The swim in more detail - part 1

Sat 17 July 2010 - Travelled down to Dover and did a 3 hour swim in the harbour. I had booked a static caravan at Varne Ridge Holiday Park for the period of my tide and so in the afternoon we went to Capel-le-Ferne, just outside of Dover, and checked in. What can I say - Varne Ridge is a fantastic place to stay, especially if you are a Channel Swimming Hopeful. Evelyn and David are fantastic hosts; very warm and hospitable and they cater for Channel Swimmers. If you are successful they fly the flag of your country from the mast in the front garden and all successful swimmers get a plaque commemorating their swim on the wall of the Holiday Park. I could not have found a better place to spend my tide and would recommend it to anyone contemplating a swim in the future, or if you would just like a nice quiet place to spend a few days in Kent.

Sun 18 July 2010 - Today I did a 2 hour swim in the harbour and got a few last words of advice from Freda and the other volunteers on the beach. Swim from feed to feed and put one arm in front of the other. Very wise words.

Mon 19 July 2010 - on the Channel Swim google groups their has been a lot of activity - it seems almost every pilot has taken a swimmer out today. Initially, I was a bit worried as Suva, the boat I was booked with, appeared to still be in port. However it turned out that there was a problem with Suva's tracking device and when I called Neil, the captain, around 9ish he was in the channel with all the other pilots. This was great news for me as I was the second swimmer on this tide and now that the first swimmer was swimming - this meant I was up next. Neil asked if I wanted to go tomorrow and I said that I did. He told me he would call me later to arrange times. I gave Don and Rob, my crew, a quick call to provisionally warn them that we could be going tomorrow and then waited for the call from Neil.

Neil called back later that afternoon to confirm if I still wanted to go tomorrow. I definitely wanted to go tomorrow and so he told me to be at the marina at 4am. A quick call to Rob and Don and they were all set to head down to Dover, from London, for a 4am start.

I swam the English Channel

Today, Tue 20 July 2010, I successfully swam from England to France in a time of 11 hours and 27 minutes. I will write more details when I get back to a computer next week. I am over the moon

Got the call - 4am Tue 20 July 2010

I spoke to the pilot today. The swim is on for tomorrow - Tuesday 20 July 2010 meeting at Dover marina at 4am. Less than 12 hours to go.

Varne Ridge - zero weeks to go

This weekend me and my family moved in to a static caravan at Varne Ridge Caravan Park. This is just outside Dover and very popular with Channel swimmers. I am now without access to a computer so updating my blog from my phone. Over the weekend I did a 3 hour swim on Saturday and a 2 hour swim on Sunday. Now I am waiting to hear when I can go. There is one person before me on my tide and once they have gone I can go on the next day that the weather is good. Watch this space.

1 week until my tide - and an easy weekend in Dover

Last week I wasn't sure at what point you started easing off before the big swim. I got my answer this weekend. While the swimmers who are swimming in August got to do another 7 and 6 hour swim, I was given a 5 hour on Saturday and a 4 hour on Sunday. It felt like cheating when I got out earlier than the other swimmers on Saturday and Sunday but I am feeling pretty tired and I want to be starting my channel attempt feeling fresh - so no complaints from me. I even got to take a picture of Don feeding - after I got out on the Sunday

My tide starts 1 week from today on Monday 19th July and I am spending this week getting all my kit together and making sure I am ready to go. It's a bit like preparing one of those bags when you are pregnant. Now I just need the weather to be good to me and hope for a bit of luck on the day.

2 weeks to go

Last week was another hard week of swimming culminating in another 7 hour swim on Saturday and 6 hour swim on Sunday. Today I can really feel it in my muscles. Plus the sun just wants to keep on shining and so my back and neck are bright red. Andrea, my girlfriend, reckons I look like a cooked Richmond sausage.

In any case, the channel swimming season has now started and lots of relays have already gone across and so have a few solo swimmers. 2 weeks till my tide and at some point I have to start reducing the amount I am swimming so that I am fully recovered for the big day. I think this may be from now but I will find out at the beach next weekend if I have another 7 and 6 hours to do. It still seems to me that I haven't done very many long swims but, as I am no expert, I will do as I am told on the beach this weekend. Although the long swims are hard, I actually quite enjoy them.

Sad news

I found out yesterday that Scooba Steve passed away last weekend. He has been training on the beach in Dover since the start of May and was a real character known to everyone that trained there. He had found acclimatising to the cold water a real challenge but no matter how hard he found it he would always be back the next week to give it another go. He was over the moon when he successfully completed his 6 hour qualifying swim.

Although I only knew him fleetingly, he was a really nice bloke and I am sorry that he did not get to fulfil his dream to swim the English Channel. He will be missed on the beach and at this time my thoughts are with his family and friends.