Thursday 2nd October

Today has been stressful. Its been blowing gale force…flights into Dubrovnik have been diverted or cancelled. Luckily I arrived yesterday before the worst of the wind!

Warm up swim today was cancelled because kayaks weren’t safe in strong winds. I swam for 30 minutes in safe area. Water is crystal clear and warm….fishes swimming with us!. Lovely swim….swimming is my thing and the stress just goes!
Wind is howling now!

33.3 starts tomorrow. Currently going ahead as planned but review at 0500.
I’ll be fine when I’m swimming…there so much to think of and get prepared for. What to put in dry bag, what to put in tow bag, direction to swim….
Hope I get some sleep tonight.

Fingers crossed by tomorrow afternoon I’ll have got 9km out the way and the wind will have died.

Friday 3rd October

See Clare’s latest video update here from 8am. She is hoping to get swimming at 11:30am today, fingers crossed!

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Clare started her epic UltraSwim 33.3 challenge today! After a delay due to the weather, she finally got in the water for the first swim of the weekend.

Clare says “Pretty tough today! 6.6km done with the wind still blowing in places. The cross wind was cold but the wind behind me for a short while was a relief as I nearly surfed for a bit! It should have been 9 or 10km today but the weather had other ideas!

Early start tomorrow with 5am breakfast, a boat and minibus trip to start for a 7.9km swim. Then 3 laps of an Island that used to be a prison but is now a luxury hotel!”

She is a true champion to embark on this challenge, especially raising money for West Wight Sports and Community Centre too!

⬇️ Latest update from Clare ⬇️

Saturday 4th October

Day 2 update. Over half way but it’s tough. Lovely sunshine today. The sun on the sea is like swimming through a kaleidascope! And so good to get warm in the sun between swims. I’ve been cold after every swim. Tough day today- 11km in total across 2 swims, with a finishing 2.7km in a washing machine (well that’s what it felt like!)

Today my wetsuit zip jammed…nightmare and massively stressful. But I’ve managed to borrow one. Not ideal to be in someone else’s suit for the biggest day. Over half way. Just two swims to go. 11km tomorrow and 5km Monday morning.

You can track her swims here:

https://ultraswim333.com/live-page

A massive thank you to everyone who has donated on her page so far, she has clocked up over £6500 online as well as cash donations at the centre.

Donations can be made here:

https://www.totalgiving.co.uk/mypage/clares-ultraswim

This is what it feels like to swim 11km!

Sunday 5th October

Day 3 update: The start of todays 11km swim.

But today I was incredibly nervous – I’ve never even dreamt of swimming that far. Didn’t know how the cold would affect me. Within 4km I was feeling it. Hot water and an energy gel at the 4km feed station, followed by a km working harder and making myself think of summer, warm fires, hot drinks and any thing else ‘warm’ and I put it behind me. I used counting to get some distance behind me to stop my mind wandering to the challenge I was undertaking. (Count backwards from 500 and say the whole number in time with my stroke!) That ate up a couple more kms.

Then I was swimming through a cold war submarine pen, another feed and more hot energy drink and gel and i was 2km away from the finish. More counting….and i was there…4 hrs 5 minutes. Epic! Shoulders are very sore but otherwise I’m feeling better today. One more short swim tomorrow morning (5km) and UltraSwim 33.3 is done.

Monday 6th October

Torrential rain overnight. Thunderstorms forecast this morning so final 5km route has been changed to allow for getting us all out in a hurry if needed! So its laps of the bay in front of the hotel. Just like my training in Totland Bay except if I felt like I currently do I would be doing a gentle stretch in the gym not getting in and swimming for nearly two hours!

Nearly there….

SHE’S DONE IT!!!!

Clare’s swim updates