LONDON, Sept 17 - Six naturists have abandoned their charity attempt to swim three lengths of Loch Ness in the nude because of atrocious'' weather today. The four men and two women, who began the challenge yesterday, were making their way up the lake in Scotland's north in one-person, one-hour relays, with the others following along in a boat. But having completed the first length of 37 km in plunging temperatures and strengthening winds they decided not to try the second length against the current. British Naturism had organised the sponsored relay in support of Cancer Research UK, having raised 1,500 for Children in Need in a similar event on Loch Ness in July 2000. Kevin Mitchell, the first swimmer to set off from Fort Augustus yesterday, said the wind was so strong that the boat could not have stayed with the swimmer. The 56-year-old writer from Harrow, Middlesex, said: We swam all through the night and successfully completed one length in 14 hours and 4 minutes, but the conditions were so bad we couldn’t go on.
The waves were so big and the wind was so strong that we couldn't keep the boat with the swimmer and that made it unsafe to continue. It was also bitterly cold. The temperature dropped dramatically overnight.
Obviously we're disappointed not to have made two or three lengths, but that's still there for another day.'' British Naturism president Pat Thompson described the weather at the deep, freshwater lake as atrocious’’.
She said: The loch looks like the sea; there's big waves on the shore and for safety reasons they had to stop. The wind was getting stronger all morning and when we checked the forecast we were told things were only likely to get worse throughout the day.’’
British Naturism is a 40-year-old organisation for nudists in the UK and has about 16,000 members.
The other five swimmers were Stuart Buffrey, 36, a computer programmer from Birmingham; Ann Cameron, 45, a housewife from London; Trevor Coleman, 51, a policeman from London; Carol Singh, 56, a swimming teacher from California; and John Taylor, 47, an engineer from Clitheroe in Lancashire.
I am scared enough swimming in my lake with swim trunks on, let alone with bait dangling as I go. We have Nessie’s sister in my lake…the Ogopogo.
Now we know why Nessie won’t show itself.