Plans and Play

Tuesday March 17th A lot of factors go into planning a day on SwimVacation. Here are some of them:

Wind

Mood of the group

Where we want to be in two hours

How much trash we need to unload

How much we’ve swum the day before

Our current location

How much water/beer/wine/liquor/food we have onboard

Where we want to be in two days

Whether or not we’ve been to Willy T’s the night before

The mood of the Captain

Skill of the group, as a whole

The mood of the guides

We take all of these factors into account during a discussion between the guides and Captain  that lasts about 5 minutes.  This morning we knew our next stop was White Bay, Peter Island, so  we decided to swim there, to keep things simple. Guide Dave plotted the course with his openwaterswimerator or whatever app he’s got on his iPad. I imagine him lying awake at night trying to figure out how long it would take to swim around Tasmania.

This was a big swim, it went around about half of Peter island. We spent a bit of time planning the swim strategy: one guide towing an SUP, and two in the water. One yacht following the group just offshore.  Designated pickup/dropoff spots for swimmer who want a break or a shorter swim.

The conditions for the swim were ideal. 5 knot winds at our backs and sometimes fronts. Little chop. No whitecaps. We rounded several points, lost and gained swimmers. All of our guests pulled out what they had and showed amazing determination. I swam with guest Peggy, who started thinking about cheeseburgers about 1.5 miles before the finish. We had some laughs about that, especially bearer we had a hamburger onboard.

After that……..

Burritos

Naps

SUP

Guide Dave went over stroke videos with everyone then we all jumped in to practice some freestyle drills. At this point, suffering was at a minimum.

Asian fusion dinner was followed by Chef Mo on guitar. He’s a hoot.

Guest Kath had a big birthday today.  It’s why she came, actually.  She’s as strong a swimmer as I’ve seen, and looks at least 10 years younger than her age.

Tomorrow we heal a little. Some swimming, sun, and sailing.

- Hopper