Bournemouth beach is beautiful - even in the rain. When I arrived here on Monday 29th April in order to set up for Client training the next day, it seemed wise to take advantage of being at the seaside, and to arrange to do a sea swim.
The documentary crew decided it was also a good opportunity to capture on film, and this was probably made even more dramatic (possibly even ridiculous) by the fact that it was thundering when they interviewed me on the sand in nothing more that my swimmers and hat - much to the bemusement of some visiting foreign students.
The sea was quite bracing when I entered. But there is a different type of coldness somehow associated with fresh water and sea water, and once I had acclimatised, I enjoyed the experience tremendously. As with the lake, the absence of the requirement to continually turn round is a blessing, and with such an expansive sea front there was even less need to about turn here than in NJ. I set out from Bournemouth pier and swam along towards Boscombe pier some 1.4 miles away (and barely visible in the rain).
Despite the rain, there was barely a breath of wind, so waves were at a minimum. I needed to head out far enough to be beyond the breaking point, and that was still a fair way, as Bournemouth beach is very flat and slopes gently. But once suitably far out, the swim was a truly 'free' one.
Shortly prior to Boscombe pier I finally turned around and headed back. Unfortunately, I'd timed things wrong, as I needed to be at work by 17:00. So an hour before this I had to climb out of the sea and jog back to Bournemouth pier. This turned out to be a huge relief to the film crew - I'd been gone for an hour and a half, and they were becoming seriously worried. To see me safe, albeit somewhat cold, was very good news to them.
All in all a very good swim, and above all I was pleased with being able to stay in the water for so long. Even Dr. Julie Bradshaw was impressed when I told her... and for someone who is the world record holder for swimming the Channel butterfly to be impressed, that's no small deal.
The documentary crew decided it was also a good opportunity to capture on film, and this was probably made even more dramatic (possibly even ridiculous) by the fact that it was thundering when they interviewed me on the sand in nothing more that my swimmers and hat - much to the bemusement of some visiting foreign students.
The sea was quite bracing when I entered. But there is a different type of coldness somehow associated with fresh water and sea water, and once I had acclimatised, I enjoyed the experience tremendously. As with the lake, the absence of the requirement to continually turn round is a blessing, and with such an expansive sea front there was even less need to about turn here than in NJ. I set out from Bournemouth pier and swam along towards Boscombe pier some 1.4 miles away (and barely visible in the rain).
Despite the rain, there was barely a breath of wind, so waves were at a minimum. I needed to head out far enough to be beyond the breaking point, and that was still a fair way, as Bournemouth beach is very flat and slopes gently. But once suitably far out, the swim was a truly 'free' one.
Shortly prior to Boscombe pier I finally turned around and headed back. Unfortunately, I'd timed things wrong, as I needed to be at work by 17:00. So an hour before this I had to climb out of the sea and jog back to Bournemouth pier. This turned out to be a huge relief to the film crew - I'd been gone for an hour and a half, and they were becoming seriously worried. To see me safe, albeit somewhat cold, was very good news to them.
All in all a very good swim, and above all I was pleased with being able to stay in the water for so long. Even Dr. Julie Bradshaw was impressed when I told her... and for someone who is the world record holder for swimming the Channel butterfly to be impressed, that's no small deal.
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