It is 4 o'clock in the morning on Canada Day and I am rolling out of bed to drive our family van to Sasamat Lake just out side of Vancouver. But we're not off on a camping trip. Our van is filled with all sorts of strange things: a PA system, air horn, sponsor banners; a vacuum cleaner and half a dozen swim flags.

I have lived with a non-swimming partner for 27 years. She believes I'm slightly obsessive about my swimming. Still, she encourages me, even for those for 4 a.m. wake up calls and our Canada Day Open Water Swim. Our four children have all taken some Red Cross swimming lessons; a couple even have their Bronze Medallions. Alas, no serious swimmers amongst them.

My first encounter with big open water was Lake Superior, just outside Thunder Bay. We spent a number of summer vacations on Lake Superior. Apparently I spent a considerable amount of time trying to swim out beyond my parents. line of sight, even using binoculars.

At age eight our family moved to Winnipeg, where I got serious about swimming (not competitive swimming). I quickly moved through my Red Cross and Royal Lifesaving courses to become a swim instructor and lifeguard.

My favorite and most competitive stroke has always been breaststroke. Since fast breaststrokers are hard to find, I often found myself getting recruited to swim on various school and college relay teams, always imagining I could swim like Mark Spitz or Elaine Tanner. My love for open water swimming continued in Manitoba, swimming longer than pool distances in Lake Winnipeg, Lake Manitoba and Rainy Lake, which is really in Ontario.

After graduating I taught high school. While I was living in Jamaica for six years, I continued teaching swimming and participating in other aquatic sports such as snorkeling, scuba diving and some water polo. The warm salty water of the Caribbean certainly made long distance open water swimming a lot easier; the 11 mile white sand beach at Negrile is one of my favourite Jamaican swim spots.

After returning to Vancouver, getting terribly out of shape, and gaining a few extra pounds I started swimming again a couple of years before my 50th birthday. The summer I turned 50 I entered a number of Open Water Swims and did quite well overall, even managing to finish top three in my age group. I was encouraged by other swimmers to join a Masters Club where I spend the Vancouver winters swimming in a pool. Living on the west coast, however, I am able to get a 1 km swim in before Easter and another one on Thanksgiving weekend.

I have not yet learned how to say no whenever I'm asked to help make Open Water Swimming a more recognized part of both Masters and Age Group Swimming. Thus, I spend my spare time helping the Vancouver Open Water Swim Association (VOWSA) organize a series of three summer races around the Vancouver area. VOWSA organizes open water swim practices twice weekly at Kitsilano Beach from the beginning of June until late August. So, if you are in the Vancouver area and wish to join us for a swim please feel free to do so or check out our website www.vowsa.bc.ca.

During my 55th birthday year I did a nine-km solo swim across English Bay. For my upcoming sixtieth, who knows? Maybe I'll attempt the Alcatraz Swim in San Francisco. Open water swims are about challenging yourself and not necessarily being the first one across the finish line.