Article about the P2P swim

http://www.hamiltonnews.com/community-story/6814871-hamilton-marathon-swimmer-marilyn-korzekwa-swims-cape-cod-bay/

Marilyn's story

Fortunately the best weather of the 3 days we reserved occurred on the lowest tide day of the month. However, as it turned out, the wind and waves were a bigger factor than the tide. The word for this swim is "grand finale".
As soon as we got aboard the 39 foot flybridge Flyin Finn boat,  we started greasing me up to look like a snake. Evidently sharks are scared of snakes. We put white and black bands of zinc oxide on my arms and legs and lanolin on my core for warmth. I jumped off the boat in the dark into a cool 17.5 degrees C water. I swam in to White Horse beach to where Marilyn Bell Dilascio and her daughter stood holding flashlights. After photos, kisses, and "Godspeed", I stepped into the beam of the boat's searchlight, lowered my raised hand and started swimming at 4:54 a.m.
There was a heartwarming moment after the swim when Marilyn and I thanked each other for a moment we will always treasure. I am so grateful she was able to come down for the most wonderful send off I have ever had in 14 swims.
By the time I started swimming it was not all that dark and the sun came up an hour later. The water was calm for the first 5 hours so I tried to make good time because I knew the wind and waves would pick up in the second half. Thank God the dreaded fog did not materialize. The water warmed up to a quite pleasant 18.5 within an hour. For some reason I had been nauseated for 12 hours before the swim. But after I threw up my entire breakfast on the 5th feed, my stomach felt great and I had no more problems.
The crew saw a pilot whale breaching and another one blowing. I saw  a duck and seagulls and zillions if moon jelly fish. I only got a dozen small stings.
The wind picked up after 5 hours and the waves were coming from every direction but mainly at me. There were 2 segments of about half an hour where I couldn't get my stroke rhythm and my shoulder started to hurt. I was praying that the waves would improve or else I would be in for a long painful slog of a second half as the winds increased. My prayers were answered and both their direction shifted to pushing me from the right flank and they got longer and smoother and I got my rhythm back. Again I tried to make good time and I focused on my stroke to minimize the shoulder and neck pain. I kept praying that this could continue until the end. Soon I could see the finish at Herring Cove beach and I knew that I would make it, although it still looked like it was 10 km away.
The closer we got to Provincetown, the bigger the waves became. The water temp was 21 degrees C at that point. All my years of swimming in big waves were key in succeeding at the last 10 k. The waves were about 2 to 3 feet high. I instinctively knew when to attempt a breath and when not, I didn't panic if I had to wait a few more strokes, I used the wave direction to orient myself, I ruddered with my legs, and I lengthened my stroke to ride the wave on my glide. I even got into a rhythm with the Flyin Finn which was constantly drifting. I could tell when they were speeding up to get back on course and I adjusted my heading to match theirs. Of course, my husband and son, who took turns paddling, did an awesome job staying beside me in the waves and keeping the shark shield beside me. It did zap me once, which was a bit startling, but not painful. Of course, the second shark shield ran out of juice 1 km from shore. This was the most critical time because we ourselves had seen the seals that frequent that area and attract sharks. Fortunately we had brought my shark shield and got it up and running.
As we crossed over the shelf where the bottom went from 153 feet to 13 feet, about 800m from shore, the waves became massive. I was so grateful we had put the effort into finding a spray skirt to cover the kayak. Waves were building on top of each other making 5 to 8 foot mountains. The tour boat that went by and made a 10 foot tsunami wake didn't help. My son had a blast surfing that wave. He's a whitewater paddler and he was in his element. His antics kept me entertained. Other than the pain in all my muscles from feet to fingers, we both had fun in the waves, especially since the water was 22 degrees C. Not all the people in Flyin Finn watching were as confident as we felt. With all our experience in the surf in California, we had no trouble making the the white sand landing at 6 pm to the amazement of the people on the beach. Total time for the swim was 13:06. This was a little faster than I expected, thanks to the wind that pushed me.
THEN, I had to swim 250 m back to the boat against the waves. I had to dive under a couple of them to get through the surfzone. The boat had been blown so close to shore they threw me a life ring and towed me 100m before plucking me out of the ocean. Freed from having to accompany me, my son had a terrific time surfing back to the boat.
I would like to thank Greg O'Connor, president of MOWSA, for his good natured help and advice. Captains Tom and John did a terrific job navigating. They had a deep understanding of the bay and it's weather patterns that was immensely helpful. Thank you to my crew. Finally, thank you to Marilyn and her daughter for the send off and meeting us upon our return.
I am the 9th person this complete this swim that takes the same route as the Mayflower pilgrims (in reverse). Most importantly, I am the first Canadian and the oldest woman.
Don't forget that it isn't too late to support my swims by donating to Sashbear. Www.sashbear.org

After nearly 8 hours Marilyn has 7. 4 miles left. We can see sand dunes and beach at Herring Cove on the tip of Cape where she hopes to land.

