamilla (the swimmer), was reviewing the logs, videos, and my own notes, I discovered that we had made some mistakes in the documentation. We have not corrected the original papers, but I would like to provide additional notes for clarification and share my learnings on how this can be improved next time.

Start of the Swim

The start of the swim was chaotic due to delays with the boats. As a result, I had to start from the jetty next to the planned beach instead of the beach itself. In the rush, I jumped into the water and started swimming without calling my name or using any whistle.

Observer Logs

Feeding Duration Column:

  • Logged: Consumed food

  • Correction: We did not time the feeding duration accurately. It was planned for 2 minutes, but the actual durations ranged from 2-3 minutes on average.

Notes Column - Food Related Info:

  • Logged: Protein bar

  • Correction: It was an energy bar called “Voltage.” I have attached a picture of the consumed gels for reference.

Wind Speed:

  • Unfortunately, we made an error when measuring the wind speed as after looking at the logs, based on my open water swimming experience, I could tell immediately that some of the recorded wind speeds were not correct. Unfortunately, I do not know what could have happened here, as I was in the water.

I have attached the wind speed data from Windy for July 1st, which I hope will be sufficient for ratification.

Wind Direction:

  • For wind direction, the observer primarily relied on the pilot. The observer used the term “vario,” which appears to be incorrect. The attached wind report includes the correct wind direction, which I hope will be sufficient for ratification.

  • Vario Wind Direction: This term was meant to indicate that the wind was changing.

  • MSF Form: During the last few feeding stops, I logged the nutrition details instead of the wind directions.

Learnings for Next Time

In case of an inexperienced observer: In the future, I will ensure there is someone in charge on the boat who makes sure everything is timed accurately and that all the documentation is completed correctly and promptly. This person will also ensure that the notes are sufficient and accurate.

Or I will work with an experienced observer

I hope that these clarifications are helpful. I am eager to collaborate and provide any additional information or documentation you may need for the ratification. Thank you for your understanding and consideration.


Swimmer Statement

by Kamilla Boross

Round Gozo - T-12 hours

I asked my friends to cover my body with sunblock, so my body is going to soak it before I go to sleep. Then I started preparing my nutrition. I was super scared from the heat as I experienced dizziness during my training swims and I decided to add more water to my carb drinks. I did the first 2 ultra swims in September when the heat was not that strong. I consumed 0.4-0.5l carb drinks per hour, this time, I prepared with 0.7l per hour, to stay on the safe side.

After I prepared the nutrition, I put all the bottles into the fridge and all the gels and bars on the table, so in the morning, once we have the ice we can pack the coolers and get ready to go. Then I had a quick call with my coach, where we agreed that the weather is going to be funny on the swim. We will start swimming against the currents and when it could be for our advantage, the wind will change and we will swim against the currents again but in stronger wind. So the tactic was to take it easy in the beginning, cause I’ll need the stamina in the second half.

Around 9-9:30pm, I went to sleep, or at least I tried. At this stage I did not feel the anxiety anymore. I told myself, it is what it is. I cannot change the weather, we will see what is going to happen.

On summer nights, I always have trouble sleeping. It is because of the heat. Before the swim, it is the mixture of the heat and my own brain. Obviously, this is the time when the brain is making sure I am entertained for a long time, with thoughts about the next swim, about the crush I have, or just random things in life. I remember a little after midnight I was still awake, trying to control my breathing to calm myself down. It worked. I woke up around 1:30am, it was a 1 hour long power nap. I congratulated myself, started dressing, and ate my 1st “breakfast” then we were heading out to pick up ice for the coolers. Obviously, the freezer is not working in the rented apartment, like we wouldn't need it. Luckily, we managed to get ice at the last minute, just needed to pick it up, or actually we pretended we were stealing it. To start the day with some fun. Ice in the car, let's go back and start prepping.

