Sea mile in the North Sea - Zeemijl van Bloemendaal 2022

Disclaimer: Automatically translated from Russian

On Friday night, August 12, I thought about sports plans for the next weekend. I climbed into the site with a catalog of competitions and discovered hitherto an unprecedented event - Zeemijl van Bloemendaal. As the name implies, this is a sail on a sea mile in the North Sea. It is organized by the Bloemendaal aan Zee rescue team and has been carried out no less since 1955, that is, for the 64th time. Two hours remain before registration. The limit of participants is 300 people. Without losing a minute, I record, in the hope that I have time. When registering, I indicate the competitive category. I’m an athlete after all. After a couple of minutes, confirmation comes to the post office - I’m in business.

Since last competition a week has passed. Two days earlier there was a swimming training for one and a half kilometers. There was no doubt about the success of the event. The only unclear point is whether wetsuits are allowed. After all, this is still a competition and everyone should swim in the same conditions and equipment. I decided to put on three-sites. But just in case, he also took a short wetsuit for the swimrun.

The start is scheduled for one in the afternoon. I pack my things in advance, jump on my bike and slowly drive to the sea, eight kilometers in one direction. The weather is excellent - sunny, the air temperature is about + 25 (or even more), there is no wind.

There are quite a lot of people on the beach. Collection - on the basis of rescuers (house on the right of the photo with a high staircase):

The information board shows the temperature of sea water at 22 degrees (in fact it was almost 23 - 22.8). Again, the question arises about the wetsuit - at the triathlon starts in such boiling water, in my opinion, they were not allowed to use.

I go up to the rescue base. There are quite a lot of people. More than half - in wetsuits. Hooray!

I go inside to get the starting package: the queue for receiving numbers and a pair of tables for registration (if the limit of participants is not reached, on-site registration is possible).

In the package chip, hat and drink:

I change into a wetsuit. From a height I observe the field of upcoming battles, trying to guess which route we will sail on. Rescue boats run along the coast, there are some buoys, but nothing is clear. But there are no waves that cannot but rejoice:

Half an hour before the start, everyone starts to go down to the beach:

Directly at the level of the rescue base, seventy meters from the water, the finish gate is installed. We put things in the trailer of the clock machine and begin to follow it along the coast towards Parnasia strand. After about half a kilometer or a little more, the few who swim half the distance stop - will start from here, and the rest will continue to move on. We pass the nudist beach. We pass, do not linger! The start gate in front is still not visible. Finally, they give the team to stop. Here it is - the starting point. From the coast we sail into the sea to the buoy, and then turn left and along the coast we sail in the opposite direction to where we came from. We run out and finish there. Everything is extremely simple.

I dig my luggage in the cart, pull out a bottle of water, drink, fold it back. Everything is ready. It is announced that the swimmers of the competitive category will start the first, then everyone else. We go to the water. Someone is dipping around. I go through the ankles into the water - warm. Urine and lubricate glasses. I see several triathlon acquaintances. There are athletes who are clearly exclusively swimming physique.

Are the athletes ready? Yes!
Are rescuers ready? Yes!

Signal. Let’s run!

Well, that is, at first they ran a little, and then all the same, they basically went - the coast here is pretty gentle - you’ll get tired of running, and you won’t jump into a dolphin:

Well, then I, in fact, only did that I was swimming concentratedly. Near the buoy and a little after it was cramped: they grabbed their legs, tried to beat on the head, but did not hit. Then the crowd broke down. Every now and then, someone sailed nearby, but not very many people overtook me. Well, or I just sailed far from the main road.

With navigation, I must say, it was not very. I practically did not see buoys on the left side. On the right side, someone periodically sailed, and the boats sometimes loomed. It began to be swimming close enough to the optimal trajectory. On the other hand, I had absolutely no idea how much time had passed and what distance I had already overcome. The clock periodically drank something, but I did not know when they started to do this and how often the signal is repeated. But I didn’t want to stop, take off my glasses and look at my watch - I’ll swim sooner or later. Yes, a little tired, but the hands are working, breathing normally, and not tired yet. So I keep swimming.

Once again I rejoice in the absence of waves. I recall past short swims in the sea - often it didn’t work out normally on both sides - you open your mouth, and there’s a wave in it. And here I do not want to breathe. And does not shake. That’s just a little muddy water. And some crap in the water when rowing is felt. Either algae or not. What is it? Ah, jellyfish! I hope that at least not complaining. It’s a pity that the long hydrik did not put on: and it would have been easier to swim, and the jellyfish would certainly not have been stung. But from sharks, the long one would not help. Interestingly, if the water is so warm, then maybe sharks could swim here? In Turkey, someone was recently bitten. Well, probably, rescuers would have noticed and shouted them. And if they scream, but I don’t hear because of the hat?

Finally, these conversations get bored and I decide to look at the clock - 1.8 km. Hm. In theory, there should already be a finish. After all, a mile is 1852 meters. I start cutting down closer to the shore and try to accelerate. Overtaking a couple of people with orange buoys. So the direction is correct. But after fifty meters the finish did not come and had to swim for some more time.

How long is it short, here is the accumulation of boats, buoys and a crowd on the shore. To us there. The last jerk, exit from the water, a small run to the finish gate. Done:

My mile pulled almost 2.5 kilometers. A hundred meters can be written off for running / running into and out of water. Well, maybe the error of the watch, although hardly, before that I had never noticed problems with accuracy in the water - it works like a clock. So, just an internal GPS failed a bit and I swam too much. Well, okay. But he trained swimming at a longer distance.

There are already quite a few participants at the finish line. I have a few words with a triathlon acquaintance who works as a swimming coach at Kras Sport. He had already managed to dry and eat his soup.

I eat my portion of trophy food (for New Year’s diving in the sea, the soup goes much better!), I take out things from the cart and go to the water. The people continue to finish:

I remove the hydrik and go to lie in the water. When you still have the opportunity to lie almost naked in the North Sea without cramps like this.

Results.
In total, 249 people went to the start at both distances.
215 people (men and women) sailed a mile and my result is 76th.
In the competitive category among men, I am only 44th out of 58.
My time is 37:41. Winner time is 23:59.

Link to protocols. Strava Link.

I really liked the event. It is amazing that I have never heard of him all past years, a big omission. I will definitely try to participate again.

The next day, an article was published in a local newspaper with the heading “ Swimming in the jelly pudding ”:

Yes, this time the jellyfish really was too much. Although I was looking for information about previous starts, it was raining there, and waves overshadowing the sky and cold water. So this time we are very lucky.

In action photos taken with site organizers ( met dank aan Monique van Straten ).

You can write a comment or ask a question in post discussion branch in Telegram.