Marilyn has been swimming for 5.5 hours and has accomplished 13.5km of her 30 km swim. Her husband and son have been helping her navigate alongside the Flyin Finn from the kayak. The wind has picked up from this morning but the waves are still less than a foot. The sun is shining and a couple of finback whales have been spotted in the distance. Stay tuned.

In two hours Marilyn has covered 3 miles. Gentle breeze from south and calm sea. Water is now 69F. Marilyn has replaced her clear goggles for tinted as the sun is directly in front of her in the east. We are aboard the Flying Finn that is 39 ft cabin cruiser with large cabin and plenty of room for us.

Greg O'Connor is our official observer from Massachusetts Open Water Swimming Association (MOWSA). He indicated that there have been 8 documented solo swims and one relay across Cape Cod Bay a distance of 19 to 20 miles (30-32km). Marilyn is the first Canadian to attempt this swim.

Amazing send off at Plymouth dock by Marilyn Bell-Dilascio and daughter. Then they met us at White Horse Beach for the start of the swim at 4:44 am. They came for several days to be here at the start and finish. This departure time gives the best window with regard to tides. Water temp was 64F and after one hour had warmed to 67F. Stroke rate steady at 62 strokes per minute that is her usual speed. Cape Cod Bay is calm with ripples. After 50 mins she had her first feed of Vitargo. Beautiful sun rise just after her feed.

Swim is on for tomorrow

The swim is on for tomorrow morning starting at 4:30.
The weather isn't the greatest. A thunderstorm is ending at midnight. Then the winds are dying down to 5 to 10 knots from the Southwest. Southwest is going to push me. Waves will be 1 to 4 feet, building as we get close to the end. The tide will hopefully also push me in to shore. The last kilometer will be the toughest right into shore, with the tide speeding up there. The biggest weather issue will be the fog. If it is too thick, the swim will have to be called off due to boat traffic.
Massachusetts Open Water Swimming Association, MOWSA, will be providing 2 shark shields to give me continuous protection. I am honoured to have Greg O'Connor, the president of MOWSA as my official observer.
The best news of all is that Marilyn Bell Dilascio drove down especially to see me off. We had a lovely dinner this evening. She will also be waiting to see me come in. "I want to see your glowstick leaving the beach instead if watching the tracker from my couch".

Swim details

Good news, I heard from Greg O'Connor, president of Massachusetts Open Water Swimming Association. He will be my official observer. I am honoured.
Here are the tracker links to follow.
The swim is scheduled to start at 4;30 am from White Horse Beach, Plymouth on Thursday morning, weather permitting.

track.rs/3

http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0MxS271XmugOzEQ0PSTcEjBskd3clhvgM

Day in Provincetown

We spent the day in Provincetown. What a happening place! The whole main street is closed off for pedestrians and full of cool stores and seafood restaurants.  In the harbor we saw seals swimming.
We went to the beach I will be finishing the swim at, Herring Cove beach. The water was so clean and there were little crabs crawling along the bottom. We had fun just floating and watching them. The water was warm, 21 or 22 degrees C.
Then we went to the beach on the other side of Race Point that I might end up at if I miss the point. The current was stronger there. We saw whales off in the distance blowing their air 20 feet into the sky.

Trip to Plymouth

We drove up to Plymouth today. I swam at White Horse Beach, which will be my starting place. Then we met with Captains John and Tom and went aboard the Flyin Finn. This is a beautiful boat and the captains are experienced with marathon swims. We also picked out the kayak we will be using. We capped off the day with a fresh lobster and corn dinner.

First ocean swim

I enjoyed a wonderful swim here on Cape Cod today. The Atlantic sure is saltier than the Pacific. The water was gorgeous at about 20 degrees.
In the afternoon, we drove to the Cape Cod canal of the intracoastal waterway. We could look at the ocean, the cabin cruisers in the canal and the giant silver bridge over the canal.

Greetings from Cape Cod

We had a pleasant drive until we hit a 2 hour downpour in Massachusetts. It is so humid here it is foggy. Our AC is on max. The bridge to the Cape is very impressive. It is sandy and marshy here with lots of mosquitos.

Leaving for Massachusetts tomorrow

I'm all packed and ready to go. We will be driving 9 hours tomorrow across New York State and Massachusetts to Cape Cod.
I have a small crew for this swim, just my family. My crew are all great at doing 3 or 4 different jobs so I don't need many people.
It is so nice to be able to drive to the swim. No deadlines, no suitcases, no luggage restrictions, and I can take everything I need. Less stress.
It is also nice to be in the same time zone and to have service on my own cell phone.

