One of my fears, in getting ready for Alcatraz, is that I have to jump off a boat for the start. I'm afraid of heights (see my historic fear of flying) and although landing in water is comfortable, the "fall" part of the jump isn't. So I did what any afraid person would do, I researched the heck out of it, then I practiced.
First, I looked through photos of last year's swim, to get a sense of the jump distance.
The roll shows a HUGE ferry, and the jump, two or three people at a time, of what I'm estimating to be four feet. Four feet isn't a huge jump, but it also isn't my typical "wade in to my waist then wait until I'm ready to swim and ease in to head up breast stroke" way of entering the water. This jump was something I needed to know more about.
So I grabbed my two partners in crime for the swim, E and A, and headed down to Green Lake to the diving boards to practice the jump. We estimate that the low board is about four feet above the water.
Our plan was to get to Green Lake at 7 as the lifeguards went off duty, in hopes that it would be quiet and we could jump multiple times in peace. Boy were we wrong. The place was packed. On a day that was over 80* in Seattle, we shouldn't have been surprised. We waited a while, watching the kids go off the boards, and the adults who were playing water polo in the lake. Then we got in for our turn.
I decided I had to do it without too much thought at the end of the board, or I'd chicken out. In truth, it wasn't as high or as scary as I'd feared.
The first jump I got water up my nose, and in my goggles. Up the nose isn't pleasant in Green Lake (ick) but would be worse in salt water (ouch!). And the goggles weren't so water logged that I couldn't at least swim out of the way of others before clearing them.
I jumped again. Water up the nose, and in the goggles. Tightened the goggles a little, and jumped again. They stayed secure, but water up the nose. Held my nose, jumped again. Bingo. That's the magic combination.
My hair is about to my elbows right now, so I have a pretty big bun in my swim cap. Having one of the goggle straps below the bun keeps the goggles from coming off on impact. And holding my nose, well, it keeps water out of my nose on impact.
The four foot distance wasn't that bad. I needed to not really pause at the edge, but just take a second to check that the water below was clear and jump. Doing it fast kept the fear from seeping in.
Now off to find something else to obsess about for the swim.
