This week: The Challenge of the Channel Edited by: THANKFUL SONALI back on Jan 4  
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I wasn't sure quite what to expect from the talk by Srikaanth Viswanathan, who swam the English Channel solo at the age of 46.
As it turned out, it was two hours of 'AHA' moments -- and 'MY GOODNESS' and 'I DIDN'T EVEN THINK OF THAT!'.
Within five minutes of listening to him, there was a drama newsletter brewing in my head.
Here he is. Srikaanth Viswanathan, in his own words, on his epic swim lasting 14 hours, 7 minutes. |
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Dear Reader,
Last week, I had the honour of attending a talk by Mr. Srikaanth Viswanathan, the oldest Indian to swim the English Channel -- and probably the first vegetarian to do so!
Here's his story, in his own words.
Mr. Srikaanth Viswanathan says:
Swimming the English Channel was a life-changing experience for me. Thanks go out to my family for all their support. They went through all the pain that I went through and made sure I ended up successful.
Some challenges I faced, in achieving this:
1. The water is extremely cold.
When you swim in the cold water for a long duration (in my case, 14 hours 7 minutes, non stop), there is a real threat of getting into a hypo-thermic situation. It's dangerous. People have lost their lives. It is even more of a challenge for someone who lives in a hot country and needs time to get acclimatised.
2. Muscle cramps. After six hours, my shoulders and thighs were hurting like anything. I was shouting in pain and my crew had to keep me going. The final cramp was in the 12th or 13th hour -- I didn't want to give up after having come so far!
3. There are tons and tons of jellyfish. You put your arm down for a stroke, there are hundreds of them. They are definitely not friendly -- they sting. It's like an electric current passing through you. Your body burns. It's not one or two -- you put your head down to take a stroke, and you see layers on layers of them. Sometimes, the head will be somewhere, but the tentacles will be floating quite far away! We must remember -- it is we who are getting into their territory when attempting this swim, we need to respect them.
4. Shipping lane. This is one of the world's busiest shipping lanes. When a large cargo container passes, the kind of waves it generates, like a tsunami passing. In my recent swim, I encountered a cargo ship which was about 200 metres away. It went by -- zwwwip -- for a few minutes, I got pushed back and I had to re-do all my hard work!
5. The currents are extremely strong. The swim course is never a straight line. You wind up doing an 's' curve. For example, for the first six hours, the water could be going right-to-left. For the next six hours, it could be going left-to-right. So you wind up going zig zag. The current is strongest near the French coast. So typically, after ten hours of swimming, when your body is hurting and crying, the crew on the boat is urging you to push, because you're cutting through the strongest current. It's like your swim has just begun then! Those earlier hours were preparation for this! Just about a month ago, a 58 year old lady quit fifty metres from the French coast, after seventeen and a half hours of swimming. She fainted and had to be fished out. The crew had to jump in and fish her out, it was really, really sad.
6. Weather conditions and unpredictable. A nice bright day could change and become windy in ten minutes. Normally the boat-pilot checks the swimmer's profile and tries to choose a day when she or he can swim safely and predictably to the other side, but many times there is a change of weather within a few hours. The water becomes choppy. You're not able to swim properly then, you're tossed up and down. And once sea water starts going inside your mouth -- you can imagine -- the churn and the nausea!
7. You are not allowed any breaks -- you have to be in the water the whole time. Nobody can touch you. The crew can hand over things, and support swimmers can swim with you for an hour at a time, with two-hour intervals in between support swims.
8. Lack of direction or distance perception. You are totally dependent on the boat for this. You are watching the boat and following it. Even with the French coast in sight, I wasn't sure exactly how far away from it I was. In 14 hours, I hardly felt that I had moved. In a pool, you can see the floor go past you, you know you're moving ... here, there is no such indication. At one point, I asked my crew, "How much longer?" They replied, "You're a mile away, you can do it!." I swam for an hour and asked again, "How much longer?" "Only a mile to go!" came the reply! It was a tussle point. Took one, one-ana-a-half hours to get my momentum back.
9. Staying motivated. In the days leading up to the swim and on the day of the swim itself, you often want to give up. A solo swim means a solo life. You have to keep training and your family can't sit with you all the time through six or eight hour training swims. It is quite an emotional turmoil. You have to train your mind to not-give-up. If you've made up your mind, 'ten hours of training today' you have to do it, come what may. On the day your swim happens, it's your big day. Like your final examination or something. You don't want to give up for some flimsy reason. You'll find every possible way to reach your goal.
10. Finances. We paid in instalments. We didn't do the mathematics!
11. Family: What do you tell your eighty year old parents about what you're attempting to do? The family was watching on video during the swim, and freaking out during the last two hours especially. We haven't had a family holiday in years now, because going away for a week means losing a week of training. It's not just what you do in the water, what you do outside the water counts, too!
Editor's note.
I'm not giving this 'challenge' a number in the list, because it's not one that Srikaanth faces himself, it's one that his wife, son and daughter are going to face. If they thought they'd get a bit of peace now, they have another think coming! Srikaanth has signed up for the Catalina swim!
Srikaanth, thank you for an enthralling talk. Reader, thank you for reading!
PS -- Did someone ask why Srikaanth didn't learn how to swim until the age of 33?
Well, he played cricket at first, and an injury forced him to change his sport!
Talk about turning a disadvantage to an advantage!
Link - technical details and photos:
https://www.channelswimmingassociation.com/swim/4841/srikaanth-viswanathan
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Thank you for the responses to: "When it is meant to be ..."
It's great to have the WDC community share my excitement, here!
What fabulous news, Sonali!! And good on you for following up. I wonder how many of us might have just let it go. Well done, well done, well done  -- Osirantinous Capricornus 
Talk about karma!! That is fantastic and I'm glad to see you get the recognization you deserve after all that drama!!  -- PartyBee 
Congrats! -- NeedingBeachDuf 🐠⛵🏝️ 
Congratulations on the book launch, I'm so happy for you. And yes, things happen for a reason. So glad that you re-emailed them and didn't give up. Presistants pays off always. Hugzzzz  my friend. So very happy for you. -- Legendary❤️Mask  |
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Drama: October 31, 2018 Issue [#9202]
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