Lake of Bays - Marilyn's story

My word for this swim is Northern Splendour". The northern half of the lake looks just like Algonquin. It was a beautiful sunny day.
We rented a gorgeous pontoon boat from Baysville Marina.
I started at 8:23 am from the government dock in Baysville. This is located in a bay at the very southernmost point of the Lake of Bays.  The water was calm and flat. The first 2.5 k were against a slight current. Then it was a joy to zip across the largest open space of the lake without a wave or boat traffic. Around noon, a ripple began. Over the next 2 hours it built to about 4 inches and the boat traffic made some waves. The winds were primarily from the west to west south-west, but since we were going north north-east, the waves were primarily at my left flank. Once we got into the northern half of the lake, the boats disappeared and the waves settled down to 2 to 3 inches. As we kept rounding points and entering new bays, I understood where the name, Lake of Bays, came from. When the Lake narrowed and I could see the landmarks and the wind was still pushing me, I knew I would make it to Dwight without a problem. However, the water temperature at 22 deg. C, was too hot to sprint, so I just enjoyed the scenery and focused on making my stroke strong. I finished at the beach next to the boat ramp at 6:13 pm. Official time 9:49:51.
I feel ready for Cape Cod Bay!
Don't forget that I am swimming for Sashbear. www.sashbear.org

Success  at 9:49 elapsed time and 6:13 pm,

Six hours, how time is fleeting and so ephemeral when you are drifting peacefully on a gorgeous lake in the Canadian Shield with perfect conditions.An endless blue sky with no clouds. Marilyn has travelled 13.5 km and has 9.5 km left..

Five hours and 11.3 kms, halfway to the finish. Breeze diminished to gentle and back to ripples on Lake. Boat traffic minimal. Police drove past in pursuit of another boar oblivious to them.

After four hours, have passed 9.7km with wind picking up creating choppy surface small waves. They are from the south so they are helping her a little pushing her North.

After four hours just passing Fairview Island, water 22C with ripples on water. Gourmet egg wraps and fresh home made choc chip and raspberry  cookies. Across from us is Bigwin Island, and we are thinking of Colleen who was to be swim master but was unable to join us. Our thoughts are with you and wish you were here with our love and best wishes.

In two hours Marilyn has swum 4.6 kms, water temperature at surface is 21C. Current position is just east of Roothog Island. Sunny blue sky and calm, flat water. Amazing conditions, not like Cook Strait!!!!

Marilyn has completed the river portion and is going through the narrows. She has just entered south end of the main part of the Lake of Bays!!!

What a glorious day for a swim! Sunny blue sky, calm with gentle breeze, 22C water on surface is 19C. Marilyn started swim at 8:23 am from gazebo at Baysville. In the first hour she has swum 2.2 km. Floatilla includes poontoon boat and zodiac.

Lake of Bays swim in 2 weeks

I am planning on swimming Lake of Bays in Muskoka from Dwight to Baysville on June 25 or 26. It is about 22.5 kilometers and should take 9-11 hours.

Lake of Bays would complete my challenge of the 4 Muskoka Lakes. I swam Lake Rosseau in 2009 from Rosseau to Port Carling, Lake Muskoka in 2013 from Gravenhurst to Port Carling, and Lake Joseph in 2014 from Port Cockburn to Port Sandfield.

I plan to follow the same course (weather permitting) as Mike Zavitz, who completed the swim in 2013 in 10 hrs. 45 min. 

This is a Solo Swims of Ontario sanctioned swim. It will be officiated by Colleen Shields, whom you may remember from the Cook Strait swim.

Please support me by donating to Sashbear. http://sashbear.org/en/

Thank you for your prayers

A large number of people have told me that they were praying for me during the swim. I am grateful to report that there were 3 miracles during my swim.
1. Philip picked the day with the best weather during the low tide window for my swim. It turned out to be the day of the lowest tide. This minimized the tidal currents for me.
2. The weather turned out to be better than predicted. At the start, Philip said it was "marginal", but it turned out that there were less waves and more sun than predicted.
3. The most miraculous of all - Philip was expecting a current out in the middle that would swing me back towards the start, but it never materialized! The captain and navigator both said that they had never seen this in their 30 years of accompanying swimmers!
Thank you for your prayers!

Hamilton News article

Here's another great article in the local paper
http://www.hamiltonnews.com/news-story/6405051-hamilton-s-marilyn-korzekwa-first-canadian-to-conquer-new-zealand-s-cook-strait/

We are home now and it is snowing.

