Already on my first weekend down in Islamorada with the Race Club, after 4 weeks summer break (“tradition” in Switzerland after the Swiss National Championships held in July), and after only 3 easy workouts, I went to Miami for the Open Water Speedo Swim meet on Saturday, August 27, 2005, together with Anthony Ervin.

Anthony and I left our house in Islamorada the day before, as we both don’t like to get up early in the morning (meet started at 9:00 a.m.). So we drove down to Miami in the early evening of Friday, to spend the night at Gary’s house.

On Saturday, at exactly 9:00 a.m., without having done any warm-up and not really feeling ready to do this 1 mile open water swim as early in the morning as 9:00 a.m., the race started with an impressive number of participants. We had to swim one round of the circuit which had been set out. The first straight I just wanted to get out of the crowd without losing too much energy already at the beginning (take it as a short warm-up).

After the first buoy (left turn), my plan seemed to work. I passed the crowd without losing too much energy (that doesn’t mean that I felt comfortable in the water!). Now I decided to go all out, trying to get the best result for the Race Club and for me. There was only one thing that made me a bit upset in that moment. I couldn’t see anyone in front of me, I was just somewhere in the sea on my own, between the leading swimmers in front and the crowd behind me. On this second straight, I passed a couple of other swimmers, but I never knew my position within the race or how many swimmers were in front of me. This question was answered when I came up to another swimmer after a certain time. As the information given about the circuit prior to the start didn’t help my orientation, I decided to stay with this swimmer for a while to be sure taking the right buoy for the next left turn. As soon as this last turn was done and we started the finish straight, I “freed” the last of my energy and left also this swimmer behind me. And then finally, after a long period without any orientation, I was able to see the finish line flag! Seeing this finish line and some swimmers in front of me gave me new motivation and helped me to suffer a bit longer. When I finally passed the finish line I got 3rd place over all. Even if the time (25m39s) is not excellent, believe me I was really happy with the result!

This was a great day for me and I enjoyed every minute of it (even though I went through hell in the race!). For the first time in my life I swam a meet in the sea, for the first time in my life I started together with Gary Hall Jr., I met new and interesting people, swimmers of all ages and levels. And I’m really thinking about being back next year for this wonderful meet!

-Nicolas