RACING
Greg Barton's Blog
The Swim
Greg Surfs the V12
Swimming is a good cross training sport for 2 reasons. First, it builds fitness and uses many of the same muscles as paddling. Secondly, it makes you a much safer paddler! I’m glad I’ve incorporated swimming into my training, it really came in handy one year when I got knocked off my surf ski.
In June of 2006, as Tropical Storm Alberto was moving through the Carolinas, I decided to paddle around the Isle of Palms (a barrier island off of Mt Pleasant, SC) so that I could get in some good open water paddling in larger surf conditions.
As I was preparing to leave home, I looked for my ankle leash. I couldn’t find it, and as I was in a hurry, decided to go without it (bad decision #1). However, I did grab a Stormy Seas inflatable life vest, just in case (good decision #1).
I departed from the “Breech” at the southwest tip of Isle of Palms. I managed to punch out through the breaking waves and was making my way downwind on the ocean side of the island. As I approached the northeast end of the island, I could see that the waves were completely closing out due to some sand bars. I opted to go out wide, outside of the breaking waves (bad decision #2). As I continued, I could see that the waves were breaking further and further out from the island. I continued outside of them until I was about 1 mile (1.6 km) off shore.
As I approached the end of the island, it was time to start working my way back in to the intercoastal waterway. In doing so, a large wave broke on top of me, knocking me off my V10. I was able to climb back on and continue on my way. A few minutes later another wave broke on me and again I was knocked off the ski. This time the wind blew my ski just out of reach. I attempted to swim for it, but the wind was blowing it faster than I could swim. It soon became evident that I was not going to catch my ski and would have to swim for shore.
I still had my paddle, but was about a mile off shore. I knew it would be a long difficult swim through the surf. Therefore, I decided to abandon my paddle (good decision #2) and work on getting myself back to shore. I guessed it would take me an hour to swim in through the surf and prepared to pace myself for a long steady swim. Initially, I did not inflate the life vest – I thought I would be faster swimming without the bulk of the inflated vest. However, the breaking waves kept dunking me under and I swallowed water on several occasions. After about 15 minutes, I decided to inflate the life vest.
As I swam, I kept looking at the shore. At this distance, it’s hard to tell if you’re making progress or not. It appeared that the shore was getting slightly closer, but I couldn’t be sure. After a while, I could tell that I was getting swept parallel to the shore, as this was the direction the wind was blowing and a current had developed in this same direction. I was swept northeast (the island runs from southwest to northeast) until finally I was even with the opening between Isle of Palms and Dewees Island – the next island up the coast.
As luck would have it, there was an outgoing tide. The tide coming out between the islands was pushing me further out to sea. I now could see that I was losing ground – getting further from shore. I realized then that I would never make it to Isle of Palms. I decided to swim across the outgoing tide towards Deweees Island. Once I got even with Dewees Island, I began swimming towards shore again, with hopes that I could make some progress this time. The one hour mark had long passed and I still was no closer to land.
I tried different stokes as I swam. Most often, I swam freestyle, as this would give me the most speed. I would switch to breaststroke as this made it easier for me to see where I was going and also was easier to breath in the breaking waves. I tried swimming backstroke, but the crashing waves made it almost impossible to breath. One problem with swimming offshore, it’s easy to get disoriented. I wanted to make sure I was always headed towards shore as directly as possible.
The longer I spent in the water, the more the salt and sun was affecting my eyes – making it harder to focus when I’d look towards shore. I finally found that I was able to swim backstroke. The waves had subsided just enough (or the larges ones had already broken on the sandbar) that I was able to swim backstoke without getting my head constantly dunked under. The extra buoyancy of the life vest helped. I could concentrate on keeping my neck & head close to the water, and the life vest would then lift my torso into a more streamlined position. I could also look up and use the sun and clouds to help navigate in a constant direction. I swam backstroke for an extended period and appeared be making headway.
I wanted to make faster progress, so switched back to freestyle, with some breaststroke thrown in every 30 seconds to minute so I could confirm my direction towards shore. At this point, my eyes were burning and it would take me several seconds to focus so I could confirm my heading. However, I could tell I was getting much closer, and was swimming freestyle with renewed vigor.
Finally I got to the point where my foot touched the bottom! I tried taking a few steps, but my legs immediately cramped. Thus I kept swimming until my arms and knees could touch the sand. At that point, I crawled up onto the beach of Dewees Island. It had been 2 hours and 45 minutes since I lost my ski. I crawled up onto dry sand, and collapsed – laying there for 5 to 10 minutes, face down covering my eyes.
I finally got up. My next step was to find a way off the island. Dewees does not have any bridges. The only way onto or off the island is by boat. There are some homes along the beach. I started walking up the beach, looking for somebody who could help me. The first person I met was a woman in a swimsuit. I asked if she had a cell phone. She said no – her phone was further up the beach, but she could go get it. I never saw her again. I sure she thought I was some sort of weirdo.
Finally, I saw a small group of people up the beach. It was a turtle rescue group, monitoring the turtle nests. I explained my situation to them and one of the ladies generously loaned her cell phone to me so I could call my wife. She then arranged a ride for me by golf cart (the preferred method of transportation on Dewees Island) to the boat landing. The water taxi / emergency skipper gave me a ride over to the Isle of Palms Marina, where I took a shower and waited for my wife to pick me up.
When I got home, I laid on the couch covering my eyes with a damp washcloth. My eyes were burning so much from the saltwater, that I couldn’t keep them open for more than a few seconds. Kendall, my 6 year old daughter walked up and said, “Good! Daddy’s home. Let’s go swimming!”
We called the coast guard and reported that I had lost a surf ski, but was safe. We gave them my number to call if they found the ski. They called back the next day saying they might have found it. However, on subsequent calls, I was not able to get any information about it, and nobody knew who even had said they might have found it. My V10 was gone forever, but I was thankful to still be alive.
I went to the doctor to have my eyes checked and was given some eye drops. I started growing a beard, as the bottom of my chin and neck were rubbed raw in a few places from the life vest. My shoulders were trashed – it hurt to lift my arms. But in less than a week, I was feeling better and ready to resume paddling.
In hindsight, this was a very grueling swim, and could easily have resulted in drowning. There were a number of things both on my side and against me. One or two more of these against me could easily have meant the difference between life and death.
Circumstances Against Me
- Not taking a leash!
- Deciding to paddle far out past the breaking waves from the sand bars. In hindsight I would have been much better off taking my chances on the inside. Most of the larger waves would already have broken by the time they got closer to shore and I may have been able to sneak through them. Even if I got slammed by the waves at least I would have been close to shore and avoided the long swim.
- The outgoing tide. I was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
- Some sort of emergency notification would have helped. I had no way of contacting help.
Circumstance on my Side
- I was wearing a life vest.
- The water was 82 degrees F (28 C) so hypothermia was not a problem.
- I was in good physical shape – and able to swim for a long period.
- Oscar Chalupsky had made me do some swim training sessions with him. Oscar is an excellent swimmer from his lifeguard background. When we’d train together he would sometimes take me to the pool and make me swim laps with him. He’d even make me start each session with 200 meters individual medley. I’d nearly drown at the end of the butterfly segment – but it made me a stronger swimmer and more confident in the water.
- I was determined to make it to shore. My mindset was that not making it was NOT an option. I would continue to swim and swim until I reached shore. I refused to think about the possibility of getting swept out to sea and/or drowning.
