Swimming: Ocean swim helps endure dark days

Nic McCloy. Photo / Allan Ure

Depression and anxiety give way to passion for open water challenges.

Early in 2012 a group of friends chatting around a table agreed Nic McCloy could probably do an ocean swim race - if she spent a couple of years training to do so.

Incredibly, McCloy was at that table - but at this stage in her life, she was used to people talking as though she wasn't there. The 41-year-old from Invercargill was struggling with undiagnosed depression and anxiety, and was extremely overweight.

Life had dealt McCloy a couple of unfair blows but she was ready to re-engage with the world: she went home and signed up for King of the Bays. She told no one.

McCloy frequently endured negative comments about her weight when she went to her local North Shore beach to train, so began swimming at dusk: "There were no people. It was flat and calm. It was just me and the water - really quiet - so beautiful. There was a lovely sense of isolation. I think it was Karen Blixen who said 'The cure for everything is salt water. Sweat, tears or the sea.'

"I still swim in the evenings now, especially when things aren't going so right for me."

Event day dawned - but rather darkly: conditions were extremely rough and stormy, and McCloy was close to pulling out: "I told myself: 'You are not that person anymore. You are not quitting this".

McCloy got in the water and finished the swim. "It changed things for me," she says quietly.

"I learned that I can take risks, that fear doesn't have to dictate everything I do, that I can achieve things I didn't think I could."

A friend suggested they attend the inaugural Samoa Swim Series in 2012.

McCloy trained hard; just before they were due to depart her friend said "Oh I'm not swimming, I'm just going to Samoa for a holiday".

McCloy was petrified: "It was definitely the most challenging thing I had ever done. I wasn't particularly good at what we were doing [swimming]; I was in a foreign country; I don't like crowds and I had never swum 2km!"

Samoa Swim Series organiser Seti Afoa embraced McCloy, and the two formed a lasting friendship.

Afoa returned to his native Samoa after a stint in NZ and became concerned about the number of Samoans who could not swim. He saw an opportunity to bring visitors to Samoa and raise the profile of swimming at a local community level.

Afoa created the Samoa Swim Series; three open-water swims at different locations and with distance options between 2-4km.

Proceeds from the series go towards swim schools and a scholarship programme, and local communities are heavily involved in the running of each event. Participants are encouraged to bring friends and families to the islands for a unique holiday experience, and McCloy is enthusiastic: "This is different to tourism; participants and their supporters are keen and excited to engage with the local communities."

McCloy has found her passion. She has participated in the Samoa Swim Series every year since its inception, and introduced many friends along the way.

"Samoa is just my favourite place in the world. On the way back from my first swim in 2012 I was sat on this old bus reverberating with some crazy island reggae tunes, my arm dangling out the window in the gorgeous sunshine and I thought 'It's mid-winter in NZ, and look what I have just done. Yeah!'"

McCloy and three friends head to Samoa again for the 2015 Samoa Swim Series on August 3.

Afoa also stages the Pacific Open Water Challenge and Warrior Race which are bundled with the series for 2015 to allow participants to compete in all three events over nine epic days.

Samoa Swim Series

What: 3 Ocean Swims in 3 days
When: August 3-9
Where: Samoa
For more information: www.samoaswimseries.com