Sea training in Dover

Have now completed my second weekend of sea training in Dover Harbour. These are organised sessions that are run by the infamous Freda Streeter (mother of Alison Streeter who has swum the channel 43 times !!!).

It's an early start to be down in Dover by 8.30 but several cups of tea and an easy journey round the M25 later, I made it to the beach last Sunday (BH weekend). My longest sea swim up until that point had been 20 minutes and as I made my way into the throng of people who were getting ready, I heard someone say that the swim today would be 3 hours. As I got in line to be 'greased up' (small amount of Vaseline under the arms to stop chaffing) it seemed that I hadn't been hearing things.

My fears were confirmed when the briefing was given. Out for 2 hours, swim to the shore for a quick feed (in the water) and then back out for another hour. Urgh !

We waded into the water with some trepidation and the phrase 'in for a penny, in for a pound' went through my head as I dived into the 12 degree water - after all, I could always get out after 30 minutes if I wanted to and then work up to a longer time next week.

I had an ice cream headache for the first 10 minutes but once I got going and the numbness kicked in it actually became relatively comfortable. I settled into my stroke and sprinted for a hundred metres or so if I got too cold which seemed to be quite an effective technique.

I refused to look at my watch until I had swum up the harbour and then turned around. As I trod water and said hello to some of the other swimmers at the sea wall I checked the time and realised I had been in for 45 minutes ! Things were going well and I was going to do this - no problem.

After just over two hours I came in for a feed and was given a beaker of warm apple juice and three Jelly Babies. This was most welcome for the warmth and for the change of taste in my mouth which was extremely salty by this point. You feed on your stomach floating on the edge of the beach and then throw the cup back to the fantastic volunteers who help out every weekend.

I carried on for another hour (feeling a little cooler as time went by !) but was rewarded with the site of a WW2 Hurricane doing circuits of the harbour a few hundred feet over our head. They (along with some Naval vessels in the harbour) were doing some practice for the Dunkirk commemoration. My Grandfather was a Hurricane pilot during the Battle of Britain and I felt immense pride as I carried on with the final hour of my swim. As a generation we often forget the hardships and sacrifices of those before us - suddenly being a bit chilly doing a swim of my own free will seemed rather minute in comparison.

When I eventually got out I was fine for about 10 minutes and then some rather uncontrollable shivers kicked in for about 15 minutes. I eventually got myself warmed up in the car with the heater blowing on full blast and drove back home via a petrol station where I demolished a pastie, a muffing, a sausage roll, a bottle of fruit juice and a cup of tea. Needless to say I needed a kip when I got back (thank you Tania !)

Since then I also swam down in Dover again last Saturday (5th June) but this time it was for three and a half hours on a much sunnier day. Bizarrely it actually felt a little colder, but the same technique of sprinting for  a bit when I got cold seemed to work well. It also seemed to have an effect when I finished as I only shivered gently for 10 minutes (having downed a thermos of tea which no doubt helped !!!)

Until next time...