Tuesday, July 25, 2017

Jules makes it number 3 of the Triple Crown!


Dear Swimmers

Great news! Squad swimmer Julie Isbill backed up her brilliant Catalina Channel Swim just 12 days ago with a 46km circumnavigation of Manhattan Island (New York) on Sunday, covering the distance in a little over 7h and 20 minutes - a brilliant performance! This makes Jules #150 (in the world) to have successfully completed the Triple Crown of marathon swimming: the English Channel, the Catalina Channel and now Manhattan Island - whoop! A massive well done from all of us here in Perth Jules. Here's her take on the event (from her FaceBook account):

👑👑👑
Swim around Manhattan Island, under 20 Bridges, what can I say... EPIC !!!

Wow, what a swim. The currents were awesome, the anticipation of 'Hells Gate' petrifying, but on my swim the worry was in vain 😅
The scenery phenomenal, the water quality - uhmm well... I could see my hand in the water, no really I could, in between playing pick up sticks and lawn bowls with my head feeling like it was the jack receiving all the bowls 🤣

46+km passed by like a flash, quite literally. Well mostly, apart from the Harlem but even that wasn't as sluggish as I had antipicated.

Having gone around the island on the circle line ferry a couple of days prior was perfect. Albeit a little overwhelming and emotional, it gave me a great insight into what I was embarking upon and meant I even knew some of the land marks as I swam round, which was really very cool, and encouraging.

My team, what can I say: WONDERFUL ❤️❤️ things were a little different this swim as we gave all my feeds pre-made to my sensational paddler, Alex which freed Michael up to enjoy the journey and excel himself on keeping everyone informed with his new found career as social media extraordinaire 😍😘
I didn't get too much opportunity to hang with my skipper, Doug, his right hand man Keith, or our observer, Andi, but all were just lovely; very warm, positive, attentive and kind and kept Michael entertained throughout 😊

Alex, the world's most saught after paddler (Paul: Alex was also my paddler when I won the event in 2013), really was fantastic. I can't thank him enough for letting me sit diligently on his right thigh for the whole duration, while joining in and humouring me as I excitedly yelled out the number of each bridge as we journeyed under, almost loosing count once but then recalled Alex was eating at number 'ate' which I thought was pretty funny at the time ☺️😅 Phew no. 9 was next. I didn't want to loose count. I was enjoying ticking them off. Thanks for the suggestion Nicolo 👍

The Hudson only left me with bridge no. 20 so potentially was going to get a bit dull. But nope. It was beautiful and ever evolving including once we reached downtown Manhattan and it was BUMPY BUMPY BUMPY from all the marine traffic 😃😮😝

A truly EPIC swim which I am soooo happy to have participated in with the icing on the cake being the third jewel in my 'Triple Crown' of open water marathon swimming #150 to achieve it 😊
http://db.marathonswimmers.org/triple-crown/

Thank you so so so much especially to Michael who not only supports me by coming along for the journey and feeding me on all the swims for hours on end, over night and in all conditions, but also, not only, puts up with all the hours I am away training, but encourages me. Thank you !!!

Also, to EVERYONE else, and I mean that... EVERYONE !!! From my training partners, including Maree & Sharon whom together formed the 'Manhattan Project' 
Neil and Bob who skippered countless Rottnest Channel crossing for me.
David who must have paddled at least 200hours by my side over the last couple of years. 
Amanda, who not only paddled for me but traveled to LA to be by my side through Catalina.
NicoleCae, Leah and Emma who it was super special to share Manhattan with.
Paul and Vladimir who have both been wonderfully inspiring coaches and the great guys and gals at swim smooth who have so warmly let me gate crash their squad this year.
All you crazy, solid, forever supportive buddies at Polar Bears and B&B 😍
To my non-swimming friends who i'm sure think I'm crazy, but get just as excited as if it was them doing it.
To people all over the globe who surprise me with their interest and support ❤️
And... to the endless number of strangers who give up their days to support us on these sometimes ridiculously long adventures. You guys are the champions and keep me going !!
THANK YOU 😘😘😘

👑👑👑
Couldn't resist repeating a few of my favourite photos and video from the wonderful selection 💕



Thursday, July 13, 2017

Jule's Catalina Adventure! Completed in just over 10 hours!

