Charlie Group Day 10

Imagine the mirror-like surface of a calm lake. Imagine the miniscule disturbances of ripples from a gentle breeze and the subsequent iridescence that it incurs. Imagine the trees of the peninsula in the near distance with their green, green leaves rustling in that very same light breeze. Imagine the feel of the undercurrent pulling you along in a faintly rocking motion—just drifting...slowly—relaxing and dreamlike. Quite a quaint picture, is it not?

Now allow me to show you what really happened today. Our main objective today was to conduct a swimming test at Cherry Beach in Toronto, which was to last about two hours. We started the day with a hot dog breakfast, which we wolfed down very quickly. We then readied all the necessary equipment, including two kayaks and the Zodiac for safety, and loaded them all up (attaching to a car, in the Zodiac’s case).

After we changed into all of our wetsuits, we were briefed on the purpose of the swim, the direction, the length, and possible alternatives. Then, we set out for the beach. When we arrived, we set up all of our equipment, having to wait for Billy and the Zodiac to arrive from their different launch point. During the wait, we made sure to stretch out our muscles so that when Billy did arrive, we were ready for the 1.6 km swim. 1.6 kilometres sound like no big deal to you? You’re forgetting to factor in the wind, currents, and people.

We started off as a tight-knit pack, heading towards the peninsula, with Jonathan leading us, Jason Wang on the starboard, Jacky portside, Jennifer Wang smack dab in the middle, and Lemuel bringing up the rear. The waves were relatively small, but sometimes they managed to sweep over the top of your head, drenching you, and sometimes causing you to cough up the water if it caught you by surprise. There was a strong wind that caused us, along with the currents, to drift way off course… multiple times. Our destination never seemed close enough—and if it did, we were looking in the wrong spot, and the currents were probably pushing us away from it anyway. By the end, the navigators kept being swept off course, a couple of non-swimmers were lagging a little ways behind the main group, and some swimmers needed to be supported by others.

But due to our determination, we made it—all of us! It took us 2-3 hours in total. Every single swimmer today made it to the end. And so, due to this display of willpower and strength, Billy treated us to dinner at a restaurant. We greatly enjoyed the meal! Tomorrow, we are doing firearms training.

Edwin Cheung

Today is Augest, 18, 2012. I wake up at 7:05 and brush my teeth and start my day. We ate Hotdog breakfest. We the pack and many equipment and Head to Cherry Beach, down town toronto. 2 hour 5 minute. We are on Level 3 survivals. I help Brian alot in the water “Today I learn “Don’t give up.”

Jason Wong

We woke up the usual time and my bravo team leaned the HQ. We had hotdog for breakfast, I ate 3 hotdogs. After breakfast we discussed the plan if we needed rescue on the Niagra cross (kayaking) We changed into our wetsuits pack what we needed for the swimming training. We swam 3 hours in total from Cherry beach to the Toronto island and back. After we went back to HQ and cleaned up the equipment, After cleaning we went to the usual resturant at First Markham Place.

Calvin

Today I stayed on sore and helped from there. It was not really necessary for me to enter the water since I am not paddling across lake Ontario. For the whole time I was basically on standby if anything happened I also prepared unch for everyone. I also had the binoculars which basically made me the lookout. it was a good break for me and also a good experience as it gve me a feeling of helping, but at the same time not helping. Everyonne seemed to do very well today and I am very proud of them. I hope tommorow will be as productive as today.

Ryan

Today we went swimming for two hours. But before that we had a simple breakfast of hotdogs and meal replacement. We then prepared to get our stuff. Billy suprised us by telling us to only get our towel. I had to once more navigating was my job but I done it better this time however. The swim itself was tiring though. At the end however Billy suprised us by going to a restuarant.

Andy

                Today we had our first ‘ultimate challenge’. of the program. It was a swim across the water outside Cherry Beach. Our total time in the water clocked up at two full hours. In Billy’s terms, that is approximately equivalent to Level 3 training because we stayed in for what eemed to be about te same level of difficulty as 3 hours in warm water because the water was actually cool!

                Of course, we had shown the Monticle spirit, and that is: NEVER GIVE UP.

                If Only we had more time we could afford man overboard training n the Zodiac boat. Nevertheless our heroics got us a dinner out of HQ and a movie night all together. (As for apartment usages, last night was our turn, and tonight it’s Bravo’s turn)

                Personally, I showed my strength on an individual level too, when I struggled to and the leader of the pack in navigating to the correct location. Let the leader talk about that himself in his own blog entry.

                P.S. The total distance we swam, in cool water ad in wetsuit, was 6 km!

William

We were covered in dirt today, because we went swimming at the beach. At the last minute, I realized I didn’t have any watersport shoes so I brought my sneakers as substitute. We had to wear shoes because there were many sharp rocks. We had to swim across Cherry Beach and back. We started to swim at 11:40 and ended at 2:10. I thought it was boring because we had to wait sometimes for the slower people. When we came back to HQ, we were all hosed down by Billy because we covered. Billy awarded us at night by bringing us to dinner. I’m really thankful that he would do that.

