After finally getting the call, we all met at the Marlow Club at midnight start of Sunday 27 September and packed up Heath’s van with kit, boxes of Volvic mineral water (to retain our volcanicity) and food. Driving down to Dover was a sleepy ride, interspersed with taking sea-sickness tablets and discussing logistics. We arrived at just after two in the morning and parked up, waiting for the boat to arrive. It was dark, cold and a little windy as we transferred our kit to the boat, realizing quickly that we may have overcompensated on the kit front, there was hardly any space for us!
02:30 Sunday morning - Dover Marina
Making the short trip to Samphire Hoe beach, about 30 minutes from Dover, we were struck by how dark and cold it was out on the water. In response we all reached for beanies, gloves and tightened coats around our necks.
Pete took the first leg, and readied himself for a very dark swim, which is where it all got into the realms of the unknown. We’d done a night swim before, but this was properly dark.
Away from towns and landmarks, all Peter had was a spotlight trained on him as he swam to the beach. The beach and cliffs were just a black wall in front of him. It turned out to be further away than he thought, a five-minute swim! Speaking to him afterwards, as he reached the beach, his first thought upon turning round to face the ocean was, ‘right, which boat do I am for?’ on account of there being three boats with swimmers in the water. Second thought was ‘when do I go? Did I hear the hooter or not?’ on account of his muffling earplugs. However, when the horn went, from the boat we could see his three glowsticks (one on his hat and two on his trunks) twinkling faintly at this distance make a definite and determined move into the water and Peter aimed for a boat. After a couple of minutes we knew he had got it right: we’re off! The tiny green dot (and i mean it is a tiny dot, look hard) in the middle of the picture here is Pete's headlight green glowstick.
If you click on this picture, it will be enlarged for you and you can see more closely the green glowstick attached to Pete's head.
The swim was conducted in great weather, very low winds and sunshine. Andy King and his number two, Gary, from Louise Jane Charters (home to the Channel Crossing Association or Chanel Association as it says on the site) led us into the channel in the Louise Jane fishing boat shepherding us as we swam alongside. Steve from the Channel Swimming Association (who was there to observe and document the attempt) gave us a nugget of advice, “Just follow the boat. Nothing else, just the boat”. Helpful I thought. Helpful and simple.
Ignoring a couple of minor navigational irregularities from myself and Heath in this dark pre-dawn session, we were able to stay alongside and swim in as straight a line as possible. This meant that Andy could keep an eye on us, Steven could observe and make notes for later ratification by the Association and that the team on board could gesticulate their encouragement with waving, dancing and miming, sometimes with amusing consequences for the swimmer!
After hour stints from Pete then Heath then Chris, dawn finally broke into a glorious orange spectacle and we could see that we had left one boat well behind but were neck and neck with another that started at the same time as us. You could hear the different skippers chatting and bantering on the radio, joking amongst them at when they’d next see each other; “I’ll save a seat for you down the pub!” chortled Andy to another Skipper.
Dawn - just over 3 hours from the coast of England.
After my stint had finished and four hours had passed, we had taken a lead over the rival and were in clear water. For our second rotation of the team, we picked up a gear and continued to push on at a good rate when we began to hear chat on the radio that another relay team were catching us. At one and a quarter nautical miles away we could just make out the blue and white vessel and this spurred us on to up the rate. There was rumour they were a team of girls (although this could have just been Skipper Andy pulling our leg) but he kept on digging it in and we pushed all the harder for it.
After eight hours we looked back and the ship was out of sight once again. We were clear and at the head of the pack of seven boats that set off that morning. Turning our attention the other way to the coast-line of France, a rocky outcrop called Cap Gris Nez, was now in clear view. A simple matter of five km was all that separated one of us from the shore. What more incentive did we need? Peter put in a strong hour, but needing to cover 5km to get us there was always going to be a huge task and he fell just short in his allotted stint, but it was now clear that this was definitely on when he looked up and was able to see the individual rocks beneath the Cape’s lighthouse. Tired but chuffed to bits to have got so close, he handed on the baton to Heath to finish the job.
After eight hours we looked back and the ship was out of sight once again. We were clear and at the head of the pack of seven boats that set off that morning. Turning our attention the other way to the coast-line of France, a rocky outcrop called Cap Gris Nez, was now in clear view. A simple matter of five km was all that separated one of us from the shore. What more incentive did we need? Peter put in a strong hour, but needing to cover 5km to get us there was always going to be a huge task and he fell just short in his allotted stint, but it was now clear that this was definitely on when he looked up and was able to see the individual rocks beneath the Cape’s lighthouse. Tired but chuffed to bits to have got so close, he handed on the baton to Heath to finish the job.
This is a picture from my second stint in the water, taking us from seven to eight completed hours - it felt great, warm at 18 degrees and sunny. I was able to push really hard.
