We did indeed make it in good time, in conditions quite
different from last year, but there has probably been worse!
The main detail is that we left Samphire Hoe at 2.27am on
Saturday, arrived near the village of Wissant, on the beach, at
16.19, 13hrs 52minutes later!
Unbeknown to me, our remaining five in the team had become six
again when Jim Boucher agreed to swim as well. So 4 Birds a
Beard and a Leprachaun (Swim Club reference).
With further weather updates from Pilot Neil during the evening
(even whilst driving down) there was an emphatic YES - go for
it. Fortunately the news of the M25 closure reached us all in
good time and with adjustments to our routes from Dorking,
Guildford and Basingstoke, we met at the Marina Office at 1.30am,
and Suva arrived from its moorings and we loaded. CS&PF
Observer Marcus took our details and checked paperwork and we set
off on a 40minute trip west to Samphire Hoe.
There was little wind, dry and a relatively calm sea when Zoe
Sadler plunged off the boat in the glare of the spotlight and a
massive hand held torch to show roughly where the beach was.
Safely above the water line and the signal was made at
2.27am. We were off.
In the Marina was Eddie Spelling's boat Anastasia with a rugby
club team and it was said the race was on. I was chatting
with Eddie's crew, who was borrowed to crew for Paul Foreman in
Pace Arrow for 'The Flying Doctors' last year, and I said we would
wait for them on the other side. They left about ten minutes
after us, and I am happy to say that was the nearest they
got! Last seen on the radar, as Neil put it, being blown up
towards Belgium.
Zoe was replaced by Jim and then team leader Kate (who only had
her first ever non-wetsuit open water swim less than 2 years ago
but has made such fantastic progress (swam 6.5km Brownsea Island
last week in 1.54)). By the time, when Joanne took over, it
was considered light enough not to wear lightsticks, and I was next
at 6.27am, less than a week since the Brighton P2P and
Brownsea Island, followed by Ellery, who had swum with
another team a few weeks ago, to complete the cycle.
There were a couple of periods of drizzle, a lot of overcast
skies, not much sunshine but a lot of wind. The wind is
particularly unhelpful when against the tide, causing moderate to
severe chop on the water. The wake from the very many tankers and
container ships, not to mention cross channel ferries to Calais and
Boulogne, was often significant and occasionally dramatic. A couple
of times we were struck by a mini tsunami, which was quite
interesting on the boat at low power, let alone the swimmer in the
water at the time!
Coming off the very strong spring tide of the previous week and
before the neap tide favoured by channel swimers, we were taken a
little further north than usual, though our path across the channel
remained good due to hard work and good swimming, and a very
experienced pilot. We seemed to be through the southbound
shipping lane remarkably quickly and into the separation
zone. Anastasia had become a speck on the horizon, seemingly
going further north still.
From midday the wind became stronger and my second swim was
quite different from the first, though by then we had turned into
the northbound shipping lane and were running southwards and hoping
not to overshoot Cap Gris Nez - though a change in tide would
eventually keep us to the north of the Cap. Ellery braved all
sorts of insults in her next swim, having got a little too close to
Suva's bow, lost her sense of direction and composure. then hit by
a wall of water from a passing container ship (they are huge viewed
from the waterline!), but nevertheless recovered well and finished
her hour in good style. It became apparent that we were
moving into more sheltered water as we left the shipping
lane, sheltered by the Cap and with the tide turning to run
with the wind. Zoe made good time for her third swim, handing
over to Jim with an outside chance of finishing it, or maybe with
Kate going in to take over in the water if necessary. The
village of Wissant became nearer and nearer, as well as the 'DANGER
no swimming' signs around the WWII remains protected in shallow
water as a reminder, Neil anounced he could take the boat no nearer
and Jim was given the signal to head for the beach. He
was met by a solitary French man with an umbrella, collected a few
mussels and headed back to the boat for a well earned glass of
champagne. With all aboard, we battened down the hatches,
hung on tight as Suva roared into life and sped back to Dover in
abt 2½ hrs, arriving at the Marina at about 7.00pm.
Many many thanks to everyone who texted messages of support to
us all, and to all the messages on the Facebook site, "Over
from Dover" Channel Relay Swim 2011, which were relayed to us via
Steve Robarts and Matt Sears when we couldn't receive them
directly. Steve and Matt updated our positions etc on
FB as we went, with many others apparently tracking us on the
AIS. Thank you all for your interest and support, it really
made a difference out there. Loads of piccies have been uploaded so
far, I must admit I haven't had time to catch up fully myself!
Now what's next?
Phil