Lemuel

Day 10. It’s been a fairly difficult. Today we had to do the physical challenge so that we can decide who does the kayak challenge. We had to swim from cherry beach, downtown to an island (about .6  km) Fortunately, everyone passed the test Since everyone passed, Billy decided to treat us all to dinner. We went to 九龍 for dinner. Now I’m back and writing this. Tomorrow we are learning Firearms so I’m excited.

Matthew

Today was a very hard day. First major thing we did was eat breakfast and quickly packed up for our PT. The PT was go to Cherry Beach and swim halfway towards Centre Island and back. It was so COLD! It was like going through acute hypothermia. In the end I was very proud of myself for accomplishing the task or challenge. Tomorrow we are doing firearm drills! GUNS!!! I am really excited for that.

Andrew

Today, was a very exhausting day. My team and I had to swim 1.8 Km back and forth n Lake Ontario. Eventhough I didn’t know how to swim. I managed to somehow swim the whole 1.8 Km. Surprisingly, I learned how to swim. Somewhat. Being the last one in the group to finish, I was quite content that I completed the challenge, even after being asked to go n the boat by Billy. What I did today showed that you should suck it up and never give up.

Jason Wang

Food, so much food. Today we earned our right to go to a restaurant (even though it is only for today). We earned that right by having everyone complete the 1.6 km swim in the Toronto harbour. So, it started like this… we woke up at 7:00 am again and had everyone pack and clean up all the gear as well as clean up the HQ. One we cleaned up we packed up all the gear we needed for the swim and ate breakfast. We finished breakfast, and packed up our personal gear and wore our wetsuits then got ready to leave. Alpha and Bravo teams we placed on the sprinters and I went with Billy to launch the boat. When we finally started the swim it was 11: something and we took 2 to 2 ½ hours to swim to the bird conservation area and back to the Cherry beach. We then came back to the HQ and cleaned up the gear and went to eat dinner.

Justin

I had such a great experience today: I learned some simple swimming techniques and pretty much swam for the first time. We had to swim 1.6 km which was really challenging for me. Luckily, I had people to help me out so it wasn’t as bad as I expected. Honestly I didn’t know if I was able to swim the whole thing but I actually made it. I was shivering by the end of the challenge and never wanted to get back in the water. After getting back to the HQ, we sent about two hours cleaning but it wasn’t all that bad. When finished cleaning, we got to go out to a restaurant for dinner because of how successful we were. I guess I’m proud that I actually did the whole thing by myself. It was a really great day today.

Brian

I wake up in the morning

I go to the beach

I go swimming

I saw the boat

Then I eat sandwick

I go to the van

I eat lunch

I go to the restaurant

I eat rice

I eat orange

I drink sprite

I brush my teeth

I watch a move

Jordan

Today, we were faced with a challenge. We headed to Lakeshore in Downtown Toronto. Our challenge was to start swimming from Cherry Beach and to swim across this part of the Lake. This challenge included us to wear our wetsuit and wetshoes along with our lifejackets. The entire stretch was 1.6 km and we were to swim together in a group. We completed this swim in around 2 hours. Afterwards, we were all tired and freezing. However, I felt proud of my accomplishment. When we returned, we had to clean the water equipment. To congratulate our accomplishments, we were treated to eat at United Brother Café at First Markham Place. We had a large feast which we enjoyed very much. I learned that I am capable to accomplish anything I set my mind to. Anything is possible.

Roman

Our “ultimate” challenge today was swimming for 1.6 km. Even though 1.6 km isn’t that far, this challenge is still hard because of the cold water and the different swimming levels. We were each suppose to stay with a buddie, my buddie was a supper cool teenager named: Andrew!  Felt very lucky because Andrew was a non-swimmer. I felt lucky because I love helping people and it was a good chance to use my leadership skills. We “stragled” through the water for 3 hours and that felt good. Isn’t camp just too awseum?

Jacky

Today was a fun day. We started out going to cherry beach to swim. As we prepared for a 2 h swim we stretched and got out bearing. We swam for a very long time drank a lot of lake water, got cold and made ourselves warmer. After we finished as a group we went to eat dinner and clean up at HQ. We then went out for a very nice dinner and got ourselves very full. Can’t wait for tomorrows lesson.

Jennifer

I am utterly exhausted. I can barely see my computer screen, and it’s literally less than a foot’s length from my face. If everyone else swam 1.6 km in total, I must’ve swam 4 km at least. I was stationed right in the middle of the group when we were swimming. I may have been overzealous in my approach, but I took this job seriously. I took it upon myself to direct the swimmers, this including the navigator (that became two navigators at my instruction), when they went off-course, deliver messages between the four points of our group, un-cramp everyone’s cramped muscles as best as I could from what I’d seen Alastair do the last time we were in the water with Bravo group, ferry Brian for about an hour, ferry Andrew for a while, drag a chain of at least 4 boys behind me when one had a cramp, and the others were too tired.

Things became really tough for me when people stated lagging behind. As the person who was charged with the task of staying in the centre, I had to keep swimming back and forth between all of the points, checking up on each and every person. It was enjoyable… while I was in the water, but now I’m starting to feel its effects. I was freezing cold when I got out of the water, and now I feel like I may be getting sick. The cure for this is definitely a good night’s sleep which I will hopefully get! Tomorrow, we are doing firearms training! This will definitely be fun!