I wanted to be in Hondoq bay at 3am, so we will have plenty of time to apply sunblock and sudocrem, eat my pre-race meal and leave at 3:50-3:54 am from Hondoq. This was my plan. The owner of the boat rental had different plans and unfortunately it was not aligned with mine, as it turned out he fell back to plan B, and he forgot to say. Plan A was to have the boat in Hondoq at 3:15am and we leave at the planned time.

When we arrived at Hondoq, few swimmers were already there. I went to say hi to them and we started carrying our bags and things from the car. The wind was very low, the sea was calm, I knew this. It reminded me of Greece, when the sea was like a mirror, but my pace was very low and I couldn't understand what was happening. Almost 3 years later, and knowing the forecast, I knew we will swim against currents and it will slow down. But it is what it is, I said. So just swim.

The Start

When the boat arrived, we had to find each other first. It was pretty chaotic, all the boats were there, and everybody wanted to pack and start but only 2 boats fit on the jetty. Somehow, we managed to deliver our bags to the boat and at this time, it was already too late so I had to start from the jetty instead of the beach, jumping straight to the water, record the whole thing and start swimming to catch the window to cross the ferry line.

It was 4am and dark, so I started swimming. I wasn't feeling scared at all this time in the dark and I wasn't closing my eyes when I was facing the water. That's my coping mechanism if I feel scared of marine life. This time, I wanted to see as much as possible. Not speaking how much I love the glowing effect when my hand touches the planktons. It has this blueish-purpleish color, I wish we would have more from them. I kept on swimming, the boat caught up with me, and came next to me. I asked the crew to start logging, the wind and stroke rate, for the documentation. The only stressfactor during my swim was to make sure the documentation is going to be right. We almost got it right.

They started recording me, with a headlight on, which made me blind, so I told them to not do it and kept on swimming.

I did not have my Garmin on my wrist, I had no clue how much distance I did, what my pace was. All I know is that I love how the water is flowing around my body. It gave me the sensation that I am going fast. I wanted to go fast to catch the window, only 1.8km away and we started later, so I had 28-30 mins to accomplish this. How wrong I was! Less than 2km took around 40mins, I don't exactly remember. We stopped, and I was told, the window is closed. I have seen other swimmers passing and getting closer to the ferry’s line, so I told them if they go, we will go too. So I kept on swimming. We followed a blue light moving on the water, it was the rescue boat. They did not let the swimmers pass, we had to wait for the new window. We were out of schedule, the swim, the nutrition. There wasn't any point to stress about this. It is what it is. I was waiting next to the boat, making sure to not touch it. We discussed having the first feeding after we were on the safe side of the ferry. I have seen other swimmers lining up, we also recognised each other in the dark and one of the swimmers recognized me and called me, it made me smile.

When the window opened, we started swimming. It was still dark and the crew stopped for the feeding. There were too many boats in the same area, so we agreed to get the feed when the boats are more spread. When I’ve got the feed, I accidentally consumed a whole gel, instead of a half one, but corrected it by drinking less sport drink. It was early morning and the heat did not kick in yet, so I had some place for flexibility. I knew that my tummy is like an iron, I do not have any problems due these ad hoc changes.

Xatt l-Ahmar Wreck dive site

As we continued the swim, I knew that the first place what I was really looking forward to was a scuba diving place with the 3 wrecks I was looking down, I couldn't see the bottom neither the wrecks, which was normal as the sun was just rising and the wrecks are below 30m. I recalled some memories from scuba diving and freediving here. I love both sports a lot. The sea was still calm and I still had the same sensation that I'm going fast, however without my watch I had no idea what my pace was, and I didn't really care about it. Only a few sudden thoughts about the documentation took my attention away and made me stop and ask my crew if they are documenting and everything is in place. We were just right after the first feed and it was delayed already. The other swimmers and the boats were still very close to each other. I had very positive thoughts in my head and didn't think about anything bad, any negativity. If anything was visiting me in my head, I was acknowledging it and asked to go away, “showed the exit to them”.

