My Swimming Tales

This is the question I have been asked the most over the last week… and unfortunatley not one I can answer accurately! So I will explain…

Whether you are a solo swimmer or a relay team you are given a slot and within that slot you will be one of many boats. Our slot is 14th -21st August and we are 4th boat, so we hope to go sometime within those dates … It is as you can imagine all dependant on weather, tides etc. If we don’t get to go within that slot then we drop to the bottom of the priority list for the following week and the wait continues – so fingers crossed for great weather for us… until then we wait 🙂

SO in the meantime our bags are packed… I am not sure I have enough flamingo gear 🙂

So what happens when we get the call?

We have been told we will could get only 8 hours notice to get down to Dover and we may leave at any point eg may have to swim through the night. When we do we have to head down to the harbour where we will meet our pilot Eddie and see our boat Anastasia. Once we’ve boarded we will head around to Shakespeare’s beach and our number 1 swimmer will swim the 200m to shore, they will have to step up the beach and clear the water and wait for the claxon. Once it has gone off they go swimming for an hour, we will be given flags which let us know 30 min gone, 45 min gone and 55 min gone. At just before the hour the next swimmer will jump/dive off the boat into the water behind them and swim past them. Number 1 swimmer then is able to get out onto the boat dry off, warm up and take on fuel. This will continue to happen until we get to France!

We will have our order decided before we start swimming and once chosen we then have to remain in that order throughout and everyone has to swim a full hour each time. If someone fails to swim or complete their hour we will be disqualified 😦 We will have an observer onboard to ensure that we are sticking to the rules. This also includes ensring we are only wearing one traditional swimsuit, a pair of google and one swim hat.

Fingers crossed we get all the way to France without the tide causing us too much grief – swims are usually in an S-shape across the channel inline with tides/currents rather than the journey the ferry would take. Once about 200m away from the French coast the boat will stop and the swimmer will be accompanied by either a kayak or a small dingy until they hit the rocks/beach. The plan is to land on Les Gris Nez but if the current pushes the swimmer down then they will aim for the beach north of there. Once landed they will have to clear the water and our swim is done 🙂

Hopefully we will have fab weather, flat water and currents in our favour and we will be heading back on the boat celebrating and drinking our bottle of bubbles 🙂

In the meantime we will sit and wait for the call and I will try not to start on all my treats for the boat – too much chocolate and other wheat free delights (jaffa cakes, choc brownies etc :))

If you are keen on tracking our journey you will be able to follow us as we swim on the following link – lovechannelswimming.com or alternatively follow the boat on twitter and send support on https://twitter.com/AnastasiaSwim

Lastly don’t forget we are all doing this in aid of a fantastic charity – Aspire. If you would like us to help those who have suffered from spinal cord injuries to lead a better life don’t forget to donate on the ‘donate’ button above or click here – https://www.justgiving.com/lisa-williams20

Thanks all and wish us luck 🙂

Last week saw myself and some friends head to Slovenia to get in some more training.  Paul and I were there from team Flamingo’s and also some other swimming buddies who will be swimming a relay across Lake Zurich.  Slovenia was a fantastic place to train and saw us swimming across beautiful crystal clear lakes and emerald looking rivers.

Day 1 saw us swim in Lake Bled.  We swam out to the little island in the middle and later on that day swam the length of the Lake which was amazing.  It has hosted World Championship rowing competitions in it which meant that we had a rowing line to follow the whole way across which was great! During the morning we were lucky enough to be swimming whilst some planes were practising above us for their air-acrobatic competition later on that afternoon. 

The other highlight of the day was meeting the legend that is Martin Strel aka Big River Man, if you are not aware of his achievements then you will be amazed to find out that he has swam rivers such as The Amazon, The Missisippi & Yangtse.  He truly is an inspiration when it comes to long distance swimming and a real honor for us to be able to meet and swim with him.

Day 2 Martin’s son, Borut, who was guiding our trip took us over to Italy where we swam across Lago del Prebil, a bit chillier than the warmer Bled but all good practise for us.  We then headed back into Slovenia for lunch and a nice cooling stop at a local waterfall – Kozjak which is in the Triglav national park and was very stunning – great to get out and do some walking in the beautiful area.  Lastly we swam down River Soca.  It was a gorgeous river and as we swam an old-fashioned steamboat ferry passed by – I am sure they were wondering what these crazy people were doing.  Instead of driving back to Lake Bohinj (or in fact swimming) we took the car train back which was a very unique experience and if you ever head to Slovenia a certain must as it is a great way to check out the views as you head back to the Julian Alps.

For our last day we walked 6km around Lake Bohinj which is where our hotel had been looking over for the last few days and then swam the length back.  It was a beautiful morning and such a great way to end the trip to Slovenia.  The team that looked after us were brilliant and after 3 days of swimming it was such a welcome change to train in such beautiful surroundings compared to that of the London lidos and Dover Harbour!  Thank you Strel Swimming for an amazing trip – I will be back!

