The Nubble light Challenge is a open water swim in the ocean off of the coast of Maine. It starts on Long Sands beach and ends on Short Sands beach going around the peninsula through “The Gut” where the Nubble Light house sits. Total distance is estimated at about 2.4 miles and the water temperatures vary between mid 50s and low 60s.
This years race started at 9am so that the tide would be high enough for us to swim between the light house and main land without running aground. Mike and I arrived at the race around 7:15 and headed down to the beach to sign in and get ready. That took all of about 10 minutes so we had plenty of time to stand around and contemplate just how cold the water was and wonder if I was actually going to make it.
Some of the guys we know from Stiles were there getting ready as well. Chuck was opting for no wetsuit. My thought was good for you, I would be committing suicide attempting it without a wetsuit. I think only a total of 13 people opted for the non-wetsuit category of the 140 something people that entered.
About 10 minutes before the race started Mike and I headed down into the water. Just in time for them to announce, “All Swimmers out of the water”, so they could brief us on rules and safety. I managed to get in up to my waist. My feet immediately hurt and I thought to myself this is Stiles October water. They were reporting temps of between 60-62, it felt colder, yes, I’m a wimp. The rules that were announced were, stay to right of buoys and swim between Light House and Main land. DO NOT swim around like that guy Joe something did the first year.
After that it was time to start, off goes Mike and the first wave. I’m in the next wave and the only person I know is Chuck. I know he is faster than me but he is not wearing a wetsuit so I figure I could probably keep up. Hmm, maybe I’ll let him pace me… Well, race starts, Chuck runs into the ocean and stops, he has problems with his ankle strap with the chip. Well, there goes that plan, so I just head out into the swell. Water doesn’t feel too bad and the more I swim the more comfortable I feel. There are kayakers all around us so I don’t really bother to sight much. It took me a while to get used to the rolling ocean, there wasn’t any chop so I was able to breath either side without a problem. The first 3rd of the race out toward the Nubble Light went pretty smoothly.
The next 3rd of the race? Well, that was the point in the race when I thought to myself, “Why am I doing this?” Heading between the Light House and land I needed to do a lot more sighting and was a bit rougher. I was ok with that, but then the water started getting really cold. Ice cream headache cold to be exact. I was glad at that point that I had gone with two caps. My feet and hand both went numb. I took a few breaths to my left and there is some guy swimming without a wetsuit. You know he was cold.. Hey, wait a minute!! It’s Chuck! Great, my pacer caught up with me, so I started swimming next to him for a while. Then poor Chuck had more ankle strap issues, but he was my general area for a while as we went finished up going through the Gut.
The next 3rd of the race was just heading into the beach to the finish. At this point I was ready to be done. I was cold and the excitement of doing the ocean swim had worn off. I could finally see the beach, still a long way off, but still, the finish was in sight. Chuck passed me at this point and I was kind of disgusted with myself. I’m in a wetsuit and I can’t even keep up with a guy not in one. WTF!!!! I felt like I was swimming pretty sloppy at this point, so I tried to relax and just concentrate on form. When I did that, it actually helped and I caught back up with him. Of course, he probably had more ankle strap issues, but in my mind I was swimming better. Whatever it takes to get to the finish! Finally make it into shore. Kelly and the kids are there along with our friend Julie cheering me to finish. Mike is there as well of course, because he finished 11 minutes ahead of me. Yes, that’s right ELEVEN minutes. I need a swim coach! Congrats Mike on a great swim!
When I signed up I had hoped to do the swim in 1:05. I figured I had done the Ironman swim in 1:04 of the same distance. However, swimming in the ocean and swimming in a lake are very different experiences. I’m looking forward to going back next year and improving my time.
My GPS from race: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/199139365
Results: http://www.coolrunning.com/results/12/me/Jul14_Nubble_set1.shtml