"So guys, see you in bregenz," he said in sunny weather and 18.5 degrees water temperature. Dobelmann reckons it will take him around 28 hours to cover the 64-kilometer route. The swimmer known as "orca" made his first attempt on the 21st. May had to abort due to more serious bladder problems.
Thickly creamed and equipped with measuring probes, dobelmann strode across the sand. "I try it in swim trunks, because you always have to try something new," said stuttgart. The journey to bregenz would be easier in a neoprene suit, so he has to keep the body temperature constant by his own movement. The 110-kilo man meticulously coated his fube with vaseline – and his backside down to the last detail, "because the cold rises above the fube and the burzel," as he says. Dobelmann wanted to avoid the mistakes of the first test in may at all costs.
At that time, the extreme swimmer had to give up prematurely, the bladder had cramped and back pain was added. After 28 kilometers he got out of the water in hagnau. This time he wants to last the 64 kilometers to bregenz, 28 hours are calculated as swimming time. On wednesday at noon, he hopes to be able to go ashore in vorarlberg.
Dobelmann is accompanied by manager and friend oliver halder, his wife carina halder, who supplies high doses of carbohydrate gel every hour, a cameraman (mario raster), a boatman (roland lowenberg) and the doctor dr. Beat knechtle from st. Gallen. The accompanying boat, a motor yacht, gives the swimmer direction. Dobelmann, on the other hand, controls the tempo with his easy crawl style and the two-breath technique.
Beat knechtle supervises the medical examinations in cooperation with the university of zurich. The measuring probes check the body temperature in the periphery and in the core. The first attempt in may showed that "during the swim there was no undercooling at any time," according to the medical report. "Thus it is clear that in the end only the bladder muscles, which unfortunately had not noticed so much of the heated core, put a spanner in the works."
"In long-distance swimming in open water, the fat becomes central," says doctor knechtle, who himself likes to complete the triple ironman with a race duration of 40 hours. "I was froze to death in lake. Fat protects, it is a life insurance: it is fuel and insulation at the same time". With his enormous belly and 110 kilograms, dobermann has enough fat to spare. The water situation may not be ideal, but "he never gets fast," says knechtle. "He just has to grind forward arm by arm until he’s done."