It's the Final Countdown !

Only 8 days now until my official swim window opens. There's some possibility I may swim earlier, but am staying focused on that initial date so that I can get my motivation going.

From 14th to 22nd of September I'll be on Standby waiting for a call that will give me c. 24hrs notice that my crew and I are going. We will then load up the car with water, Maxim sports drink, food, clothes, torches etc etc etc (there is a lot of stuff required !) and then head down to a B&B in Dover to grab some sleep. We'll probably be starting early the following morning (2 or 3 a.m. perhaps) so that we can do the bulk of the swim in the light.

Shakespeare Beach (Dover Harbour in background) - credit: f0rbe5/flikr

Once we get down to the boat we'll load up and then head out of the harbour and west to either Shakespeare Beach or Samphire Ho. The pilot will then stop, I'll jump in (freshly greased with a flashing light on my head for safety) and swim to the shore.

In a bright spotlight I'll stand on the beach, raise my arm in the air and, when the horn on the boat goes (telling me the clock is starting), I will dive into the Channel and begin my journey to France. The next time I touch land will be the other side of the English Channel !

Feeding will be on the hour for the first 3 hrs and then every 30 minutes from then on. Feeds will be as quick as possible (I need to remember that I am feeding rather than resting !) and I'll be drinking good quantities of very hot Maxim sports drink. Occasionally I'll get half a banana, a cup of peaches, small squares of peanut butter sandwiches etc. but mainly I'll be fuelled by my desire to achieve this dream and raise this great sum for Parkinsons UK and the Camphill Family.

I'm not certain how long it will take me to get to France but it will almost certainly be between 16 and 20 hours. If I'm unlucky with the tides and/or the weather then it may take more time than that. This won't be a problem, I just need to make sure I pack enough Maxim to keep me going !

What I can visualise very clearly though is the moment my hand goes over my head to stroke forward and touches France when I am in a few feet of water. At that point I'll stand up (probably fall over) and then wade onto the beach. Once my feet are clear of the water I need to raise my hands again, and then, when the boat's horn sounds again, I'll have finished my channel swim !

In the meantime, I'll keep checking the weather forecast. Much of this forecast is driven by a weather buoy anchored in the Eastern end of the Channel. You can look at the Sandettie buoy directly at http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/coast/buoy/index.shtml?co_sandettiebuoy#results if you're interested. Alternatively look at the long term weather forecast on http://www.weather-forecast.com/locations/Dover/forecasts/latest.

Current forecast is for a dropping wind towards the beginning of next week and no real rain...let's hope it doesn't get any worse ! Cross your fingers, make a wish, say a prayer because we need no wind, flat seas and sunshine in an ideal world....that said, I'm not sure we live (or swim) in one of those.

Until next time...

Barn dance and Auction

Thank you so much to all of you who came along to the Barn Dance and Auction of Promises. A great night was had by all though there were reports of a a fews aching arms on Sunday - enthusiastic dancing I think !

I was overawed by the level of generosity from those who attended. This allowed us to raise a staggering amount which is over £10,000 (still totting up the exact amount). Thank you again to all those who attended and all those who participated in the auction.

The Dover Back to Back

I completed my first 'Back to Back' swim this weekend in Dover Harbour. Effectively that consists of a 7 hour swim on Saturday and then a 6 hour swim on Sunday. Yes I know what you're thinking and it was that hard !

Dover Harbour on a calm day - if only it had been like this on Saturday

Arrived with only minutes to spare and was a bit disorganised from the start but managed to make it into the water for 8.45 (which meant leaving home at 6.30 !!). Water temperature is now very comfortable at about 17 degrees (which bodes well for the swim in September) so getting in and getting going was not a problem. Realising after about an hour that I'd forgotten to buy a parking ticket for my car was a bit of a problem though. I couldn't get out now though so I just trusted to fate on that front...

The sea was pretty choppy in the harbour and out at sea we could see huge white capped waves. Naturally this didn't make for the best swimming conditions and after 3 hours or so the seasickness kicked in. I say seasickness but actually it is probably a mixture of motion sickness and the bodies rather understandable reaction to swallowing loads of sea water. No matter how good a swimmer you are, when you have 1-2 ft waves breaking over your head, you are going to end up inhaling/swallowing/absorbing some of it. You just have to try and do your best as making sure you're breathing obviously becomes the priority !

At about this time the weather started to clear quite rapidly and there was even a threat of some sunshine. This was a marked change from first thing that morning when it was chucking it down with rain and there was cloud and wind everywhere. Having beeen soaked to the skin before getting in to the sea I hadn't even thought to put sun cream on. The fickle English weather seemed to be doing a rare about turn though so at 4 hours in I had to jump out, run up the beach past Freda (Streeter - known as the Channel General) who started goading me on the assumption that I was quitting, and then into my bag for the sun cream. Freshly covered in a thick layer of factor 40 I returned to the water !

5 hours in and I was now starting my food fantasies. After this sort of time your body is very keen to start ingesting calories so the brain seems to default to thinking about nosh and lots of it ! On Saturday I seemed to be craving a cheese fondue for some reason, but after a while I decided that the Premier Inn (my home for Saturday night) would probably not have it on their menu, in spite of what their name might lead you to believe. With harsh reality restored I started trying to make my mind up between breaded mushrooms or onion rings - deep fried of course !!

6 hours went by fairly well as the sea was starting to calm a bit but the 7th hour seems to drag and drag. I think this is more down to my psyche than anything else as the last phase of any training session always seems to be the most laborious for me (see 10 hr swim blog). Despite the fact that time had slowed down, I made it to the shore at 15.45 and clambered up the bank of pebbles for a well earned cup of sugary tea.

