The sun was peeking out over the tree tops of Perhentian Besar island in Terengganu, slowly spreading a warm glow over the grey dusky sky. The bay was relatively quiet, as the cacophony of motorboats had yet to start at this early hour.
However there was a palpable sense of excitement in the air, with a flotilla of kayaks gathering loosely around a pontoon crowded with swimmers flexing and stretching their limbs. As I bobbed up and down in my kayak waiting for the start whistle, I thought of the 11 hours of kayaking and swimming ahead of me, and said to Venda Vitales in the front seat: “Why are we doing this to ourselves again?”
Venda and I were teammates for the second year in Raleigh Kuala Lumpur’s fundraising event called Round Island Challenge (RIC) over a month ago. True to the spirit of Raleigh KL as a youth development organisation, the RIC aims to motivate people to challenge themselves.
This was the third annual instalment of RIC. Teams of four are required to swim and kayak around Perhentian Besar in under 11 hours, with two swimmers and two kayakers alternating to complete the journey.
A round trip of the island is estimated to be 18km, but needless to say, one hardly ever kayaks or swims in a straight line in the open ocean. There are no winners or prizes; the aim is just to complete the challenge as a team.
The kayak and swim team practise a day before the challenge.
The kayak and swim team practise a day before the challenge.
Eldred Lee and Victor Toh were the swimmers for our team for the first leg, and when the airhorn blew we could see them diving into the waters and swimming out to us. As they got nearer, we tried to get into a formation that worked well in keeping both swimmers and kayakers safe: the kayak would stay on the ocean side of the swimmers to shield them from straying too far out; we also needed to keep within sight for them to navigate while swimming, as well as keeping close enough to catch them if they needed help.
The starting point of the challenge this year was nestled deep inside a large bay, and hence for the good part of the first hour the teams were just trying to get out of the bay.
Against the flow
Unfortunately the wind and current were sweeping into the bay, and our swimmers fought bravely in the choppy waters before we finally rounded a corner to get into the next bay where our first checkpoint lay on a beach. After a quick break and changeover, it was my and Venda’s turn in the water as swimmers.
I have been swimming since I was a kid and enjoy it. However, swimming in open water is another matter altogether, and for my first challenge the previous year, I roped in a friend to act as my swim coach. My default stroke in the water was breaststroke, but freestyle is a faster stroke in open water.
My focus last year was on improving my freestyle to just survive the swim; that turned out to be a futile goal because once I was in the ocean with the waves and current pushing me around, I reverted back to breaststroke. I did that for the whole 9km swim last year.
Kayakers gathered at dawn for the challenge.
Kayakers gathered at dawn for the challenge.
For this year, I had a simple goal – to swim as much freestyle as possible. With our goggles tightly secured, off we went into the water, Venda and I. As we swam, we tried to keep within sight of each other; but we had to keep some distance as well to avoid kicking or slapping each other with our strokes.
I started off with breaststroke in the beginning; then as I became more comfortable with the water and the waves, I alternated with a few minutes of freestyle swimming. Alternating between these two strokes worked well for the rest of the day; I would do the breaststroke to gain more control and to see where I was going; when things got monotonous, I reverted to freestyle to keep things interesting.
Swimming in the ocean can at first be an intimidating experience. The sense that there is nothing else to hold on to in this vast body of water can be a scary feeling, especially when one starts to tire from dealing with choppy waters. Most of the time though, especially in the beautifully serene waters of Perhentian, I found open water swimming a liberating and surreal experience.
Sun rays would penetrate the deep blue sea and it felt almost like floating in a Windows screensaver. There were occasional glimpses of fish darting about far below; some swimmers even spotted turtles and black-tipped reef sharks. Sometimes, rounding a rocky escarpment meant swimming above corals; watching reef life provided a good distraction from our exertions.
There were six checkpoints overall in RIC, and the next two checkpoints (CP2 and CP3) were on boats moored in the open ocean (as the west side of the island lacks beaches).
Towing swimmers
It is often said that endurance events tend to be more of a mental than physical challenge – that turned out to be the case after CP3. We could see the headland that we needed to go around far ahead in the distance, but after what felt like eternity, we did not seem to come any closer to it.
We alternated between swimming and kayaking a few times, and made sure we were all drinking and eating regularly. Venda then had a case of sea sickness and had to lie down on the kayak until we reached the CP4 beach. Lunch awaited and chicken rice never tasted better.
The writer (right) and her team waiting to start their challenge.
The writer (right) and her team waiting to start their challenge.
As we proceeded to CP5, which ran along the narrow straits between Perhentian Besar and Kecil islands, we realised that making the cut-off time could be a close call. To gain some speed we decided to employ new strategies.
Eldred was the fastest swimmer so he would continue doing what he did best while the two kayakers would use paddle power to tow the remaining swimmer. This worked well for us but conditions were still difficult due to the high boat traffic and many snorkelers in the area.
In the end, we had to do a final 15-minute push by having two kayakers towing two swimmers at the same time; doing this was no easy feat and my arms were definitely sorer from paddling than swimming.
Eventually we missed the cut-off point at CP5 by about 10 minutes. However upon a quick appeal, the organisers agreed to an extension and allowed us to finish the last leg of the challenge. This gave us an extra boost of motivation, and after some energy supplements we were off to go around the most southern bend of the island.
Last year, this exact spot was called the “Washing Machine” due to extra turbulent waves; this year however it was all calm and peaceful. As dusk started to set, we could see our resort and the finish line. After 10 hours and 40 minutes our team successfully arrived on the beach and completed RIC!
One thing I have learnt from this event is that we are capable of great things which we might not even be aware of. In my mind, long distance open water swimming belonged to the realm of professional swimmers and triathletes.
But having completed RIC twice now, I can confidently say that with some determination, an adventurous spirit, a sprinkling of courage, and a great dose of positive enthusiasm, a daunting ocean challenge can be a really fun and rewarding experience.
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