Bonifacio Strait (Corsica-Sardinia)

helengheleng Hertfordshire, EnglandMember
edited May 2022 in Locations & Networking

I will be in Sardinia at the end of May on a training camp and wanted to have a shot at the Bonificio strait whilst out there. I contacted various companies and it all seemed very expensive (although I don't doubt the complexity of organising and supporting this swim). Plus they said I may well not get to swim that week and I would not get my money back.

So I looked for a cheaper alternative and stumbled across Nick Adams' No BS Guide (top work from Nick as always!) and have booked to swim with Tommaso, a cheaper alternative and comes recommended, plus it's not so much money to lose if the swim doesn't go ahead.

However, I have 2 challenges - firstly, I don't speak Italian and I will not have any support crew, so will be reliant on them feeding me. I'm not too bothered about this as I vaguely remember it was a similar deal with Gibraltar Strait.
The other is that I will be swimming fly, and possibly the first person to have done so, so it would have been good to get this recognised in some way, but I'm not sure how to go about that. The ideal would be to find a swimmer based in Sardinia who would come along to observe. And if it were to be ratified under MSF rules, would I need a separate stroke observer ( @evmo )? Any tips would be much appreciated!

Comments

  • evmoevmo SydneyAdmin
    edited May 2022

    @heleng said: I will be swimming fly, and possibly the first person to have done so, so it would have been good to get this recognised in some way, but I'm not sure how to go about that. The ideal would be to find a swimmer based in Sardinia who would come along to observe. And if it were to be ratified under MSF rules, would I need a separate stroke observer

    Yes, for a self-organized swim (i.e., without an independent local ratifying organization), we would want you to be at least as rigorous as the EC associations, especially if you're claiming a "first." So - one observer who takes care of the log, GPS tracking, photo/video documentation; and one separate, dedicated stroke judge who can demonstrate they understand the FINA definition of legal butterfly.

    BogdanZ
  • helengheleng Hertfordshire, EnglandMember

    Thanks @evmo , I thought that might be the case, so it will probably just be an unofficial swim. It's a shame as I realised last week that the 3 swims I am doing this year are all country to country swims, all to or from French soil, and all involving islands. It's quite a nice collection of swims to make official!

  • evmoevmo SydneyAdmin

    @heleng said:
    Thanks @evmo , I thought that might be the case, so it will probably just be an unofficial swim. It's a shame as I realised last week that the 3 swims I am doing this year are all country to country swims, all to or from French soil, and all involving islands. It's quite a nice collection of swims to make official!

    Why is it a shame?

  • helengheleng Hertfordshire, EnglandMember

    A shame because it probably won’t be official. I totally support the MSF rules, it’s just unfortunate that I probably won’t be able to find 2 people in less than 2 weeks to ratify the swim, so officially I will only be doing 2 of those 3 swims!
    Obviously I will do the swim anyway, and it was originally only intended to be a training swim for swims later in the summer, but if it is a first it would have been nice to have that recognised.

    Are there any people from Sardinia here who might be free at the end of May?!?!?!

    MvG
  • evmoevmo SydneyAdmin
    edited May 2022

    @heleng are you swimming with this outfit? http://www.bocchebonifacioswimming.it/

    If so, good news - they do a pretty good job reporting results and distinguishing wetsuit / skin swimmers, so these swims are included in the LSDB. So your swim can be official as long as they report the necessary details on their website.

    The sticking point is the butterfly aspect. Imagine this were someone else (not you) wanting to claim the first butterfly swim. Wouldn't you want this person to have a stroke judge, to verify they actually swam legal butterfly the whole way? It's extra effort and kind of annoying to arrange this in a foreign country ... but isn't that just the nature of stroke-specific swim claims?

    MvGKatieBun
  • MvGMvG MauritiusCharter Member

    Just want to wish @heleng best of luck with this awesome swim. I hope you'll find the observers you need, the world needs more butterfly firsts!

    evmocurlyJSwimKatieBunMLamby
  • helengheleng Hertfordshire, EnglandMember

    Thanks Milko @MvG, the other 2 will definitely be officially observed!

    MvG
  • helengheleng Hertfordshire, EnglandMember

    @evmo i totally understand the reasons for having a stroke judge and had one for my Windermere swim as well as having them for my other swims this year.
    I don’t believe I’m swimming with that organisation, although I see they have documented Nick Hadam’s (!!) swim and mentioned Diving Mediterraneo as his escort.
    I am checking with Tommaso if he will be making by my swim official through their website.
    I will persevere with trying to find a stroke observer, but it may just have to be unofficial!

    @evmo said:
    @heleng are you swimming with this outfit? http://www.bocchebonifacioswimming.it/

    If so, good news - they do a pretty good job reporting results and distinguishing wetsuit / skin swimmers, so these swims are included in the LSDB. So your swim can be official as long as they report the necessary details on their website.

    The sticking point is the butterfly aspect. Imagine this were someone else (not you) wanting to claim the first butterfly swim. Wouldn't you want this person to have a stroke judge, to verify they actually swam legal butterfly the whole way? It's extra effort and kind of annoying to arrange this in a foreign country ... but isn't that just the nature of stroke-specific swim claims?

    evmoMvG
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