I tried to keep a low stroke rate so I won't get tired. I was rather focusing on the distance per stroke.

I started feeling sleepy due to the lack of sleep at night. After a few hours in the swim the sun was already up and I tried to find some rest in between two breaths by closing my eyes. I kept doing this for 30-60 mins. It calmed my brain down a little bit but didn't really help so I was really looking forward to the first caffeine gel that was scheduled in my nutrition plan.

At some point I enjoyed myself and the sea and the experience so far so much that I just turned on my back and was floating on the surface looking at the sky and thinking how grateful I am that I'm living here and I can swim around this island.

I saw a tower on the land and asked the pilot where we were, this was Mgarr Ix-Xini. The home of one of my favorite seafood restaurants.

After ix-Xini, we were swimming next to huge cliffs. It reminded me how small we are in this world. As we were following the island and got closer to a cliff, I loved the view so much that I asked the pilot to switch places so the boat will be on my left side and I can look at the cliffs when breathing on the right. Later the boat went ahead of me and I remember that I was swimming very close to the cliff, as the mass of water was moving beneath me and with me, I had a feeling for a second that I never felt before. It made me dizzy a little and at the same time it was a magical moment. I could feel the power of the sea, the strong underwater movements and how it moved me on the surface.

After 3-4 hours in this swim I came completely calm and I wasn't asking about the documentation from Rosi, the observer. Earlier it turned out, we were taking only 1 video per hour, and I asked her to sync the videos with the feeding. Now, I trust them that they know their roles and they will do the best and everything will be alright in the end.

The weather was amazing, no waves, the sea was very calm, just the underwater currents slow us down. At some point I just found myself in the flow and I really enjoyed that feeling. I was just doing one stroke after another and the only thoughts I had was how much I love this, how much I love swimming and the sea, how grateful I am for my life and I just don't want to stop.

When we stopped eating, I had to counter swim to stay in one place with the boat and that was the time when I was asking for updates on the distance covered, so I could get a rough estimate about my pace. I was also asking the pilot where we are.

For a while we were swimming under the cliffs of Gozo. I started having slight pain in my left shoulder and I was worried that this would get worse later on but I didn't think about it too much. I was just swimming and decided that even if it's going to hurt I'm going to finish this swim, we have painkillers on the boat just in case.

Slowly, we approached Xlendi. I did not recognise the place, Dominic the pilot told me the name.

So far, I haven't really seen any fish, just a few jellyfish here and there but it wasn't anything to be scared of.

Dwejra

While breathing on my right I recognized that we are at Dwejra. Recognised it from the Fungus rock and this was the home of the Azure Window until it collapsed six years ago. I was very happy that I could see this view from the perspective of the sea and asked the team to take some pictures. I also remember that a few years ago or maybe last summer they reported the blue shark here and secretly I was hoping that one would appear and I can swim with it, or a dolphin but unfortunately it didn't happen. As we were passing by, I recalled my memories that we made together with some friends here while hiking, or having fun on the beach, scuba diving or freediving. When I moved to Malta, this was one of the first places I visited and immediately swam under the Azure Window. I was also thinking of a friend of mine, how cool it would be to scuba dive here together in the Blue Hole.

After we left Dwejra behind I saw a boat with divers down flag and when I looked down I saw scuba divers diving on the reef. They were far from me so I couldn't start catching the bubbles but I really wanted to. A little later I saw a school of fish and I just started floating on the surface and looking at them.

Also I found a strange and funny pattern on the cliffs so I stopped there because it reminded me of a joke with a good friend and I asked my crew to take a picture, so I can send it to her.

Cave exploring

The sea was still calm and we were swimming very very close to the cliffs and I saw a cave and I felt the desire to swim through it, so I asked the pilot to go there. As we were approaching I realized how dirty the water was and I didn't like it. I also realized that it's not possible to swim through the cave, so we turned back and we kept going.