CBC article

Here is another wonderful article about my swim and Sashbear
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/news/hamilton-psychiatrist-aces-new-zealand-swim-challenge-for-charity-fundraiser-1.3516375

Donations to Sashbear are far short of my goal.
Please donate!
http://sashbear.org/en/events/making-waves-4-sashbear

We are flying home tomorrow.

South Island

  We have been touring the South Island.
  Unfortunately the phone service is very spotty and this is the first hotel where my computer will log onto the wifi.
  We have had lots of fun rafting whitewater on the Buller River, sea kayaking in the Okarito lagoon, hiking up to Mount Luxmore on the Kepler track and Key Summit on the Routeburn track, kayaking and doing the overnight cruise in Milford Sound and watching the penguins come in to their burrows for the night. Last but not least, I swam in the South Ocean today.
 Only two more nights left in New Zealand.

Local newspaper article about my swim

http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/78060797/canadian-psychiatrist-becomes-oldest-female-swimmer-to-cross-cook-strait

Marilyn's story

  My word for this swim is "gruesome". That was because I could not zone out, the cold continually pressed at me to swim fast. I managed to stay ahead of the shivering while swimming most of the time.The sprint at the end was horrible after swimming fast for the whole swim.
  I started at 9:30 am touching a rock at Arapawa Island on the South Island. The water was cold at 61 degrees F (16 C). I sprinted for 2 hours to stay warm until the sun got higher in the sky. Unbeknownst to me, the current was sweeping me along the shore for the first 3 hours, and I only made 1 km progress toward the other side. Then all of a sudden the water got flat and warm (17.5 deg.). I knew there were big waves in the middle of the strait so I focused on stroking long and strong to get across as much of the strait as possible. That continued for about 3 hours and then it got choppy, but not as bad as predicted. After 2 hours of fighting the waves. the wind changed to push me from the left flank. I was able to swim long and strong again and surprised everyone with how far I got before it got choppy again.  It was down to 15 degrees C in the water again (and probably stayed at that temperature until the end) so it felt good to work hard with the sun on my back. After about 8 hours of swimming (this time I succeeded at counting my feedings). Philip told me that I had 8 km left. The North Island was starting to loom above me right in front of me. I was starting to think that I could actually do this.
  As the sun was setting (at 7:34 pm), it got choppy again. Whenever I tried to breathe from the left I got a mouthful of water so I gave up and breathed only on the right. Philip said I had only about 2.5 km left and told me to sprint. They kept screaming at me for an hour. I had to dig deep and deeper and deeper still. I knew the tide was going to push me out to sea if I couldn't punch through it. I could see the land rushing past. In all the chaos of hitting the strong tidal current, I didn't get a chance to change out of my dark goggles into my clear goggles and we skipped a feeding. After that was taken care of quickly, I was able to attack the current with renewed vigour and I finally made it to shore. At that point, we were in a very rocky zone with surf pounding the shore. Philip thought it too dangerous to land and we ended at the rocks. Total time 11 hour 34 minutes.
  Evidently the lowest my core temp got was 35.99 deg C. But I sure felt a lot colder than that. I have never shivered so violently in my life. But I knew that shivering meant that I was not severely hypothermic and although, unpleasant, I would soon be OK.
   Big thanks to Colleen, my husband, Captain Chris, navigator Byron and most especially Philip Rush who made it possible and made me believe that I could do it. After almost 30 years of doing this, he poured his heart into my swim.

Finish in sight although it's pitch black

So close but because of black  night can only see glow sticks on Zodiac and  on Marilyns  swim cap. She has touched shore in 11:34 hours.

Tide Part 3

Still fighting with every ounce of strength.   Closing the gap to less than
 0.5km, dark now with many rocks.

Tides

At 7pm she is swimming strong but tide is pushing her sideways when she is only 2.6 km from shore of North Island finish. Her core temperature is slighty cooler at 36 but no signs of hypotherthermia.

Marilyn keeps going!

Sorry for the absence due to zodiac obligations, feeding and applying vaseline mixed with lanolin that Marilyn developed. She has had amazing speed 7km in 3hrs. Could be due to even colder water now at 15C. Marilyn is 8 km from shore. Let's hope there are no strong currents. But tide continues to move across her path.

Beware the Tides of March!

Marilyn has been swimming in 5 knot current that has been pushing her sideways and not in the intended course. This tide is slackening and she is swimming strong.  Hopefully she will put more of the Strait behind her.

Weather changes!

Amazing transformation to sunny and calm. Not only has cold South wind stopped but sun is shining and seas have calmed. This is just like Calgary weather,if you don't like it wait 5 minutes and it will change! However water temp is bone chilling 15C

Every marathon starts with first stroke

Marilyn was greased and taken to an isolated  beach 3 nautical miles North of Perano Head on Arapawi South Island at 9:29 am unofficial local time. The crossing by cabin cruiser was rough with 1-2 m waves.Water temp was 16 C. With clouds, no sun and winds. This will be tough to complete.

