I’m happy to have completed another point to point open water swim of Lake Bolsena, especially at this early stage of the swimming season.
Here are the facts. The straight line distance between Capodimonte and Bolsena town is 12.27 kms. It took four hours and 28 minutes to swim across the lake, which equates to 22 minutes per kilometre. The water temperature remained in the 17C zone for three hours and then climbed to 19C for another 80 minutes with the final ten minutes being swum in 20C waters. That’s the facts.
The swim crew involved just me and the boat pilot, and it’s during swims like these that you realise just how important it is to have a support crew who know you well. Riccardo focused admirably on his task which was to drive a good course and feed me every 30 minutes. But there were times when you question why you do these long swims, and the answer arrived quickly and would be familiar to and similar for all Serpies; it’s because I love swimming. I managed to get that particular monkey off my back by talking my way through the Serpentine swimmer’s alphabet. My ABC? Well that’s a story for another day. And I am a day closer to being prepared for my EC solo on 21 August.
Thank you Serpies.
[John Tierney]
