My Swim
On September 19, 2009, I swam across the English Channel in 13 hours 31 minutes.
At my blog there is a full report of my swim. See September 22 for the long version - just click here. Below is the short version I wrote immediately following the swim, with pictures!
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I'll start with some pictures and then intersperse narrative. So...
A journey of 21 1/2 miles begins with getting in the water. Samphire Hoe, England, 11:14 a.m. local time, Saturday, September 19.
The crew: from left to right, Nathan, the official observer from the Channel Swimming and Piloting Federation, Dave, the first mate, and Eddie, the pilot extraordinaire.
The white cliffs: looking back while swimming I could see them for about the first two hours.
Swimming along. Yes, it was uphill the whole way!
A typical feeding. I drank "Maxim" the whole way - a great energy drink for when you do not need electrolyte replacement.
I thought this boat was a lot bigger and a lot further away. No wonder Eddie had the sirens blasting. Apparently we had the right of way. He wasn't too happy.
Swimming at night. That green dot (if you can even see it) is me. Actually, it wasn't like that. Most of the time Henry was shining a spot light just in front of me, and the boat was a little closer than this picture implies.
I made it. Wissant, France, 12:45 a.m. local time, Sunday, September 20.
Wahoo!
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Remember, you can read the (very) long version, with all the compelling human drama, by clicking here.
And finally, what follows below is the orginal version of the "my challenge" page, from before the swim. I am leaving it here for the "historical" record more than anything else.
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"The English Channel swim is one of - if not the – world’s top swims. It is unique in what it offers and what you have to do to overcome it. It's at, or beyond, the limits of a lot of the world’s best. By that definition alone there has to be a large number of failures, otherwise it would not be the challenge it is." (Michael Oram, Honorable Secretary of the Channel Swimming and Piloting Federation)
Swimming the English Channel is a serious challenge. Conquering it takes years of preparation, a deep commitment to training and planning, and luck. Fewer people have successfully swum the English Channel than have climbed Mt. Everest, so this is the "real deal" as a personal challenge.
The difficulty lies in three factors: distance, temperature, and sea conditions. It is 21 1/2 miles from Shakespeare Beach, just south of Dover, England, to Cap Gris-Nez, just south of Calais, France. Because of the tides and currents in the Channel, you cannot swim straight across, but rather are pushed in an S pattern up and down the Channel, with most swimmers actually covering about 30 miles of distance. The sheer mileage must be respected, but for endurance swimmers mileage is manageable with proper training.
The water temperature complicates things. When I swim the Channel in September the water is likely to be between 60 and 63 degrees. In the summertime, most people feel comfortable in a pool at about 82 degrees, and 76 is a good temperature for a swimming workout. At 66 degrees or so, humans (when not creating heat internally) have a difficult time surviving for very long at all. At 60 degrees you have to be creating heat to keep yourself warm. So the real trick of swimming the English Channel is to be acclimated to cold water and to be in good enough physical condition that you can continue to work hard and keep yourself warm all the way across. If you get tired, you slow down. If you slow down, you get cold. If you get cold, you get out.
The final element of the challenge is the condition of the sea on the day of your swim. When you swim the Channel you are at the mercy of the weather, and the weather in the Channel is not very merciful. Your boat pilot is an experienced professional with many years of experience escorting swimmers across the Channel. When you sign up to swim, you select not a swim day, but a swim window, based on the timing of the tides (most swimmers cross during "neap" (weak) tides. During your swim window, the weather might be good on the first day, the second, etc. You go when the weather allows, no earlier. On a nice, calm day the Channel can be almost smooth all the way across, but rough waters are more common, and the rougher the water, the rougher the swim. At times the weather turns unexpectedly and the seas become too rough to continue. Then there are the jelly-fish! Many swimmers are stung, but you just keep going. Sharks, luckily, are not a problem. The ones that live in the Channel are no threat to humans. Finally, there is the little matter of avoiding ships, as around 600 vessels make their way through the Channel every day.
Not many years ago, the success rate of swimming the Channel was only about 20%. That has gone up in recent years, due to better training and preparation by the swimmers, and better piloting. Last year, my pilot, Eddie Spelling, started the challenge with 18 different swimmers, and 15 completed the swim.
The way I look at, the children of Angola face a challenge like the English Channel nearly everyday of their lives. It is blessing to be able to do a small thing to help lessen that challenge for them. You can help too by donating today!