Orphanz

Swimming between the continents

Can’t tell you, guys, how good it is to be back with the good news! I enjoyed Turkey and the whole trip a great deal, bit of course the Hellespont crossing was a highlight of it no doubt. Sorry for the delay in updating you on my progress, I just had to take a couple of days to see the sites and Istanbul!
The excitement and adrenalin rush has not worn out yet, but I will try to focus and tell you about the swim in detail.

Firstly, it was a hell of a journey to make it to Canakkale as it is a gruelling 6.5 hours drive from Istanbul; to make the matters worth, all the bus seats were sold out due to Ramadan in the area, and I had to wait for 12 hours to have a transfer in semi-comfortable tour bus with one of the local companies. Flying overnight hoping to be on the spot for a morning training swim didn’t pay off – I still missed it as a result. Evening welcome drink was great – we all had a chance to meet most of the 180 foreign swimmers (320 Turks didn’t arrive till Tuesday) and make some friends.

I felt like a fish out of the water though as I ended up being surrounded by professional swimmers from all over the world, people who’ve crossed English Channel, triathlon competitors, and others, swimming 30k a week for leisure as well as some ice-swimmers, rugby players that became swimming champions and many others… During the briefing Rotary Club’s chiefs also informed us that last year 2/3 of all the swimmers could not complete the race… Very inspiring and helpful I thought!
Two writers and some celebrities, none of whom I really knew, were there too. I believe a book will come out of it one day soon – I will keep you posted.

Nice boutique hotel was my designated B&B for the stay, and the town was magnificent – it is the base of all Gallipoli excursions, Troy and other local places of interest, so the place was rather busy. There’s a Trojan horse chained down on the sea front, the same one that featured in “Troy” film with Brad Pitt.

Morning trial swim was cold, boring and unexciting – after a brief medical we had to “test” the currents and waves, but I took it easy as with my frozen shoulder and aching knee the last thing I wanted to do was to push my luck.

Anyhow, I was at a registration kiosk (Naval base) at 9:30, and with numbered hat and electronic tag was put on a bus for the transfer to the European side for 1 pm start. Huge boat took all the 500 + swimmers there together with TV crews, photographers and supporters. 50 boats were waiting for us on the other side – rescue and support boats followed the group all the way from the start to finish and helped struggling swimmers on-board. During the briefing we were all told to head for the big balloons in the water all along the route. And I was naïve to listen – there was actually just one of those around 700 metres from the starting point, and no more which caused a huge confusion and as a result some people overshooting the finishing bridge taken by the current.

The first leg of the swim seemed rather easy and we were advised to swim up the current, almost in the other direction to the finish in order to beat the current and wind (and I am talking about fast water of 9 km an hour speed!). I nearly made it, only to realise that once in the open water, the current picked me up and I was about a few hundred yards to the boat with the first and the only balloon down the passage. Boy, that was fast! So I legged it (if I can use this expression in connection to the swim) and headed for the big Turkish red flag ahead for what seemed like forever. Nearing it I realised that it actually was on the shore up on a mountain, and not on a boat as a direction guide. Bummer, I though, but this is what actually saved me I think – many swimmers heading in the right direction were taken further down the channel with the current and never finished the swim. Afterwards, I could see some of them desperately swimming towards the pontoon platform on the spot till they gave up and were also picked up.

I hit a bit of the slow water once across the current, but lost time making it to the finish on my own rather than with the assistance of the current.

The last several hundred yards were actually the hardest – like a bottle-neck, all the swimmers were heading for the same spot making it nearly impossible to move your arms, and I even had a guy swimming through me sinking me into the salted Marmaris sea water. I had a couple of scratches too, but it was too minor to notice at the time, so I just swam being nearly sucked under one of the huge barges moored not far from the end destination. Many of you asked whether I had a kick in a face at the start which often happens in a mass swims… No I did not – and thanks for the advanced warning – I just waited till all the ambitious sportsmen were a distance away, and went in the water after that having one big concern in mind – the race would finish in exactly 90 minutes and I had no idea how badly I did till I heard the beep of the scanner crossing the line on a wooden platform on the Asian side. And there it was – I did it in 1 hour 7 minutes and 50 seconds! Being told that it was suppose to be 4.7 k our certificates said that the actual crossing is 6.2k – so the speed was ultrasonic! And the thrill of the whole think and legs that were bending on dry land was something I never experienced before. And I just could not stop watching the water and swimmers coming out of it – some with the assistance of people as legs get weak after such a long and strenuous swim. Some made it, and some went passed. And then there were those that didn’t make it in time, and this was the most upsetting part for me – they made it all the way across only to be disqualified as outside the time-frame… I would still be proud of myself if I did it without any respect for the time restraints – it was a crossing I had in mind and not the race as such!

Then there were awards ceremony, evening banquet, (I even managed to squeeze a Turkish Hammam in) and early morning transfer back to Istanbul. I have done it, and the rest did not matter – that was all I thought about in the morning.

Now – see the photo gallery – I made some fabulous discoveries when looking at those pictures myself. https://picasaweb.google.com/115470121746753648749/SwimBetweenContinentsEuropeToAsia The fundraiser is being finalised, and if you have pledged some money to help the “Orphanz” (www.orphanz.org) – please see their website and either make a transfer yourself, or let me forward it for you, but in any case let me know what you sent, and they will acknowledge every donation and the overall contribution of my initiative. I will let everyone know the total, but it exceeded my expectation in any case. Huge thanks to all of you who contributed, and if you have not done it yet – please consider and see below.

Please write your cheques to Urals Orphans Foundation and send them to: 48A The Pryors, East Heath Road, London, NW3 1BP or make a transfer to the A/C no.10080659, sort code 20-36-16, at Barclays Bank, in favour of Urals Orphans Foundation. For the overseas transfers please use the following details IBAN GB21BARC20361610080659, SWIFT BARCGB22. Please write your name on the back of the cheque or use it as a reference when making a transfer as sometimes it could be very difficult to identify a sender. The Gift Aid code for the charity is DAR37GG, tax reference XR76625 0 11 for those of you who are paying taxes in the UK. You can also make your donation via Just Giving service http://www.justgiving.com/uralsorphans, they charge a rather high service charge but worth using if you want the charity to reclaim gift aid, which currently stands at 28%.

Speak soon – as I am sure there’ll be more news on the Swim in the near future!

D.Y.