SCAR 2015 Done

The End of an Epic Adventure

Last night marked the end of an adventure that I had been anticipating for nearly 7 months. In that time a lot has happened. This was the first time I had signed up for an Event which tested me and my crew on SO MANY levels. We have both Learnt a great deal about each other and ourselves in the journey to what has turned out to be one of my biggest swimming achievements and Audra’s First and biggest kayak adventure. She could a chosen something a bit more sedate to cut her teeth on but she did not. When I asked her to be support crew for a few swims in Arizona in a kayak, I do not think she realised exactly what it would entail. I did not even know! As for stepping outside her comfort zone, she has LEAPT out of it and done it  with such grace and style. It was a massive undertaking for her and she surpassed all my expectations and I am sure hers as well.

I woke at stupid o’clock for the 4th day in a row. Audra also woke early so we decided to go and watch the sunrise over Apache lake before venturing up to the main complex for breakfast and posting of blogs, We then had the not-so-envious task of packing up AGAIN and moving to our next swim. At this point the water system in the motel complex packed in leaving us all without water to shower and get ready for the day. Anyway, we checked out and headed back onto the Apache trail to make our way to Roosevelt lake along the 12 odd miles of the Apache lake that we had swum the day before. When you drive it, you are constantly thinking to yourself, We Swam ALL OF THIS!

The scenes along the way were positively stunning.  At the Apache/Roosevelt dam wall we stopped to take photos and bumped into Elizabeth Fry and had the great opportunity to have a photo shoot with her both at the start of the Apache Swim and the end of the swim that was to be later that day.

 

It was then time to go to the pre race swim briefing. It seemed very early as we were only going to start at about 5.30pm. There was a reason for this which I will talk about a bit later. At the meeting there were lots of accolades and presentations for the previous days swim and the usual pre swim stuff that we had got so used to. After this we were all dispatched into boats to – what I thought would be head to the start, We were wrong. The whole SCAR contingent headed off to the finshline this time. This was to watch Elzabeth Fry start her final 2 – way swim and, I think write her name into the record books – again. She was about to embark on the final leg of a Double SCAR – all the swims in BOTH directions. Do not worry, I have given her the name of a good shrink.

Once Elizabeth had started it was back to business for the rest of us with, yes, you guessed it, a blast along the lake to the Start from the most amazing guys you would want as Friends. Let me Digress here a bit. All the people that help make SCAR what it is give of their time and their very smart possessions freely. They are up at silly O’clock every morning and transport their own power boats around the lakes on the Dirt roads of Arizona, and are available on the water all day to help all the swimmers and Kaykers. At the end of every day they are responsible for taking 43 kayaks to the next venue and also then transporting them to the start Staging points. This event runs with near clinical precision and I really take my hat off to Kent and his team of ardent volunteers as it must be a complete nightmare logistically getting everything to run as perfectly as they can. You Guys and Girls Really make this Event a once in a lifetime affair.

The start

So pretty usual stuff here, Swimmers and kayakers to the start and the kayaks then arive by U-haul and are offloaded whilst the kayakers lay claim to their kayaks. By this stage in the event it is a bit of a scrum as kayakers now have an idea of the kit available and become quite possessive of their borrowed kit and are not giving it up for love nor money.

Now onto the Fun part. As this Swim is going to be finishing in total darkness, out come all the glowsticks and special lights to decorate said kayaks- and swimmers to make them as bright as can be once the sun goes down. Alexa, next time you and Audra scheme to make me a set of what have now become known as DROWN pants (my new crocheted patchwork orange swim kit) – DRAG pants for training – they are SO last season. Please can you put waterproof LEDS in them to light me up like a Christmas tree. With regards to these pants, apart from the lack of LEDS, we have come across a few design flaws. Wool, when wet if PRETTY BLOODY HEAVY. So although they have been a geat hit here at SCAR, not so much for swimming. Next time please try to source waterproof, bouyant wool.

We then had the Final talk by Kent about the course. As the lake is lower than normal- 52% full – it has had to be adjusted to make it up to 6 miles (10 Km). The one sad thing about this point of the race is that this will now be the last time you see some of this bunch. After 4 days of being with them and making some Lifelong friends and meeting some pretty amazing people, we all have places to go so some people will just finish and be off to their normality. It is a huge anticlimax but totally understandable, because of the late timing, there is not an opportunity for one final get together.

The Swim

About 5.30 pm it was time for the kayakers to get out there and the first wave to get on its way. Out around a few buoys, then onto the headland and follow it around until you start to see the Bridge – then just head for it. When the sun sets, lock onto the bridge safety lights and head in that direction. As before we went out in 3 waves.