A massive congratulations to Julie Isbill who on Tuesday evening completed the Catalina Channel Swim in California - a spooky yet amazing sounding adventure! Well done Jules.

Here's a little run down of the adventure...

Catalina Channel ✅
It was exquisite out there, apart from a gigantic - what I think was a whale that scared the living bedoobies out of me about 90mins in when it was jet black (as it was for hours) apart from the most vibrant and playful biophosphorescence ❤️ and the GNARLY finish.

They said i might get a couple of scratches on the boulders with the surges at the end, and we would call that cute.

OMG we have totally redefined 'cute' and 'an exhilarating' finish. It was Huntington Beach style surf on mobile boulders and as for scratches, yes about 2 dozen, not to mention smashed up, swollen knuckles and toes. Jax swam in with me (as did the other swimmer who swam the channel the same night - how cool we timed it together) and Jax said she was born above that 'beach' and has been paddling this swim for 4 years (& swam it herself last year) and she didn't even know it could get that bad. I guess that's the balance for a velvet, marine filled, moon light sky, picture perfect crossing 🙃🐬🐳🐬

I am a little tired, battered and bruised but SOOOOO chuffed to have completed and experienced Catalina's beautiful channel ❤️

Did I mention... I swam through a feeding frenzy about 0.5nautical miles from the finish. It was AMAZING !!!!! Bait fish, dolphins galour, spinning, jumping, darting and a sea lion. I swam right through the middle of it all. Dolphins whizzing past, spinning under me and jumping out along side and the cutest (proper cute this time) sea lion came back for seconds as he swam right under me, stopped, rolled over, looked me in the eye and then leaped out of the water - twice 😍

Just magic and more perfect than I could have asked for in my wildest dreams 💕

Topped of with a fabulous crew. Michael who as he did last year, didn't miss a beat or sleep a wink, and was right there for the whole crossing preparing my feeds and keeping watch. Amanda who paddled all but 3 hours in the middle when Jax jumped in and everyone else who rotated through. All were positive, warm and friendly. Thank you !!!

How many people does it take to get a girl across Catalina Channel - it appears 11 😜 official observers, skippers, deck hands, chef (to make the team breakfast, ensuring there is enough left overs for the swimmer and paddler at the end 👌
not to mention all the training support up to this moment, and all the online support throughout the crossing. Thank you, thank you, thank you, ALL 😘

Hope all is well for you too. Onto a little recovery time now for us, before 🤞🤞🤞 Manhattan in 12 days time xx 🐳🐬🐳🐬🐳🐳

Friday, July 7, 2017

Jules is swimming Catalina!


For all those of you keen to keep an eye on one of our marathon swimming stars, Julie Isbill will be swimming the Catalina Channel in California next Tuesday 2-3pm Perth time. Tracking information is below for those of you keen to watch how Jules gets on. She's been training up a storm with the 930am and 530am #RedMist crews, so here's a big good luck from us all Jules!

P.S Jules then tackles the mighty Manhattan Island swim just 12 days later to complete the tri-fecta or Triple Crown as it's known: English Channel, Catalina Channel and Manhattan Island!

Here's Jules:

A massive thank you to all at Swim Smoth Redmist sessions who have helped me train for these upcoming little adventures 🐬🐥🐳

CATALINA CHANNEL: ~11pm-midnight start LA time on night of 10th July.
That's ~2-3pm start time on Tuesday 11th July, Perth time.

Tracker is:
http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0IVZfijZKeNxXLbfGuPnMqMLgOFz1D4rE 

MANHATTAN: ~7am start time New York time on morning of Sun 23rd July.
That's ~7pm start time on Sun 23rd July, Perth time.

Tracker is:
https://track.rs/20Bridges/ 
🐬🐥🐳

Thanks heaps 👍👍
Jules