Swim five
While the fourth swim was just a short one hour swim the night before, the fifth swim took place on Saturday 25 April, Anzac Day. Waking up before the sun, and with a blanket of clouds overhead, the group trudged down to Brighton Baths Health Club where they joined local swim club, The Icebergers for an eight hour swim. Swimming for at least six hours on this swim is a qualifier for the English Channel.

This event highlighted the importance of mental strength. The conditions were similar to the day before, but for each swimmer the experience was different. Despite struggling on the three hour swim the day before, Dean felt great during this longer event. “Can I swim the Channel now,” he asked after the swim. He smiled most of the way through. “I could’ve easily done another 5 or 6 hours,” he said, “I feel confident.

Des started off quite rattled, as he found that he had the wrong swimming apparel on, meaning he would not be able to use this swim as a qualifier for the Channel. “The first lap was incredibly awful. I wasn’t cold, but not knowing where I was going, there was a lot of uncertainty. I felt disoriented.” During the swim, he struggled with boredom but the group helped to support each other. “It was great having Dean there on the last lap. It took a lot of strength to get there and do that last one, but he psyched me up.”

Ben, the 17-year-old from Canberra, broke the swim up into two hour increments. “Two hours ticked, four hours ticked. After four, I was just focusing on six hours,” he said. “I got to six hours and mentally, I was just done.”

“I didn’t realise how big of a toll counting down the hours would be,” he admitted. Having been a competitive racer throughout his entire swim career, Ben needs to get used to setting a good pace and not setting goals if he wants to complete the Channel.

Not all of the swimmers fared well. Andrew struggled with the cold. He struggled with fatigue and felt lethargic. His stroke rate decreased below 50 strokes a minute, meaning his body couldn’t generate enough heat. He struggled to communicate and slurred his words. Andrew experienced hypothermia. Although he didn’t realise it himself, his support team noticed the signs. “We tried to keep you in as long as we could, we called in a couple of others to observe you. But we had to call it,” they said.

The debriefing after this longer event was an emotional one for Thirroul Swim Adventures coach, Lawrence. “You were all so different, but so tenacious,” he said. “Andrew went to hell today. He doesn’t realise how close he was to Lucifer.”

“Being there, seeing you every hour, seeing you adapt, change, come to terms with what you had in front of you, just getting the job done, being there with you all was very special.”

Never known for being a man who goes easy on his team, Vlad had the group back in the water just a few hours later. This time, there were no laps to swim, and it was more about just getting back into the cold water again.

Swim seven
The final swim was a short one lap race at 8am on the last morning, against The Icebergers. The group of 28 were, “comprehensively flogged by Ben,” an Iceberger admitted.

The camp ended with breakfast at the Royal Brighton Yacht Club where swimmers swapped tips and talked about their own experiences.

Cold camp is not just about swimming and then going home, Vlad said. “It’s about learning. It’s about knowing what you don’t like doing, and doing it. It’s about finding your weaknesses and working on them. It provides an ability to share ideas and discuss strengths and weaknesses. It promotes a sense of achievement and camaraderie that is necessary for a swimmer to achieve enormous goals.”