Having had a chat to a few of the friends I've made within the channel swimming nutter community down in Dover, I hauled a rather weary body to the Premier Inn. Having got into my room and cleaned up I decided that to even sit down on the bed would be fatal. The guaranteed outcome would be me waking up a 1 in the morning feeling absolutely starved and unable to move. As a result I did some stretching (Sarah [my physio] - see, I am doing as I'm told !) and then went and sat in the bar with several pints of OJ and lemonade. After some food at 6.30 I was then fast asleep by 9 and slept soundly until 7 the following morning.

Sunday

Having scrammed some breakfast down me and then got my things together I raced down to the beach for 8.30 trying really hard to fight the nerves back. I was feeling really sore in my shoulders and my back muscles were very tight. In short I was having what I believe is commonly know as 'a little bit of a wobble'.

At the end of my Back to Back - 13 hrs of swimming over 2 days

Luckily, when I arrived at the beach almost everyone else was ready so I switched into 'get ready quickly' mode which nicely took my mind off things. So effective was this change in mindset that I got down to the beach with my wedding ring still on and no vaseline on my neck and shoulders (essential to prevent chaffing). I ran back up the beach and sorted that lot out before getting into the water, gritting my teeth and getting on with it.

After 30 minutes of slightly painful warm up swimming it actually felt fine other than a bit of shoulder pain from my recurring injury in the left shoulder. The sea was nearly dead flat and there was only a breath of wind under a near cloudless blue sky - perfect weather.

The swim went on and I was nearly (let me emphasis nearly) enjoying myself. Managed to keep my mind active by thinking through all sorts of things and eventually found myself entering the fifth hour. This seemed to drag a bit but not as much as the sixth hour which seemed to go on and on...(see above - I think this is a trend !). Eventually I made it though and I hauled myself out after having swum just over 30km in 2 days...urgh !

Am feeling more and more comfortable about the swim in September  - bring it on !!!

10 hour sea swim completed !

Mac's boat, Purdy - http://www.sussexseacharters.co.uk/

On Monday my support team and I completed a 10 hour sea swim with a practice escort boat just outside of Chichester harbour. Was again a surprisingly doable but very hard exercise that taught us all a lot about what will and won't work well on the actual day.



From my point of view the first two hours were actually quite good fun and went past pretty quickly. The sun was shining, the 17 degree water felt tropical and my wife along with my good friends Christian and Tom were keeping me really amused from the boat. Stroke rate was almost always a consistent 53spm

In hour 3 I quite suddenly started to get horribly seasick as the chop built up and that lasted for a good couple of hours (took some tablets to help but got rid of it in the end by repeating over and over in my head that I did not feel sick and eventually convinced myself - amazing thing the mind !!). Stroke rate over this time was in the mid forties as the seasickness and the choppy tide/wind combo really slowed me down.

Tania with the feeding contraption and SPM board

After half way things were going well until my should injury started to grind. After a couple of hours though it just seems to disappear after having worked it's way down my shoulder a bit. It's as if something has clicked into place, though I know that is unlikely and am prepared for it to come back during the real swim. Stroke rate was by now back in high forties and edging into the 50 mark.

Final two hours were great but went by quite slowly as I was wishing the time away and doing a LOT of clock watching. Stroke rate was now up at mid fifties and I felt really strong even though I had only been taking on tinned peaches and energy drink for the past 4 hours.

Not a pretty sight

Finally climbed out after 10hr and 7 minutes of swimming before demolishing a cup of tea and a big slice of Ginger cake in record time...which was then given to the fishes in the harbour by me over the back of the boat (think this was my body saying Ouch to the previous 10 hours !)

We all got back to shore and talked through the day over a pint of Guinness. The whole team is feeling positive about the actual event now. We need to bear in mind that the conditions were quite kind to us today so cold/lack of sun and rougher seas could be a challenge but we're all confident in our ability to overcome these.

Bring on September !!!

6 hour swim completed !

I finished a fairly gruelling but surprisingly achievable 6 hour swim on Saturday in Dover Harbour. First three hours were fairly cold as Dover seemed to be the only place in the entire country that was covered in cloud and therefore not benefitting from the 'hottest weekend of the year so far'.

The last three hours were done under a complete blue sky though which is amazingly good for the morale as well as marginally helpful in warming the sea up. Unfortunately the sea decided to roughen up just as the sun made an appearance with a good 1-2ft chop on the surface. This made for some interesting swimming and my first bout of seasickness whilst swimming. Needless to say a number of other swimmers decided to take a wide berth !!

Felt OK at the end and was quite comfortable driving home other than a bit of shoulder pain caused by my lopsided stroke that comes out when I get tired. 10 hour boat swim is all booked for the 19th July. Need to get my shoulder fixed by a physio before then !

Urgh...I feel sick

Am having to eat constantly (it feels like it !) in order to try and put some weight on at the moment. After a fairly testing 5 hour swim in Dover harbour last weekend I have decided that I need the one and a half stone I lost back on my body to insulate me from the cold a little bit !

Current order of the day is:-

Breakfast #1 - Protein shake and energy bar after morning swim
Breakfast #2 - Bowl of cereal when I get to the office
Breakfast #3 - Another bowl of cereal at about 10.30
Lunch - Huge bowl of pasta and 300-500g of fish
Mid afternoon - Bowl of cereal
Pre-supper snack - toast or yet more cereal
Supper - Good sized plate and then a Magnum (or two !)

Putting weight on sounds like a dream task but actually you spend a lot of time feeling nauseously full and not particularly enjoying what you are eating. Will be worth it in the end though !

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...