Having been in training for months and completed their qualifying swims, our team of four, Colm Leonard, Emily Chittock, Miriam Parish and Przemek Szafran, travelled down to Folkstone ready for their attempt to swim the English Channel. Weather delayed the start by one day, but luckily the sea calmed down and Kevin, the skipper of the piloting boat, informed our team captain Emily that the swim would start after dark on Tuesday 15th August.
This was the first time any of the team had swum at night so nerves were tingling as they stepped aboard the Connemara. Provisions had been packed, including jam and peanut butter sandwiches, jelly babies and pot noodle, plus an extra supply of motion sickness tablets to top up on.
The boat motored up to Samphire Hoe where Przemek swam to the beach, the starting horn was then sounded at 10:30pm and the relay began, each person swimming one hour at a time. The night was pitch black, and the swell was a little rougher than expected as each swimmer struggled through the waves, green lights blinking so they could be spotted from the boat. Second swimmer was Emily who at midnight swam into her 32nd birthday, third was Colm and last was Miriam. Then it was back to the first swimmer, and so on, until hopefully the team hit the French shore.
The constant motion sadly got the better of the boys, who went a little green, almost matching the colour of their lights, but luckily this wore off as the sun rose in the morning and the calming sea began to settle their stomachs and lift everyone’s spirits.
The European side was now firmly in sight but a deciding moment came during Miriam’s third swim when Kevin instructed the team that it was really important to get to French ‘inshore’ waters before the ebb tide took them too far South. If they did not pick up the pace they would end up heading to Spain. With the team’s encouragement she dug deep and made up the distance allowing Przemek and Emily to push hard on their fourth swims.
The tide turned, and having passed Phare du Cap Griz-Nez the team needed to get to land as quickly as possible otherwise they would then go too far north, and have to swim even further. Colm finally landed the swim just after 1pm on the steps of Wissant where a small crowd of locals had gathered to cheer him in. One even gave him a £10 note to donate to our charity, thank heavens for water-proof plastic money.
This was another epic Channel crossing for the Brockwell Swimmers club taking a very respectable 14 hours 40 minutes to complete. Together with the Lido Challenge the Saturday before this swim has raised over £5,000 for the RNLI. Thanks to everyone who has given so generously. The JustGiving page is still open so if you have not done so already please donate by clicking here.
Perhaps you might like to take on the Channel Challenge in 2024? If so please get in touch.
