Malta Day 4

April 14, 2009

The winds died down a bit last night. They were able to get the boats out of the Mgarra harbor. We ate a hardy breakfast and headed for the docks at 9am. Due to the fact that it was still considerably windy out, our swim options were limited. The guides started us about a mile from the south east corner of the island with the plan to round that corner and head north to a cove up the coast where would finish. The morning swim was a 3 hour swim. One swimmer put a thermometer in the water and measured 15C. It seems as if the cove we had been swimming in was a little warmer then the main Mediterranean sea. We hit the water at 10am. It was cold but beautiful since we could see the bottom as we swam. The wind was to our backs so the waves were not a significant issue. As we approach the corner, the guides realized that the sea was going to be to rough on that side to swim. We shifted the plan to cross over to Comino island that was south of us and swim in coves over there. The crossing was a little rougher but not bad. As we got close to the island, we ran into a batch of Jellies. Everybody got some significant stings but nothing dangerous. Eliz got one right in the face. It freaked her out enough that she started swimming breaststroke and slow freestyle looking for them. Hint to future cold water swimmers, this is bad news. The decreased energy output allowed her body temperature to drop. Once your body temperature drops, it is nearly impossible to warm it back up unless you get out of the water. She start shivering in the water. At the two hour mark, she got out moderately hypothermic. Another swimmer (coincidentally named Joe) pulled a muscle in his arm as he try to suddenly jerk away from the Jellies. The guides searched for a jelly free cove and had us do laps in the cove. The rest of us made the 3 hours. I got out and had one of my more serious shiver fits I can remember.

After a hardy lunch, we headed back to where we started the day since it was jelly free and to drop off the injured Joe to see a physician It was a mere 90 minutes and we jumped back in for a 2 hour swim. The good news is the extra hour she had getting out early allowed Eliz to stabilize her core temperature and she jumped with renewed desire not to slow down and let her core temperature drop. The bad news is that the 90 minutes did not allow me to stabilize the core and I jumped in feeling immediately cold. We did an out and back course that took about 15 minutes. After one loop, I was colder then I finished my 3 hours. I hung in there for one hour but was getting very nervous about how cold I felt. At the one hour feeding mark, I requested to get out. One guide did a quick review of my condition and helped me out. I was still coherent so I was still not severely hypothermic but I had an even more intense shiver fit then from the morning. The rest of the swimmers finished the 2 hour swim fabulously. There was much celebrating on the boat with a little fear but a lot of optimism for tomorrows 6 hours swim.

Of course I am nervous about 6 hours tomorrow. I have a theory that I am using to pysc myself up. When I stopped after the 3 hours and got out, I allowed my core temperature to drop due to both stopping the energy expenditure and allowing my colder blood that had pooled in my extremities to release into my core. This dropped my core temperature down further then if I had keep swimming and I was not out of the water long enough to reverse this core temperature drop. Since I will not be stopping tomorrow, this will not happen. Second, I think I might have been able to finish the second hour but I would have come out much more severely hypothermic. This crossed my mind with the fear of tomorrows swim coming up and did not want to push my body that hard the day before the big swim. So the hope is that one additional day of acclimation, not stopping and pushing myself to the limit will gain me the 3 hours I need to finish the swim. Wish me luck.