And we are off!

Left Mana Sailing club at 7:06 abord Tangaroa 45ft yacht heading for South Island where swim will begin. Captain Chris McCallum and Navigator Byron are crew and Philip Rush is the official and is driving zodiac. Colleen Shields accompanied us from Canada. She will be feeding and coaching Marilyn.

Backup tracker link

Share.findmespot.com/viewspots.jsp?glld=014uTknmXYOA4NVmUcYpRK73PF1njTax0

The swim is on!

  The swim is on! We are meeting at the docks at 5:15 a.m. tomorrow. That will be around a 7 a. m. start from the south shore. That will be around 2 pm in Ontario on Thursday.
  We will be swimming from the South Island east to the North Island.
  Winds are light and variable. There will be intermittent sunshine with a high of 20 deg C.
The SPOT tracker link is
http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0XJFW6r0UxN59QmeosHyauPfYIoc4d9zP

Please donate to Sashbear if you find my swim inspirational.

Wet, cool and windy

  It "sprinkled" and out right rained on and off all day. The wind was gusty, making the windchill 9 deg. C. Not a fine summer day. Colleen and I braved the water for half an hour; the water was warmer than the air.
  Today we went to the New Zealand Parliament for the tour. Their system of government makes lots of sense to us. No Upper House and citizens get 2 votes - one for their local representative and one for the party they want in government. We went to see the Dreamworks exhibit about the creation of animated movies like Shrek, Madagascar and Kung Fu Panda.
  No swim tomorrow. We are packing for a Friday a.m. departure (Thursday noon at home) and hoping Philip gives us the go ahead tomorrow night. All my bags are packed, including my angel.

CHCH TV tonight

   I did an interview for the 6 pm CHCH TV news today. The link is on the Sashbear website. www.sashbear.org.
  After the interview I went for an hour swim in 15 deg C water in Owhiro Bay. I think the Cook Strait temperature is going to be somewhere in between the 19 degrees of Oriental Bay downtown and Owhiro Bay, which is almost on the Strait. The winds have stirred up the near shore waters.
  Then we went to the Otari-Wilton's Bush gardens of New Zealand plants. The giant ferns and towering trees were amazing. It was like being in a jungle. There was even a ariel walkway through the treetops. An interesting story - the rata tree starts out in the branches of the giant rimu tree and sends dozens of roots down to the ground that surround the rimu tree and eventually kill it. The roots join up and make a pseudotrunk.
  No swim tomorrow. Thursday doesn't look too good either due to strong southerly winds but Friday here looks good.

Still windy in Wellington

  Well the news is that we are not swimming tomorrow. The day after doesn't look calm, either. Water temp. continues to vary from 16 to 19 deg C, depending on which beach you are at.
  Today we went to the Weta Cave, the studio that did the graphics and special effects for the Lord of the Rings, the Hobbit, King Kong, Planet of the Apes, Narnia and Avatar, among others. Then we went to the Museum of Wellington, City & Sea. There was a great exhibit on the 250 shipwrecks in the Wellington area.

Waiting for the wind to settle

  Philip called this evening. The winds are too high for a swim tomorrow. Maybe the day after.
We had fun going to the Te Papa museum of NZ civilization today.
  It seems that there is a time change in Ontario tonight so there is now only a 17 hour difference between Ontario and New Zealand.

Getting ready

  Today was a sunny and less windy day. We went for a short swim. There were a half dozen jelly fish, one of which stung me a little. I could see dozens of star fish on the bottom.
  After we picked up all the last minute supplies, we drove out to the Mana Marina. This is where we will be getting on the boat in the middle of the night and we wanted to be sure we could find it. A short distance away, there was a lookout spot with a tremendous view across the Cook Strait of the South Island.

First full day in Wellington

   Colleen and I swam in Wellington Harbour. There was a chilly 32 knot wind blowing from the south (ie. the Antarctic) that made the 18.5 deg. C water seem warm. But we had fun.
   Then we met with Philip Rush. His motto is "let common sense prevail", which we agree is a great attitude towards safety. We are very impressed with his 30 years of experience and wealth of knowledge. We feel we are in good hands.
  The countdown starts Sunday evening. We find out at 8 pm whether we are going the following morning. So the first potential start for the swim in Ontario time would be noonish on March 13.

