Swim Shōdoshima Day Two

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Day Two of Swim Shōdoshima（スイム小豆島) started out under ominous skies as Typhoon Mekkhala and Typhoon Higos were moving away from the island.

Steven Munatones (63, USA, MSF bio here, @steven.munatones) said, “We knew Day Two and Day Three were always going to be tough. But I have never swum sideways before. 90 minutes into the swim, the wind direction and eddies were running counter to each other. I could see the ocean floor beneath me and could feel the power of the oncoming tidal flow. Try as I might, I could not move forward even as I picked up my pace. But I started moving left for 5 minutes and then right for 5 minutes. Being forced to swim laterally was frustrating, but it was another experience in this stage swim.

I was swimming sideways, but at least the moon jellies remained below me today and the landscape views of the island were spectacular. I could see thick, green forests with occasional waterfalls along the way. The underwater seascape reminded me of the thick kelp forests around the Palos Verdes Peninsula in Southern California. The kelp would swing right and then left, back and forth, as the multiples of moon jellies did the same.

Today, we started at the well-preserved 24 Eyes Movie Studio and then headed eastward to the Ōkado Hana Lighthouse. The first hour was pretty calm, but then swimming around the peninsula where the lighthouse sits became quite bumpy. The winds picked up and the eddies sloshed me all over the place. Fortunately, as we approached the Kibō-no-michi sandbar [shown below] the conditions started to settle down on eastern seaboard of Shōdoshima.

The Day Two course was 13.59 km, swum in 3 hours 32 minutes. Tomorrow, no rainfall is forecast and then winds are predicted to be in favor. Hopefully, I can knock out a quick 15 km leg.“

But the conditions for escort kayaker Chris Morgan on an Oru Kayak have been brutal. Chris told paddle boarder Skyler Munatones on a Bark Paddleboard and standup paddler Jessie Salas (@coachjsalas) to go ahead with me as he dealt with a sinking kayak. He recalled, “I was sitting so low in the water while the water kept on coming into the kayak faster than I could bail out the water. I ultimately came into shore and was trying to figure out what to do. There was no access to the area where I landed so I figured the only way out was to keep kayaking. I ultimately kept on paddling and finally arrived at the finish. Skyler and Jessie escorted Steve to the finish and they came back out to be with me.”

“It was beautiful to see these three guys work together and see how they are collectively dealing with the elements,” said Munatones. “We made a deliberate decision to not use a diesel-powered escort boat, which leads to some element of heightened risk, but it has been wonderful to see how tough, resourceful, and experienced these watermen are in the sea. The tough conditions that they are dealing with is not being photographed, precisely because they are navigating with kayaks and paddle boards.”

Day Two Course

A visual Strava flyover and photographs will be posted tomorrow.

Day Three Course

The Day Three course should be another picturesque swim around peninsulas, sandbars, and small uninhabited islets.