After the cave, another known place was approaching, Wied il-Mileah. I needed to stop to take a picture because I don't know when I'm going to be on this side of the “azure window 2” again. The pilot just let us know that this might fall as well according to authorities, following its big sister, the Azure Window.

Ghar ir-Rih

To cool down, my crew sometimes jumped into the water. Luckily the boat had some shades so they were not burning under the sun. This was already at round 1, I started feeling the salty water on my tongue, it got dry. I could still speak properly but I knew that from now on it will just get worse and I tried to close my mouth as much as possible to avoid salty water making my tongue more dry. I was exhaling the air through my nose while breathing in my mouth on every third stroke.

As we were moving, the skipper reminded me that there are some underwater caves and the way where we need to take a lot of stairs to go down to a Whied il-Ghasri. I felt super happy to do the swim, and have a bit of nostalgia. Nice memories came back with a good friend of mine who left the island a few years ago but we came here to freedive and a few scuba dives we also did here. And I was thinking to get back to scuba diving during the recovery period and before I start training again.

Still haven't seen a lot of fish, just a few jellyfish here and there but it was okay. I didn't hit any so far, so I was feeling very lucky with the weather and the currents that they didn't bring those creatures into our way. Also in my mind I knew that soon the wind was going to change and the swim was going to be harder later on so I tried to save my energy as much as possible because I didn't know what I was going to encounter. We have seen other swimmers from a distance. Sometimes we got very close to their boat or they got close to our boat but we didn't really swim together. Everybody was following their own pace which was okay.

Up until this point I didn't have any breakdown. I didn't have any frustration. I was enjoying the swim. I encountered a few thoughts that were about to trick my mind and pull me down but as soon as I recognized them I told myself: I came here today to finish this swim and I know that I have a strong body, I have a strong mind so I'm going to finish this swim no matter what. I was entertaining myself with my favorite songs from the playlist that I listened to when I'm on the way to the training session. I have a special playlist made for Ultra swimming which puts me in the mood every morning when I am listening to it in the car.

I was also thinking a lot about the week before the swim. It was a tough week at work and my schedule was crazy, which did not allow me to get as much rest as I wanted. []{.mark}

Marsalforn

Slowly approached Marsalforn and I recalled my swim here together with Chris. This was the first swim before this swim that I did in Gozo. We started from Marsalforn and swam to Ramla Bay and back. We had a swim here in December or in January and we encountered quite a few jellies, and as I was thinking I realized probably the currents took them here, so I might get stung. The pilot said let's go a little bit further out because there are jellies and I wasn't surprised, we went further out and it was clean. I could see the bottom of the sea which I was really fascinated about and hoped to see some rays or some sea creatures other than jellyfish but this wasn't the case. I have seen a few small fish here and there but nothing more than that.

When breathing on the right, I saw the hills where I was hiking with Alfie (my dog) and with a friend of mine. We walked from Marsalforn to Ramla Bay and it was a fun walk. Great memories again.

Ramla Bay

When we reached Ramla, the currents were very strong and I felt like the current was taking me more far from the shore. My crew gave the signal for the feeding time and stopped to eat. When we continued, suddenly the wind picked up and I had to start swimming against the currents and that's where the first three struggles started.

I remember my coachs’ words from last night that it is going to be hard here. I didn't expect what came in the next 10 or 15 minutes or maybe half an hour.

I kept on swimming with the same stroke rate and when breathing, looking at the land on my right and felt I am not moving. I stopped several times and told the pilot that I am not moving and suddenly some negative thoughts were coming but I reminded myself that I came here to finish this swim, I am at Ramla Bay already and nothing can stop me.

