On Saturday was the 20th annual Flowers Sea Swim.    This year, 831 swimmers (registration was closed since it was limited to +- that number) and an additional 100 or so “walkers” joined in the fun.   The day was perfect ; sunny and hot.

Here is the start area on Seven Mile beach, 1h before race time.  This is directly in front on the Ritz-Carlton hotel. (The end of the race was at the Royal Palm)

Before the start of the race, I made my way to … the bathroom at the Ritz-Carlton.  Ill spare you the details.   Right outside of the door to the (luxurious) restrooms, this fellow was just chilling in the shade.   Of course I could not resist and petted him/her for a little while.   Although I assume this is a stray, the kitty sure chose a nice spot to hang out.

So the race started.  It must have been at least 35 degrees outside. A touch of wind and some …. arrrgh … current.  That made the race that much more difficult.   The start looked like this…. i’m somewhere out far from the shore, and near the back, getting out of the way of the fast swimmers. I may be a fast runner, but fast swimmer I aint!

In any case, we are off to the races.   The scenario for me during this 1-mile race is always (this is my 3rd Flowers Sew Swim) something along these lines:

– 1/4 mile in : What on earth did I get myself into???

– 1/2  mile :  The finish line does not seem to be getting any closer!!!!!  What gives????

– 3/4 mile : Enough already!  Drinking this much sea water can’t possibly be good for me.

– Finish : YAY.  Now for copious amounts of pizza and I am already looking forward to start all over next year. 🙂  (for the record, I ate 6 slices of pizza at the food stand where all swimmers are fed post-race)

So, what are the results you ask.

The winner, a guy from Australia, swam the 1-mile in 18 minutes and 39 seconds.  Yours truly, did it on a slightly longer time 🙂  53 minutes and 43 seconds.

Also, there was one world record attempt and it was successful.   Some guy from Italy swam the entire mile with handcuffs on his ankles and wrists. (!?!?!?!)  He essentially swam like a dolphin the whole way.  Do I need to specify that he came in dead last?  Here he is, having his cuffs removed.

 

Being the geek that I am, I swam with my GPS watch so I could see my path.  As you can see, I started out a few hundred feet out (most swimmers stay close to the shore) and then slowly made my way to shore where the finish was.  I am quite glad to be able to see this, since I have to be honest, I was expecting to see much more zig-zag in my swim line.  I’m not fast, but swim straight!

Next race is June 15th, 2013!  If you can be in Cayman at that time, I highly recommend it.  The time limit for the swim is 75 minutes and almost everyone finishes it.   The Flowers Sea Swim is the “richest” one of its kind.  100,000$ of prizes (most of them being random prizes that are donated … I won a gift certificate to a local store) and the actual entry money all goes to local charities.