Kapas - Marang Report : My Thoughts.

6.5km.

Sound simple enough. Island to Mainland. Straight line. How to miss it?

Ingredient was simple enough. Open sea swim as the main item. Add in being alone in the sea to marinade it a bit, undulating waves to add some salt, being alone for garnishing and just for good luck, loads of sea current to sweeten things up.

It was a perfect combination for a good open sea swim.

And what was 6.5km, felt like it was 8km, for me at least.

The day started great, but noticeably missing was the dead calm sea you usually see early in the morning where the waves sweep the shoreline gently.

Myself, Shazly, Azmar and Upiq were swimmer designate and Kam was kayaker to escort Upiq in his maiden attempt.

I secretly feel that Kam should escort me too, but it is only 6.5km...should be simple enough for a two time IronMan finisher like that consistently covered 3.8km in 1:30. Technically, it shouldn't take me more than 3 hours. Right?

Wrong.

Dead Wrong.

Not when the above ingredients were mixed in a large bowl known as South China Sea and weather and sea condition changes more often than Anwar changes his numbers of (supposedly) frogs.

I was told by more experienced racer that the current will always be a challenge. So, i was told to target a mountain beyond the horizon (Kam call it Mt. Fuji, for it did resemble the mountain, minus the snow cap), which is on the right hand side of the landing point. From afar, Mt Fuji and landing point looked like it is a good 2km apart.

Click to see in details

Simple. Target to navigate identified, easily viewed eventhough if one were to be under the waves.

At 7.33am, the guns went off and everyone ran into the water and started swimming. There were close to 220 swimmers, we were told by Mr. Chan during the briefing a day before and there will be 6 bouys to mark the distance (every 1KM). But somehow, the bouys all went missing the morning of the race. Nothing was left except one large bouy to mark 6km (you can only see it if you squint your eyes and concentrate - not something you will do when swimming and being thrown in the water).

"Don't worry, there is a BIG BALLOON you all can see!", Mr. Chan says.

My first 90minutes of swim went pretty well. Mt Fuji was still the target i was heading for and i started to feel foolish to keep swimming towards that mountain as the landing point is a distance away.

But stayed on course i did. I was with Shazly briefly, swimming at his pace, following the bubbles from his kick.

Suddenly, i realised that Mt. Fuji was right behind the landing point. That was at hour number two.

I've drifted away. I looked behind and to my horror, Pulau Kapas, which should be technically behind me if i swim in a straight line, or on my left if i have my bearings correct, were on my RIGHT! I am 45 degrees off!

You know you are in trouble if the island is on your 3 o'clock and not 6

What can one do?

I found myself swimming alone between Kapas and Mainland. No swimmer were in sight it seems. No Kayak (which i was told to have numbered in 50) were seen. Into my third hour, i saw the water scooter with the rescue personnels on it.

I swam towards them, the 20meters or so seems to take eternity.

I hanged on to them so i could clear my goggles.

"arus tahun ini kuat sangat", One of them said. (This year's current very strong)
"ramai dah terpesong kat sebelah tu", he added (a lot drifted to the other side)

They pointed towards the south, towards the more open water of South China Sea, away from the landing point.

I was then instructed to swim at 45 degree towards the shore line. I was already in the water for 3 hours, and counting.

Fingers are all getting stiff, skin shrinking like raisins, balls had some chaffing (nope, no petroleum jelly ma'am) and my energy level were dead low.

I wanted to vomit twice. I swallowed enough of seawater that i peed a full 60seconds after the race. My throat were tasting funny, my stomach threatening to spill it's content. For you that do not know, i have motion sickness. I took 2 motion sickness pills prior to the race, which most probably saved me.

But that did not prevent me from feeling all bleachy...(i'm still having the waves movement in my head now, by the way).

The last hour to shore was demoralising. You are still alone out there. No one in sight. The HUGE baloon still looked tiny. The shore still looked a distance.

I thought about quitting. But that's not me. Pulling up whatever i have left, i splashed through the water, i kick for my life, i paddled with whatever my arms could churn.

I almost cried when i reached shore.

SK and Azmar made it in 3hours. It took me another good hour before i managed to come to the shore.

You can see from the pic above that Kapas is NOT directly behind me even as i exited the water and the photo was taken skewed to the island.

I reckon i did at least a 8km swim.

I got more than what i bargained for.

And i'm just glad i survived this.

Congrats and well done to all that even had a guts to start it yesterday. It certainly not an easy show.

Not for me anyway.

By the way, here is Mr. Chan's HUGE balloon.

How i managed to use this to guide me to the landing point, remains a mystery