While I was struggling my crew was just enjoying the trip. This is how it looks from the water so at some point I told them it would help me if they would encourage me. I kept on swimming and reminded myself to not waste energy for negativity, let's channel the energy to turn this for my advantage and just keep pushing, keep on swimming and sing some songs. So I picked up the stroke rate and I started pushing the swim a lot in the same time my adrenaline increased all the pain went away and I found myself in the flow again and I started enjoying the swim, more than before. And remembered that my best swim memories are coming when the sea is a bit choppy, a little bit rough, imchafchaf in Maltese. Also I found my strength when a little innervoice told me that my life was full of roadblocks and nothing can stop me, this condition for sure not and became curious how this swim was going to change me as a person and as a swimmer. Dominic, the pilot, told me once we reach a certain point the swim is going to be easier and then we will have one last big push before Hondoq, the starting and finishing point. As the wind changed and it picked up a lot, we were just going straight against the currents.

But that point, where the swim was supposed to be easier, didn't want to come. I kept on swimming. I was telling my positive mantras and visualized that I am going to finish the swim.

HG12, HG10

From now on we had to swim against surface currents and also we were facing stronger winds than before. I realized that swimming without a smartwatch makes my swimming much more enjoyable. I don't care about my pace, the time, I am just relying on my crew to tell me that it's feeding time. One feeding came after each other and time was passing very fast and we approached a place that I have never seen before, neither from the island nor from the sea but it looked very interesting and I was asking the pilot what it was. He told us that this is the place where they cut the stones. Later on my crew, my friend Laszlo, who was feeding me, told me that everything became very dusty on the boat when we were there as the wind blew everything in our direction.

The current got stronger so I had to pick up the pace a little bit but I was still feeling very good and I knew that from now on I will definitely finish this. I could see the bottom and I could see that I was moving forward which made me calm, so I kept singing in my head and waiting for the next sign when I could eat and drink again. My tongue was super dry at this point and it was impacting my speach.

The pilot told me that basically we will have one more turn and on the other side of the turn there is Hondoq and we will arrive but the wind and waves are going to be very strong after the turn.

Last push

We did the turn and indeed the sea was very rough. I liked it, the boat tried to stay closer to me but the direction of the waves was not in our favor so it had to increase the distance to prevent any accidents. At this stage my mind was in Greece, where I did my first 30km swim and I couldn't eat in the 2-2.5 hours as the boat couldn't even stay close to me because the waves were so big, frequent and coming from every direction that getting close to me was dangerous. This didn't seem to be that rough as it was in Greece, so I was using this as a strength that if I could finish it in Greece I will finish it here for sure. And again, if I could see the bottom of the sea and I'm moving forward, I just put my head down as much as possible and kept on swimming.

Finish

We were approaching the jetty, the boat stopped and I could see the ladder. I was very happy about it and surprisingly still had a lot of energy left. I felt tired, but overall I had a huge smile on my face. There were quite a few people waiting for us, mainly from the swim clubs and the family members of the swimmers. I remember as I grabbed the ladder, I needed to pee before I got out, so I stopped and I was just hanging on it. It did not work, so I started climbing up, and people were cheering. It felt really amazing to see so many familiar faces. As soon as I was on the ground, I swayed after the choppy sea, everything was moving. I was expecting this coming and during the swim, when this came to my mind, I started singing a song in Hungarian (Rock yourself Away in English) I heard a lot of well dones and congratulations and Neil was waiting there for each and every swimmer. I was super happy, we took a photo with Neil, we removed our things from the boat and said goodbye to the pilot, Dominic, who was heading back to Malta. I tried to talk to people, however, my tongue was so dry that I couldn't really talk and it was very hard to understand me. After the swim we went to the nearby restaurant with the crew, I took a protein shake, ordered a pasta and a beer, eating was a bigger challenge than I thought.

Days after reflecting on the swim, I have just one thing to add: I loved it, I loved that it happened around an island where I have so many memories with great human beings.


Video


Appendix A: Wind Data

visualcrossing.com

wunderground.com