English Channel Solo 8th July
The swim started at 0459 and it was light enough that I didn’t need to wear lightsticks. We had hoped to start a bit earlier but some last minute fixes were required to the boat before we set off.
The swim itself was fairly uneventful. I saw more jelly fish than I wanted but not many ships, although one ship did have to alter its course to avoid us and then they waved at us from the bridge! At one point I was swimming down the middle of the ferry path and I had ferries on both sides of me – that was quite confusing as I was trying to work out where I was!
My pilot and crew were simply awesome. I did become target practice at one point for various bits of food they were throwing overboard and one banana got close enough that I could pick it up and throw it back. It’s little things like this that keep your spirits up and make you laugh. My only real issues were feeding, more specifically feeling nauseous with feeding. It is quite hard to swim when you feel rubbish and you normally look forward to the few seconds of break for a feed every hour but on this occasion the dread of making yourself feel ill again. Still the little bit of banter was fun.
I had really variable conditions, at some points the water felt as smooth as a swimming pool with an almost glassy appearance, mostly it was quite calm. Towards the end it turned nasty though and that’s particularly hard to deal with when you’re already weary. In terms of the normal weather conditions that again varied from sunny to cloudy to rainy. Rain was not a problem for me but less fun for the crew on the boat. I have to say though, given a choice the warmth of the sun does make a difference.
I landed at Cap Gris Nez which is the closest point to England. The water was really quite rough when I landed and the boat couldn’t accompany me in due to the hazards in the water, so a couple of the crew swam in with me. As we approached the rocks I was told I only had a few minutes to clear the water to finish the swim under 13 hours, I didn’t need any more motivation than that and although I got cut to pieces I clambered out with 2 minutes to spare.
How do I feel now, a little weary but in much better condition than last time. I now have a few days to recover before my Round Jersey swim. The tide for that starts on Saturday, although the forecast at the moment looks like Monday or Tuesday are more likely.
And why was this all so hush hush? Quite simply to keep the pressure off. A channel swim is a massive undertaking and I find pressure really quite unhelpful. I wanted to do this swim my way and on my terms to put to rest some unfinished business from last time. I’m really glad to say that I managed that.