Looking at the Cook Strait

  After a very long and winding drive, we are safely moved into our condo in Wellington. We can see the Cook Strait out the window. We meet with Philip Rush tomorrow.
  The Cook Strait between the north and south islands in New Zealand - This 30 km swim is one of the toughest in the world, probably more difficult than the English Channel. Winds and waves from the Tasman Sea on the northwest and the South Pacific Ocean on the southeast funnel through the treacherous strait. The water temperature is a chilly 15–18 degrees Celsius. But the biggest challenge will be making progress against the immense tidal flow and avoiding the violent eddies. Tides are so unpredictable, they can flow in opposite directions in the strait simultaneously. Finally, about one in 10 swims see sharks. Since 1962, only 84 individuals have successfully crossed the Cook Strait.

Sunny day in the Coromandel peninsula

We had a gorgeous day for my last long swim, 7 km. Then we drove around the spectacular Coromandel peninsula. We saw giant 600 year old kauri trees, many gorgeous beaches, scenic cliffs and lots of old volcano hills. We head to Wellington, our swim base camp, tomorrow.

Greetings from Whangamata

We drove on windy spectacular roads to get to Whangamata, a cute beach town. Colleen and I went for a 1 1/2 hour swim today. The beach is beautiful white warm sand and the water is an azure blue. I'm looking forward to a long swim tomorrow.

Greetings from New Zealand

Our flight was great. We went to a really cool aquarium with a giant shark tank. The beach in Piha is beautiful but the surfing waves were too big for serious swimming.

Heading to New Zealand today

  All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go...
We're leaving today. First a 5 hour flight to Vancouver and then a 14 hour flight to Auckland.
   I had a wonderful chat with Marilyn Bell DiLascio yesterday. She is healing from her recent flare up of arthritis. She sends blessings for the swim.
   Laura Young, who is the author of the book Solo, Yet Never Alone about Lake Ontario swimmers, wrote a lovely article about my upcoming swim in the Masters Swimming Canada news.
http://mastersswimmingcanada.com/index.php/2016/03/04/so-much-water-korzekwa-to-swim-cook-strait-march-16/
   Talk to you next time from Kiwi land.

Scott Thompson show

Mike Menu (Sasha's father) and I will be on the Scott Thompson show on Friday at 2:35 on 900 CHML radio.
Only 2 more pool workouts!

Article in Hamilton News

The Metroland media article in the Stoney Creek news about my swim and Sashbear was in the same issue that announced that the East Region Mental Health Services Clinic is moving to the new W5th hospital, but with reduced services. The newspaper interviewed a patient who is in the DBT program at ERMHS. She is worried that her DBT program will be cut. How ironic and tragic!!
Like I said, we need more DBT services in Ontario, now more than ever!

http://www.hamiltonnews.com/community-story/6273982-hamilton-marathon-swimmer-marilyn-korzekwa-eyes-new-zealand-s-cook-strait/

Getting ready

All systems are go!
Our hotels and itinerary are confirmed. I'm starting to pack.
I've been swimming well.
Only 67 kilometers left to swim before we leave.

CBC in PEI radio interview

  I just did a 10 minute radio interview that will air at 6:50 am tomorrow morning PEI time (5:50 Ontario time) on CBC from Charlottetown about my upcoming Cook Strait swim.
  The interview can also be heard by clicking on the link on the Sashbear website
www.sashbear.org

What I think about on a long swim - Part 2

   The first hour of a swim is the worst. That is when I really struggle with the "am I crazy?", "what have I gotten myself into?" and "this is too huge, I'll never do this" thoughts. But then in the second hour those thoughts go away and I start to get in "the zone". A swim goes by the fastest if I can zone out for the whole 45 minutes between the feedings. However, part of my brain is always focusing on my stroke, which needs constant attention. A swim is really long and tedious if something like cold, pain, nausea, waves or jellyfish stop me from zoning out. It's at those times that a pacer swimmer really helps.
  The night time is my favourite part of the swim because there are no distracting stimuli to prevent me from zoning out. I sometimes "wake up and discover I am swimming".
  My crew don't want to discourage me by telling me how far I've come and how long its been. I trust that my crew will give me good news when they find it strategic to share it. I count feedings for a while, but I usually lose count before I get to 10. I get into this state where I really am not thinking much and not caring much about how much further. I'm in it for the duration, no matter how long it takes. I'm usually not allowed to wear a watch so I watch the sun rise, cross the sky and slowly sink back into the water.  If I really want to know how long I've been swimming, I can guess at the time by the sun position.
  The other thing I've learned is that my body goes through "walls" every 3 or 4 hours. Marathon runners don't know how lucky they are to only go through one wall! Everything hurts, the arms feel like lead, and breathing feels tight. The urge to stop is overwhelming. However, I have learned the hard way that it is 10 times harder to start again if you stop, so I compromise and slow down for a bit. Pretty soon, I have swum through the wall, and I feel fairly good again.
  The same is true for headache, nausea, and some joint pains. I have learned to ignore them and hope they go away, which they usually do in an hour or two.
  I like to do a lot of research about my swims. I recognize the geographic features and I know what parts of the swim are critical. I spend a lot of time while I am swimming thinking about my strategy for the upcoming challenges. This way I don't need to stop and ask questions when we get to those challenges.
  The final struggle is with wanting to stop and talk. I can spend the whole 45 minutes thinking about things I want to say at the next feeding!

