First open water swim

Today, with the BRATS,I've finally tried the open water swim, at Bittel Reservoir, in Barnt Green. I've got a yellow hat, and hopefully I'll eventually exchange it with an orange one after some weeks. The color of the hat represent your ability level. The water was 15C, so we were allowed to swim. It was strange, and I've got an induction lecture to open water swim (what to expect... and what don't expect....) from Debby. She was really supportive, and she watched me and my movements around the buoys from the deck. As I was new to all the stuff, I swam between the first two buoys, number 9 and 4, but next time I'll try at least one full lap, 720m. I did pretty well (I think...), and I was impressed. 15 minutes to put the wetsuit on, listening the others telling me how was going to be horrible and unpleseant... so I was prepared for the worst. The entrance in the water was from a concrete slipway, without any algae, and it was ok. The water was chilly, but the wetsuit was working fine, and I did not feel cold at all. I was really surprised about it! The water was clean, but everything looked brownish, so it was fine. I just got a small cramp after 40 minutes, but that happened also the fist time I went spinning, so I'm not worried now! At the end of the day it was not too bad, it just it took a little bit of courage, self control and will of overtaking some small personal fears.... Next time I'll try at least one full lap!