wild-swimming | Open Water Aerin

6 Hour English Channel Qualifier: Shit Gets Real

Posted on June 17, 2024 by Aerin Bowers

On Saturday, June 8, I successfully completed my 6 hour English Channel Qualifier. This is a mandatory benchmark that all Channel swimmers must undertake within the year prior to their scheduled swim window. One must swim for 6 hours continuously in water that is no warmer than 16 degrees Celsius, wearing only a bathing suit, cap, and goggles (as per the Official CSA Rules), and have the swim witnessed and documented. I was lucky to have my coach Brent Hobbs, my friend Julian, and the phabulous Phred Martin accompany me on this beautiful day on Okanagan Lake, where the water hovered between 13 and 14 degrees throughout the 6.5 hours.

A prior attempt 2 weeks ago was aborted due to cryogenic conditions, where even the boats covered their testicles and refused to stay in the water. But at a balmy 14 degrees I covered around 17.5 km and, true to form, entertained my supporters and anyone watching from Cedar Creek Beach with some nice projectile vomiting. The sun was out, the lake gave some nice variable conditions to play with, and Brent even managed to catch some fish! This was the last and final hurdle of my Channel application process. Now all I’ve got to do is wait until September, and swim it!

In fact, I have now entered the phase where “shit gets real”. And it has gotten real, really fast! My weekly interval swims are increasing in intensity, and the weekend back to back long swims are getting longer and longer. It becomes more of a challenge to fit anything in other than work and swimming, and yet I’m conscious that I need to keep up my time in the gym as well as on the yoga mat. There are precious few hours for shenanigans, although I did go to Montreal to see my kid graduate from Concordia University with HONOURS (woot wooooooot), and I went to Austin, Texas for a conference and found time for a lovely swim at the Barton Springs Pool. This past weekend I swam with some new friends at Kalmalka Lake, which is one of the sites for this summer’s Across the Lake Swim Series. I suppose I have been up to a few shenanigans after all, but my focus is strong.

A dip at Barton Springs Pool in Austin, Texas

Next weekend I will fly to San Diego, CalifornIA to attempt the 18.5 km Around Coronado Swim, accompanied by none other than International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame Honor Coach, Dan Simonelli. This swim will be a great opportunity to experience ocean swimming at night (yes, in the dark), drink some salt water, and hopefully not meet any Pacific ocean marine-style underwater creatures. It’s the perfect distance for this stage of my training. I know it will be a bit emotional because of my family history with San Diego, which I wrote about here. Stay tuned for what is sure to be an adventure to rival any Catalina Wine Mixer. I can’t wait!

Want to help me raise $10,000? Not for me, silly, but for Canadian Tire Jumpstart Charities. Jumpstart helps kids facing financial and accessibility barriers access sports and play. 100% of your donation goes directly to helping kids play. My fundraiser is now LIVE and you can read about it here.

Everything Counts in Large Amounts

Posted on December 31, 2023 by Aerin Bowers

It’s a competitive world…..

Hear ye, hear ye! Here is my 2023 recap – my year in swimming. It feels weird to write this given the five incomplete posts waiting patiently in my draft folder, but that’s how this year has gone.

It wasn’t a banner year for swimming, but I did learn a lot about patience, resilience, and the importance of rest and recovery. My focus was challenged in so many ways – even more than when I’m training for a big event. I had surgery in November 2022, and despite the best-laid plans, recovery didn’t go as planned, and I wasn’t able to get in the water until February. Further complications affected most of my summer event plans and led to another surgery in mid-August. This recovery went much better, and by mid-September, I was back in the pool. I’ve trained hard until the third week in December and have been sidelined again with a nagging injury in my pec and neck. It rhymes, but that doesn’t make it funny. I’m throwing IMS, taping, massage, and everything else in the kitchen sink at it, but mostly rest.

The unscheduled swim breaks taught me much about myself and what counts to me. Sleep counts. Not drinking counts. Stretching counts. Rotator cuff exercises count. Sculling counts. Kicking counts. Yoga counts. Red blood cell counts count. Preparation counts. Laughing counts. Swimming friends count. My partner counts. Drills count. Half-finished blog posts count. Everything counts in large amounts.

Despite my many weeks of not swimming this year, there were highlights in the water that deserve mention:

Swimming Paradise’s event in the sparkling blue Tyrrhenian Sea in Gaeta, Italy. This 2-day event is part of the Italian Open Water Series. I did this swim in July with my niece Sara, which was the most fun ever, especially seeing her sprint out of the water and dash across the finish line ahead of a bunch of Speedo gods. So proud!
Swimming in Leipzig’s beautiful lakes with my Love, surrounded by carefree naked Germans frolicking in the grass.
Morning workouts at the pool at the Marlborough College during my work week in England. The generous aquatic staff let me come and train at 6 am every day for the second year in a row. A class act!
A workout in Bristol South Swimming Pool, a Neo-classical historic pool built in 1931.
Finishing the 7km Rattlesnake Island Swim 3 days before my second surgery. “Finishing” is the most appropriate word since I swam like a turd and was pretty disappointed in my results.
Starting Amy Ennion‘s training plan as prep for next year’s VERY BIG SWIM. This plan saw me ramp up and get significantly faster in the last 2.5 months, focusing on technique and efficiency. If I wasn’t in injury mode, I’d beat a shark in a 50 m race.
Cold water dips up at Gwillim Lakes in the high alpine during our late August camping trip in the Valhallas. You couldn’t keep me out of that glorious, icy alpine water.

Some photographic evidence of said highlights below, other pools and lakes I swam in in Rome, Oxfordshire, St. John’s, Kelowna, the Kootenays, and beloved swimming friends for good measure. You’ll have to reach out directly for German nudes.

2024 will be the year I turn 50.

2024 will be the year I will work with a charity to fundraise $10,000 to help families afford to put their kids in sports a little easier. Stay tuned.

2024 will be the year I swim all of the Across the Lake Swim events in the Okanagan (except the 2.1km ‘coz I’ll be across the pond for work). You should sign up too.

2024 will be my third year as a Hammer Nutrition Ambassador! HMU if you need fuel! (I also make cinnamon buns.)

2024 will be the year I attempt the English Channel (in September). More on that in posts to come, but everything that has counted this year will do double duty in the next. As I’m learning, much can happen in the meantime, and I can control only what I can control. I will share my training and preparation here on the Waterblog (maybe that’s what I should call this site?), and I’d be honoured if anyone wants to follow along, join me for a swim, paddle alongside, or send positive thoughts. It all counts!

Extra hugs and kudos to those who supported me this year: Debbie, Brent, Scott, Mum, Valerie, Sara, Kasie, Deanne, Harriet, Amy, Jaimie, Elaine, Martyn, Natalie, Julian, and Holger, who says, “You will do it” every day.