What I think about on a long swim - part 1

Everyone always asks what I think about on a big swim. It really depends on the swim. That's part of why I like to do different swims, for the variety. On my Lake Ontario swims, I spent a lot of time thinking that I couldn't complain about how much I hurt because I wanted the legendary Cliff Lumsdon, who was in charge of my swims, to be proud of me. On the Lake Simcoe swim, at first, I thought about how frigid (54 deg F) the water was. When it finally warmed up, I thought about how grateful I was to all the members of my crew for volunteering to help me. When the going got tough, I told myself that I couldn't quit, because I had to inspire all the people I know who are facing big challenges in their lives. On the English Channel swim, I spent the first 3 or 4 hours in the dark thinking about how cold I was and how much I wanted to quit but it had been so much trouble and expense and such a huge sacrifice for my crew. I spent the rest of the swim thinking about whether I would finish before I got too cold. The Catalina channel was a beautiful deep blue and relatively warm and I enjoyed most of the crossing. Manhattan was a whole other story. There wasn't time to daydream because I had to stay on my toes to negotiate all the currents, plus I had time deadlines to worry about. On the Three Provinces swim, I thought about my wonderful crew, how great it was to be doing a Canadian swim again, how grey the sky was and when my mind wandered, the jelly fish stings brought me back to reality.

17 more workouts before we leave for New Zealand...

My Crew

  I am only taking 2 crew with me to New Zealand. In addition to it being very expensive, it is a huge time commitment. The flights there take 2 days as you are crossing the International Dateline and the crew needs a few days to adjust to the time change of 18 hours. Then the swim window is 5-7 days and the flights back take about a day. So that is a minimum total of 13 days. Most of the crew from my previous swims could not be absent from work for such a long period.

Fortunately, my good friend and fellow marathon swimmer Colleen Shields was able to get the time off work. Between Colleen and my husband I don't need more crew. Colleen is able to do every job on the swim: swimming beside me (pacing), coaching my stroke, monitoring my feedings, measuring my core temperature with the CorTemp® monitor, minding the Spot Tracker, and cheer leading. She is also an official (Swim Master) and board member with Solo Swims of Ontario. She can also do a number of other jobs that are going to be Philip Rush's responsibility on this swim, such as driving the Zodiac, navigating, weather forecasting and being in charge of the safety of the swim . But rest assured that my husband and Colleen will be watching me with their experienced eyes and will make sure Philip doesn't miss anything important. My husband, of course, has been on all my swims and can do every job except swim fast.

I have been on 5 of Colleen's swims, including her successful 1990 crossing of Lake Ontario. Colleen is an amazing marathon swimmer. It has been my honour to do every job on her swims for her. Colleen has crossed Lake Ontario 3 times and has the record for oldest swimmer. She is also the only person to have swum from Tobermory to Manitoulin Island. Her bio is on the Solo Swims of Ontario website. www.soloswims.com

Masters Swimming

The best way for older swimmers like myself to stay in shape during the winter is to join a Masters Swimming team. Swimmers 18 years and older train in regular workouts with a coach.

Masters Swimming Canada's (MSC) mission statement is "to lead, develop, and support adult swimming in Canada."
"Masters Swimming encourages participation regardless of level of ability, supports setting and achieving goals, promotes health and wellness through swimming,  fosters friendships and is fun."

The MSC website http://mymsc.ca/ lists over 300 clubs across Canada. Most clubs hold a swim meet and then there are provincial, national and world competitions, In fact the 2014 worlds were held in Montreal.

For me, the best part of Masters swimming is trying to keep up with my swimming buddies. I've been competing against Debbie for 45 years. She paced me across the Catalina strait, where she earned the name "shark sister". Yesterday we swam with our new swim buddy, Mary, who is faster than both of us and has helped me get faster. Masters helps with the boredom of doing endless laps in the pool. However, to do the mileage that I need to do for a marathon swim, I have to do long workouts on my own on the days between Masters workouts.

 Masters Swimming Ontario has kindly posted my flyer on their website. http://www.mastersswimmingontario.ca/marilyn-korzekwa-to-swim-the-cook-strait-new-zealand/

22 more workouts in the pool before we leave for New Zealand...

