The Swim

Sunday 27th, was a relaxing day down on the beach. I'd been asked to phone the CS&PF office mid afternoon to see how the 2 way swimmer was progressing. He was doing well and so it was unlikely that my swim would be before Tuesday. Rob decided to head home to Shropshire, but promised to turn around if we heard anything new. Ruth, Ben and I decided that attendance at an all you can eat Chinese was called for. Before we settled down for a good feed, I made a final call to the office.... just in case! The 2 way had been pulled and I was now due to swim, be at the Marina office at 0530 ready to load.... action stations we have a go!! We filled our tummies and set off back to the B&B to prepare all the feeds and kit. For the first time in all of the prep I was nervous. I phoned Rob, who promptly set off back on the long road to Dover, (thanks again mate), and Ady who said he would meet us at the Marina office.

With the alarms set for 0415 I headed off to bed, and a restless night thinking about what awaited me over the next 24 hours. We arrived at the marina, where both Rob and Ady were ready to go. With Sea Satin loaded we slipped out of Dover with a number of other boats just as the sun was rising.

As we headed out round towards Shakespeare Beach (the start point) the crew stowed away all the kit and I was briefed by my official observer, Tom. We greased up with vaseline, (no goose grease!!) and I was ready for the day ahead.

The weather was looking good, and I slipped into the water for the few strokes to the beach, the hooter sounded and the swim of my life began.

The water was calm and the 1st hour flew by as I was called to the boat for my first feed. I took a sneaky look back and I could see the white cliffs of Dover back in the distance, I felt I'd come a long way in such a short time, at this rate what could go wrong!! We continued to feed every hour for the first 3 hours and then down to 40 minutes and apart from the occasional call of nature all was going well. During the feed at the 5 hour point I was told that I was well into the North West shipping lane and we were dodging the tankers. At this point I swallowed a large mouthful of seawater and it, along with all my feed, came surging back out to feed the fishes!! Ben managed to capture this event on video (typical), but I won't upload it for all to see. It was agreed at this point I would have a cup of tea at the next feed, very British I know, but it made me feel so much better! We then decided to feed me every 30 minutes.

By now the Channel had become very misty and the sound of the ship's foghorns could be heard all around. The sea started to get choppier and unbeknown to me a storm was heading our way. After 10 hours I was violently ill again, but I caught my first glimpse of France, which gave me renewed energy and I struck out for the finish.

The other thing that I didn't realise was that I was being pushed down the Channel by the tide and was fighting to stay in one place. When the tide changed the wind picked up but I continued to be pushed the wrong way, so for the next 5 hours I went up and down the Channel just a few miles off Cap Griz Nez. At times, I had a clear view of France and my ultimate goal, but the harder I pushed the further away it seemed.

By now it was dark, the rain was lashing down, the thunder and lightning was scary but exciting all at the same time, but the wind was making it tricky to swim without swallowing water. Everytime I had a feed, the waves would wash over me, making it impossible to take the much needed energy. After a particularly difficult feed during which I was pushed from one side of Sea Satin to the other, I was checked by Sean, one of Lance's crew, to see if I was ok. This is the last thing I remember, before waking up on the boat on the way back to Dover!

Apparently I swam on for a further 20 minutes, holding a good stroke rate of 60 strokes per min, before stopping dead in the water. I then did a couple of single arm strokes before stopping again face down in the water, I then tried to breaststroke and collapsed yet again. Lance tried to get me to respond, but by now I was completely limp and unresponsive, so he made the decision to haul me out of the water, thus my Channel swim came to an unsuccessful end.

Post swim thoughts to come later.