September’s Swim Tribe was a rainy yet satisfying experience at Lazarus Island. We started the day at around 10.30AM at Marina South Pier, from where we took the ferry to St. John’s Island. A group of coaches then traveled from St. John’s over to Lazarus Island. As the backup team, their job was to make sure swimmers would have the right support during the swim. They set up kayaks and a safety boat across a 1 KM swim course. Swimmers were targeting 3 rounds of the course for a total of 3 KM.
Challenges
At this point it had begun to rain and the rain was increasing, so the tribe had to delay their start slightly. Although it was raining the water was still clear and surprisingly calm, at least to begin with! Towards the end of the swim, the wind picked up and the water got much choppier, giving us additional challenges to work with.
This was also the first time this group had swum this route (from Lazarus to St John’s and back to Lazarus). It was even a new route for the coaches, as our previous route wasn’t accessible that day.
A further difficulty we faced were the clumps of seaweed in the water. Some of our swimmers got freaked out at the start because of how it floats around and touches you as you swim (it’s slimy!), but they soon got used to it.
Goals and Progress
Our main goal was for swimmers to learn to sight as they swum, so that they could control their direction. Remember there are no lanes, markings or flags in the ocean, so this is a key skill to have for open water swimming! In general, we sight every 3 strokes, just before stroking to breathe.
We used the kayaks as our fixed point to aim for. The full tribe of 10 swimmers was divided into 2 groups of 4 swimmers and 1 coach each. Master Coach Tang took on the faster swimmers, while Senior Coach Felicia took on the less experienced swimmers, including one who was visiting from Thailand. The second group started first, while the faster group were given a handicapped late start and had to chase the first group. The presence of the kayaks and the safety boat made it easy to sight and orient, which meant even the coaches could join in the race!
Afterwards, we showered, rested and shared our experience. Most people felt that Lazarus was a better location compared to our usual haunts of Sentosa and East Coast. In honour of finishing a 3 KM swim in rainy conditions, everybody got a can of beer and some light refreshments including grapes, bananas and curry puffs.
The Thai swimmer invited us to come to Thailand for their monthly open water swims, where they also do beach cleanup. Everyone seemed keen, given sufficient notice, so we plan to organize another adventure next year in Thailand.
Stay tuned for the further adventures of Swim Tribe! In the meantime, check out these photos and get in touch to find out how you can join.