Philip Rush

  Philip Rush is the man who organizes and runs the swims across the Cook Strait. He is a swimming legend. He still holds the record (from 1987) for the fastest triple crossing of the English Channel. He was the first and is still the fastest to do a double crossing of the Cook Strait. The swims and the cabin cruiser boat, the Tangeroa, are based in Wellington, New Zealand. Other swimmers tell me that the Tangeroa captain and navigator are amazing. Philip and his fellow firefighter friend will be in the large inflatable beside me.
  Philip has all the equipment and personnel organized, is an expert on the tides and weather, and says that all the swimmer has to do is show up. And he has selflessly organized and officiated 300 swims over about 30 years.
  Since he only books 8 to 10 swimmers a year, I have had to wait since 2013 for my chance.
  Yesterday he wrote to me that all I have to bring is "your swimming stuff like your food, togs (swimming outfit), goggles and caps". With regards to hypothermia and sharks, he says, "be assured we only have your best interests at heart."
  He also writes, "we will give you our best shot to become the most mature female and the first Canadian."

Back in the pool

I'm back in the pool and hating it. Sometimes I think this is the hardest part about doing these swims - the tedium in the pool.
133 km left to do in the pool before I leave for New Zealand.
Twenty eight more workouts.

Point Vicente

After swimming my last 4.5 km in the 15.5 degree water, we drove down to Point Vicente, where I landed after swimming across the Catalina Strait in 2013. It was cloudy today so Catalina Island, where I started the swim, was barely visible. We took a few pictures and took the hiking trail down the cliff.
I did the math, I swam 47.5 km in the last 8 days in the ocean.
Heading home tomorrow after a successful training week. The most important thing about the training week was that I did OK in the cold water and my new stroke held up well in the waves.

Last long swim in the ocean

Today I swam from our condo to downtown Long Beach and back, a distance of 11.2 km in 4 hrs 29 min. Water temperature varied from 15.5 to 16.5 degrees C. It was sunny and the air temp go up to 19 deg C. The waves got progressively bigger, slamming into my right shoulder on the return trip. At a couple of points, I had to dive through a wave before it crashed on me. The waves kept pushing me into the shallower water and it seemed like I was constantly swimming through the surf trying to get to calmer deeper water.

Why Long Beach for training?

People ask me why I go to Long Beach for training. I fell in love with Long Beach when I came here to swim the Catalina strait.  Long Beach is long, 6 km to be precise. This gives me a nice long stretch of open water parallel to the beach to swim. The main thing is the long breakwall that protects the beach from high waves and sharks. The locals complain that their water and sand is not scoured clean by the waves like other beaches in California. but it works for me. I especially like that I don't have to worry about rip tide currents. Finally, the water temperature this month is similar to that of the Cook Strait so it is perfect for helping me acclimatize.

Successful long swim

Today was the long swim of the week. I wanted to do it while the water is still cool. It will be warming up because it will be sunny all week. I swam 16 km in 6 hrs 37 min. The water varied from 15.5 to 16.5 deg Celsius. The waves were up to 1 metre and breaking for about half the swim which slowed me down. I feel ready for the cold water temperatures in New Zealand.

Greetings from Long Beach, California

  Although the Three Provinces swim was a great training swim for the Cook Strait, that was back in July. Since October, I've been stuck doing my training in a pool. This month, my goal is 30 km per week. That is a lot of flip turns, 1200 per week, to be precise. That is hard on my back. But more than the physical challenges in the pool, I need to be ready for the cold ocean in New Zealand.
  So that is why I am training in the ocean in California in January. Today, the water was 16 degrees C, the air was 15 degrees and the sky was cloudy. I swam fast and stayed warm, so the 1 1/2 hour swim was a great start to the training week!

Sashbear

  I am so excited that Sashbear is now a registered charity. I first worked with Lynn in 2012 when she invited me to speak about swimming and mental health at a swim meet she had organized. Since then I have watched Sashbear grow and do great things. This October, I spoke with Lynn at the International Society for the Study of Personality Disorders (ISSPD) in Montreal. Lynn chaired the first ISSPD Family Day. She told me that Sashbear has been doing a lot of speaking to students in schools about BPD and Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), the best treatment for BPD. She was excited that Sashbear was able to help Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto expand DBT services by providing training for 75 therapists! From Montreal, Lynn was selflessly driving straight to Toronto to train 50 therapists and family members to be leaders in the Family Connections program. This is a program based in DBT that helps family members support their loved one who is struggling with BPD.
  The board of Sashbear is currently busy planning how to use my Cook Strait swim to raise awareness about BPD and suicide and to fundraise. Please support me and help Sashbear train more therapists and family members. http://sashbear.org/en