Less than two weeks to go now until our slot opens so I am off back to Dover this Sunday for one last sea dip before we head off…

At the beginning of the month we were back down in Dover showing off our bright pink swimming attire, even Paul managed to find some beautiful pink trunks to scare the jellyfish off with.

The weather this time was a huge contrast to that of June – the sun was shining and the water a few degrees warmer, although it still felt cold getting in. 

Two days of swimming 1.5hrs x 2 was all good preperation as well, to my delight, being able to get a bit of sunbathing done 🙂

Whilst in Dover I got talking to a guy who had been a boat leader on a relay that had been out a few days before and the main  2 problems seemed to be the change of currents a mile away from France – this is where most solo and relay channel swims fail, which can only be devastating after swimming 20 of 21 miles (an amazing achievement in itself though) and also swarms of Jellyfish which seem to be quite vast this year, one of the team that was swimming in that particular relay got stung 17 times.  I am hoping my purchase of the below works even if it is just pschologically!

As we left the beach as a team on the Sunday we knew that the next time we would all see each other would be D Day.

4 weeks after heading down to Dover for our first training session it was time again and unfortunately although there had been promise of sunshine it failed to appear in Dover.

Team Flamingos were back in full force and ready to take on our challenge of the 2 hour qualifying swim.

We arrived onto the beach in Dover at 9.30am ready to get into the sea for a 10am start.  The sea was looking a bit angry with choppy waters, high winds and swells – the ferries certainly seemed to be having problems turning and the waves crashed over them as they headed to France – eek that will be us in 8 weeks!

Freda the channel swimming beach ‘boss’ advised that we would not be able to try for our 2 hours on Saturday due to the weather conditions and instead we would be swimming 2 x 1 hour 15 minute swims with an hour and a half break in between.  Compared to May, the sea was now at about 10/11 degrees – amazing the difference a few degrees makes.

We all did well mainly managing to compete the swims, unfortunately there were a few cases of sea sickness for swimming in the choppy waters with some swimmers getting out early.

After warming up we headed off to the pub for a drink in the beer garden as a glimpse of sun showed itself and then off to the local chippy, we certainly deserved those calories.  This time round we didn’t have an evening pool session so we headed off to our favourite Dover restaurant and treated ourselves to 3 courses and wine. 

The next morning after our full English breakfast we headed back down to the beach hoping that Freda was going to allow us to try for the 2 hour swim, we would have another opportunity to do this in July but always good to get something out the way.  As we arrived at the beach it started to rain, waves were rolling and the wind was a blowing but brave we were and off we went to take on the 2 hour swim.

The water was certainly colder than the day before probably more to do with the outside temperature being colder rather than sea temperature.  As we swam the wind was picking up the water and hitting it on our backs which at times felt like hail however, onward we swam up and down the length of the harbour getting colder as we went and probably slower too as our hands numbed and looked more like claws! 

Although the vaseline man had slapped the stuff on my back and neck my costume was starting to chaff and we could feel the small jellyfish slipping through our fingers.  We pushed on and managed to complete the two hours – a great achievement with all 4 Flamingos that entered the water finishing the 2 hours. It was certainly and experience and looking forward to a warmer swim in July!  Next training session back down in Dover is July 6th & 7th.

On top of the successful swimming over the weekend team Flamingo’s are currently top fundraising team for Aspire with my efforts being top individual fundraiser – thank you everyone for supporting me on this journey so far.

So after time spent swimming in the safety and warmth of indoor pools it was time for us to meet our nemesis – Dover Harbour.  With sea temperatures at 8 degrees the Flamingos headed down to Dover to jump into the water and spend some time getting to know each other.

Team Flamingos turned up in all their Flamingo apparel including Flamingo flip-flops, towels and lots of very pink attire – we certainly stood out from the crowd.

Lots of forms had to be handed in and we were presented with our Training season cards meaning that we can swim down in the harbour with the official Channel swimming officials every weekend from 10am onwards – a rare treat as a swimmer for it not to be so early 🙂

 

 
We managed 2 swims in the sea on both Saturday and Sunday with time in between each trying to get warm before jumping into the sea again. It was bought home swimming up and down with the ferries in the backround that we really were going to be attempting the channel within a matter of months. 

It was pretty cold and with little sun in the air and weathers more suited to November my ski jacket took on a new role – keeping me warm after each sea swim.

Saturday night saw us in the pool for two hours for a long session with a bit of competitiveness coming out at the end of the sessions when we raced the other Aspire relay teams.  A fun night and by 9.30pm we were sat in the restaurant munching down plenty of pasta replenishing the energy from the day and storing ready for our Sunday swims.

A fun albeit cold weekend but a great taster of what lies ahead – bring on the next training session in June where we will be attempting our 2 hour qualifying swim – this is a swim we have to complete before being allowed to attempt the channel relay.