Day Four

AM: 3 kilometres (120 lengths of a 25-metre pool or 60 of the Aquarium)

The swimmers have now had plenty of practice with lengthy swims and the morning’s 3 kilometres shouldn’t prove problematic. However, because of events the night before both Claire and Oliver are not present. The absence of Claire isn’t an issue, but Oliver not being there is, particularly when he would have been overseeing people from the Zodiac. Ben volunteers his services and steps into Oliver’s shoes. On a swimming holiday there is absolutely NO WAY that a person who is not trained in life-guarding should be put in charge of swimmers’ safety! Added to this, Ben himself isn’t much of a swimmer and has had no
open water experience to call upon. It’s definitely a recipe for disaster and it’s no surprise when things go wrong.

It’s not hard to see why the first swim is cut short. Ben is aghast he almost caused a fatal accident and we can only imagine that the only reason he was prepared to continue to drive the Zodiac in the afternoon is because he wants to prove himself to Sophie. Although Sophie apologises to Ben and tells him not to feel guilty about what has happened, it is very irresponsible of her not to call a halt to the whole day’s excursion. It should be clear to her by now that Ben is not up to the task.

PM: 3 Kilometres

There is a sense now that Sophie is cobbling things together as she pushes ahead with the planned afternoon swim. She takes charge of three of the swimmers, but despite what has happened she still asks Ben to drive the Zodiac and look after a lone swimmer. We can see why he is no longer enjoying himself. Luckily, there are no more disasters –– for today!