With only a short distance to go and starting strongly, Heath powered away and we waved our encouragement. After ten minutes we gave him a time check and this seems to spur him on. When we estimated there was ten minutes to land-fall, we gave him the ‘finish it’ sign, crossing our arms in front of us in an “X”. We got the briefest of nods and Heath pushed on. It was at this point that we, and the boat, had to leave him, for it was too dangerous to get any closer on account of the rocks. Instead, Heath was guided in by the Skipper’s number 2, Gary, in a small dinghy while we watched from a distance. Suddenly, only 50m from the boat, Heath stopped and put his head up, seeming to cough or gag. This didn’t look good, no one had stopped yet, what was wrong? After a couple of salt-water splutters caused by inhaling the best part of a wave, Heath put his head down into the salty pea-green sea and his arms turned over again.
Heath - spitting distance (literally for him) from Cap Gris-Nez lighthouse
Also check out Chris's blog at http://chris-newell.blogspot.com/ it's got some good video of Heath actually making it out of the water!
From the point of joining up with the dinghy it took Heath about ten minutes to reach the shore and we could make out his pink-capped and black-speedoed shape clamber on the first rock, slip a little, then pull himself upright and take two, three, four steps forward to get himself clear of the water. At this point the hooter sounded on the boat and we roared, cheered and screamed our congratulations both to the distant (and now arms-aloft) Heath and each other in the boat!
Nine hours and 29 minutes – we had achieved our goal of being under 10 hours and were the first boat to make it across the Channel that day, giving Andy the winner’s medal for the second day in a row. It will take about 6 weeks for our attempt to be ratified by the Channel, so while we recover and return to the warmth of the pool we can but wait.
Nine hours and 29 minutes – we had achieved our goal of being under 10 hours and were the first boat to make it across the Channel that day, giving Andy the winner’s medal for the second day in a row. It will take about 6 weeks for our attempt to be ratified by the Channel, so while we recover and return to the warmth of the pool we can but wait.
Comparing ourselves to this season's unratified times for relays, we are well up there with the best!!! I said to a few people that swimming with a team did mean that to make it an exceptional feat you had to swim a quick time. A team of four could reasonably bob their way across the channel, but to swim a quick sub 10hr time, you have to work really really hard. And the unratified times this year prove that we took this event very seriously and earned the result.
Comparing ourselves to the records, there's a handful of sub 10 hours. Once you're into single figures, you're going well. There's only been one quicker relay time since 2006!
Success! The Marlow River Buoys (L-R Peter, Heath, Chris and Jeremy) happy to have crossed the channel - Cap Gris Nez in the background. Photos from my camera with the telephoto lense are being developed and will show Heath on the rocks! I will post them!
I want to send massive thanks to the following people for helping us get across:
My support crew, my wonderful Lady, Lisa – who has endured a house that smells of wet river-weed, me being a training junkie (whilst also regularly smelling of the Thames), early mornings when she doesn’t even need to be woken up and most of all her acceptance of my lack of organisation and reliance on last-minute details.
My Parents, Barrie and Barbara – who got me into, and supported me through, my childhood days of swimming. The endless whiff of chlorine and endless early mornings filled my youth. They have been a loud and clear tannoy for my efforts in Australia, spreading the word about this swim and my attempt to raise some money and awareness of the Royal Volunteer Coastal Patrol in Ulladulla. http://www.rvcpulladulla.com.au
My fellow swim-team – Chris Newell, Heath Freeman and the instigator of this idea, Peter Frost. One goal and commitment to sub-ten. Thanks Gents, the Marlow River Buoys WILL have their name on the wall at the White Horse, Castle Hill, Dover just as soon as the refurbishment is completed!
Training partner – Matt Baker – whose wettie speed gave us a target to aim for. The equivalent of a rabbit at a grey-hound track! Thanks for your commitment to the cause!
Volvic Mineral Water – a generous supply of water helped us stay hydrated and make endless cups of hot chocolate and protein/carb-shakes. It takes seven pints of clean water to flush out just one pint of sea-water and we took on board a fair few gulps from the channel! Thank you for your support http://www.volvic.co.uk/
Louise Jane Charters - Skipper Andy and Gary - as mentioned above, thanks for your good humour, the banter, your patience with our (my) lack of direction and the fresh mackerel.
I will continue to collect my thoughts about how the swim went and the events that transpired. A log was taken as we went, trying to keep up with the points but I’ll leave all that for another blog post. I can’t expect you all to sit and read it all in one go can I?
Happy trails and thanks to you all, especially those people who have generously supported either the RNLI or the RVCP with sponsorships. Please continue to give if you are able and have not yet done so. Details are posted into this blog, some time back in August I think.
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