Mai Khao to Patong Beach swim

This was the 5th swim of the 6th continental swim. This swim was going to be very hard for me as all of my previous swims were mainly cold water swims. This swim would be a swim of 22kms long in 28 degrees Celsius. The hard part of this swim was making sure that you got lots of fluids into you and being cooled down at every drink break. The swim started early in the morning in front of where we were staying. The wind conditions were favourable for the first part of the swim but then the wind changed and I started getting a head wind. But when we got to the head land of Patong beach, I thought I was close to completing the swim, but it is actually about 3 kms from that point into the beach. With about 100 metres to swim everyone accept my paddler got in and swam with me into the finish. When I finished the swim which was only 14 months after the 2004 Boxing day tsunami, I realised what the Tsunami must have done to this beach and the surrounding area. The swim took 7 and a half hours to complete.