The Good, the Bad, and the Unfortunate

And so another weekend in Dover was upon us. I have never known weeks to go by so incredibly quickly. The Saturday had been called off due to severe storms, or so I thought, we found out on Sunday that some people did still make the trip and managed to get 3 hours swimming in – well done to them.

Sunday arrived and I was buzzing and really up for a day in Dover. Saturday had felt very strange not swimming in cold water, and I was actually quite keen to get back in. The day started so well, I picked up Simon and didn’t take any unplanned detours and was almost on time to pick up Angela. We were on our way with plenty of time to spare. The last couple of weekends we had got to Dover pretty much bang on time and had had to practically run from the car into the sea. Today it looked like we would have about 20 minutes to chill out and compose ourselves before getting in. The good old Saxo had different ideas…

My expert repair job

About 20 miles from our destination there was a loud rattle from the rear of the vehicle, this had happened before and sorted itself out so we weren’t particularly worried, then BANG! The rear bumper had managed to work itself loose and popped out the rear lights, smashing them, it had then slid down and completely removed the tread from the tyre. Excellent news. I pulled over and had to change the tyre knowing that our chill out time was no longer going to happen, that's if we were going to get there at all. After a quick stop at the services for some gaffer tape, we were looking ok and rolled into Dover just 25 minutes late.

About 15 minutes later, after a greasing from Angela (who opted to start with her relay team at 10), Simon and myself were in the water. After our traditional instant wee, off we went. The pace we started swimming at in the first hour was the fastest I have ever swum in the sea. We were absolutely flying and managed just over 2,200m in the first 40 minutes, this was particularly good as the water wasn’t at it’s calmest. However after an hour I was back to my usual mess, shivering and feeling sorry for myself.

My appearance at the second feed

At the 2 hour feed, (2 hours 20 minutes for us), I was in a state. My appearance was both described as having “the Ring” face and as Nick Adams put it “an absolute bag of poo” (or words to that effect). I was wobbling around getting my feed and contemplating a third weekend in a row of getting out early, then I looked up and saw Kevin Murphy sprinting down the beach shouting “Get in that water and swim!”. I turned around and had Angela dragging me into the water by the arm, she even got a cheeky bum slap in. The chance of me getting out when I had Kevin shouting at me from one side and a girl pulling me in from the other side was zero. So I dived in and began another hour.

The next 2 hours went remarkably well, my pace had slowed down from the first hour but remarkably I didn’t feel very cold at all. I had finally beaten it (fingers crossed). As I swam in for my final feed there was no question of getting out, I was going to finish the whole swim. This is what I should have been doing all along of course, but after my last couple of weekends I was very happy with this situation.

At the end of the swim I was barely shivering and felt good. The team on the beach were genuinely pleased for me and I got a good few hugs. They were probably happy not to have had to console me for another weekend, and hopefully not have to do it again ever.

I cannot thank Freda and co. enough. It was so nice to see how happy they were when I had actually completed a swim, much better than getting out early, so that’s what I’ll do from now on! Freda told me afterwards that I looked so comfortable when I got out that she considered sending me back in for another hour - that would have been interesting.

Marcy and Kevin, 10 and 34 crossings and counting...

After I got changed I got to meet Marcy MacDonald, an American with 10 successful Channel swims under her belt (she is planning on getting another couple done this year). Kevin Murphy told me that she once attempted a 3 way crossing, and after 2 legs hurt her shoulder, she then swam for 2 hours with one arm whilst attempting the third crossing. Hard as nails.

Yet another inspiration on the beach….


*Congratulations to Marcy who completed her 11th channel crossing on 26th June 2011