Frenchman In Sweden For A British Cold-water Swim
English Channel swimmer Sylvain Estadieu is training for the UK Cold Water Swimming Championships. “In Hudiksvall, Sweden, the water is down to 2°C now with air between -5 and -10°C. I’ll be competing along with 7 other Sandycove [Ireland] swimmers. A few among us have been invited to take part in the endurance event which is a really exciting prospect for all of us.”“My preparations have been going well.” That is easy to see from his training video here.
Besides his cold-water training, Sylvain has been pushing himself in a variety of unique ways including a 20K medley swim attempt in the Gulf of Bothnia in the Baltic Sea. “I unfortunately failed to finish, but I’ve learned a couple things along the way and will be trying again next year for sure.”
He attempted a medley swim that was to be four loops of 6K of each stroke.
Sylvain’s butterfly leg of 1 hour and 55 minutes went smoothly in the flat 16°C water with no wind under lots of sunshine. “But I started to get tired during the second loop, backstroke being my worst stroke. The conditions weren’t as good as during the first loop, especially after 9K, but I managed to finish it in 2 hours and 40 minutes. Then, I looked at the island in the distance [in the loop course] and just couldn’t get myself going for the breaststroke leg, so the swim stopped after 12K and 4 hours and 35 minutes.”
“I had been dreading that swim. It was up to my girlfriend to paddle, feed me and document the swim. She did an amazing job for the best part of 5 hours. I guess she was glad to not have to paddle for another 5 hours.”
“I had been training all summer long in the area. The water temperatures almost never went under 18-20°C, but it started to drop the week before the swim. At the end, I was just glad that nothing out of the ordinary happened during these two loops and I really happy that I got to share these moments with my girlfriend who was never involved in swimming before.”
She seems hooked now.
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Southern California native, born 1962, is the creator of the WOWSA Awards, Oceans Seven, Openwaterpedia, Citrus Corps, World Open Water Swimming Association, Daily News of Open Water Swimming, Global Open Water Swimming Conference. He is Chief Executive Officer of KAATSU Global and KAATSU Research Institute. Inductee in the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame (Honor Swimmer, Class of 2001) and Ice Swimming Hall of Fame (Honor Contributor - Media, Class of 2019), recipient of the International Swimming Hall of Fame's Poseidon Award (2016), International Swimming Hall of Fame's Irving Davids-Captain Roger Wheeler Memorial Award (2010), USA Swimming's Glen S. Hummer Award (2007, 2010) and Harvard University's John B. Imrie Award (1984). Served on the FINA Technical Open Water Swimming Committee and as Technical Delegate with the 2011 Special Olympics World Summer Games, and 9-time USA Swimming coaching staff. Note: WOWSA only recommends products or services used or recommended by the community. WOWSA does not receive compensation for links or products mentioned on this site or in blog posts. If it does, it will be indicated clearly on that specific post. See WOWSA's privacy policy for more information.
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