Now, as I was in really good shape at this point I was a bit undecided as to whether I was going to have a huge blowout swim and just try to put in my fastest 10 km time – which currently is 2 hours 23 minutes. Or was I just going to take it easy. I opted for the former. This time it was an on shore start so we waded in and I was off. Water temp good, I had switched back to my “Give it all you can stroke” and, from what I could see, after about 50 minutes I was in third place and still going strong. Then, something happened in my head which caused me to grind to a snails pace.

I had been thinking about this a lot whilst blasting through the first hour. I then found myself saying’ Graeme, WHAT ARE YOU DOING? How often is it you will be swimming in Arizona, into a setting sun and below a totally cloudless sky waiting in anticipation for the Milky way to unfold and paint the skies above???? If you want to do a Blow out swim, do it in Britain where it will probably be raining and cloudy and and the surroundings will be a little different from the surrounding desert scenery that I was currently flying past – taking none of it in due to being so focused on my swim.

My swim slowed right down and I now got lost in the sun setting ahead of me; it was now time to turn on all the lights that adorned Audra, Harry and my kayak. It was total bliss. At this point I took the opportunity to get some footage of Audra and Harry. I took the GoPro off them and started playing around with getting some Stunning photos of them drifting into the sunset. If that was not pretty spectacular, what happened after dark was truly impressive. The light faded and then mother nature proceeded to paint the sky with all the stars of the milky way and throw in a few shoooting stars for good measure. I would often look toward my support team to see them drifting away from me with Audra’s head looking up into the milky way, her gaze totally fixated on what was happening above.

My biggest regret was not having clear goggles at this point. As I did not much care for what time I would do I often took mine off and swam breaststroke so I could at least see what was unfolding above me. We just inched our way towards the finishline, Audra lost in her own thoughts and me just wallowing in the moment, completely consumed by thoughts of what had actually happened over the last 4 days. A great trip that had my emotions all over the place with regards to People that I wanted to share this moment with, I missed my  most ardent supporters at that moment – my parents. They saw me through my very first marathon swim – the English channel. and I so wanted them to  be there with me right now. As Far as swims go, In my mind, this has to be one of the most memorable. My thoughts also turned to the 3 previous swims and safety of my kayaker and meeting new people, going to new places and locations I had been over the last 4 days, all a bit of a blur so far but in time memories I can piece together and that will be with me forever. I was a bit ovecome with emotion and shed a few tears.

After all this, we finally finished under the lights of Roosevelt bridge and I was promptly loaded onto a boat whilst the rest of the pod of hippos kayaked their way back to drop off the kayaks. Whilst on the finish boat, this driverless pontoon speed boat came drifting onto us. It has lost its anchor. As there were a few swimmers waiting to be transfered to the docks, Kent asked me if I could drive a speedboat? The next thing I know a pontoon captained by two Zimbabwean born international marathon swimmers was transporting about 10 swimmers back to the docks, God Only knows how we did not run into any swimmers in the water and actually found the entrance to the harbour without hitting or breaking anything – at night – on an unfamiliar lake. As I have always said, this sport requires adaptability, or it might have been the beer we were sipping at this point.

Right we now need to get ready for a day trip to the Grand canyon, I just wanted to get this out there as soon as possible as there has already been a bit of consternation on social media at my ineptitude to provide timely blogs. NO NAMES Mentioned but you know how you are Robbie —oops sorry. I do hope that you enjoy.

There will be other blogs pertaining to what I have learnt along this journey and LOTS more photos but I do hope that you enjoy this one.

Audra – Just a quick post script from the kayaker! I was somewhat relieved that the conditions on Roosevelt were calm yesterday – not only did we have an awesome kayak, but we had time to enjoy a very special evening. Kayaking at night brings its own challenges though and once we had despatched our swimmers, we had to head back to the loading ramp beyond the marina, which was another couple of miles. By this time, I didn’t have alot of juice in these here arms, so I admit to floating back part of the way, just to enjoy the view of the heavens, and contemplate. Along the way I have had the pleasure of meeting some incredible people and I’ve been introduced to an amazing community of people. Thank you to all of you for making this SCAR event so special and making my first kayaking event so memorable!! You are ALL fantastic – swimmers, kayakers and organisers alike.

But thank you especially to my partner Graeme, who without his belief in me I would never even have even contemplated taking this on, and who has been my inspiration! While I do confess that after 4 consecutive days of a wet back end, I have been looking forward to being dry,

I’ll be back!

Thanks for reading everyone. Don’t forget if you would like to donate to SANE, our chosen charity, you can do that on:

https://www.justgiving.com/Graeme-Schlachter.