Hurrah! We're on again. Our pilot Reg has given us another swim window. This time we're aiming for a swim some time between Sunday September 12 and Thursday September 17.
On the plus side, the water in the Channel will be much warmer (relatively speaking). On the minus side, we'll be well past the 'longest day', so we'll have a lot less daylight.
Do keep encouraging and helping us in our efforts to raise funds to kick-start a sports scholarship programme at Rosemead by sponsoring us via justgiving: please sponsor us
Thursday 30 July 2015
Thursday 23 July 2015
T + 2: stand down
Well, here we are, one week after our aborted Channel swim.
I think our pilot, Reg, made the right decision. Having reviewed the weather report for that day, I now know that Alex and Debbie would’ve been swimming in gale force 6 winds (blowing in completely the wrong direction) and 10 foot waves.
So, now I’m going through the tricky process of rescheduling, trying to find another slot that suits all of us, the pilot, and a Channel Swimming Association observer.
Last time it took me 2 years to find a slot that suited 5 busy working ladies and a chair of governors. Now I only have 2 months.
So keep encouraging and helping us in our efforts to raise funds to kick-start a sports scholarship programme at Rosemead by …
Sponsoring us via justgiving: please sponsor us
I think our pilot, Reg, made the right decision. Having reviewed the weather report for that day, I now know that Alex and Debbie would’ve been swimming in gale force 6 winds (blowing in completely the wrong direction) and 10 foot waves.
So, now I’m going through the tricky process of rescheduling, trying to find another slot that suits all of us, the pilot, and a Channel Swimming Association observer.
Last time it took me 2 years to find a slot that suited 5 busy working ladies and a chair of governors. Now I only have 2 months.
So keep encouraging and helping us in our efforts to raise funds to kick-start a sports scholarship programme at Rosemead by …
Sponsoring us via justgiving: please sponsor us
Sunday 19 July 2015
T + 1: stand down
Sadly, having catnapped in the afternoon, remade my fish paste sandwiches, and detoured round Operation Lockdown, I arrived with the others at Dover Marina at 1.30am to learn that our swim had been cancelled. Cancelled due to dangerous weather. Our boat pilot, Reg, just didn’t want to risk our lives. And the Channel weather looks as though it’s not going to get any better for the next 10 days.
So, just like the Rosemead ladies who rowed across the Channel two years ago, our weather window has gone, and our swim has to be rescheduled for later in the year.
It’s hugely disappointing. Thank you to all of you who have sponsored us. We will do the swim, but at this moment I’m not sure whether it will be August or September. And I just don’t know if we’ll be able to coordinate as a six again.
And, of course, it means we’ll have to keep swim fit … so yet more Dover harbour and Lido swimming.
We’re all tremendously down at the moment, so please cheer us up by encouraging and helping us in our efforts to raise funds to kick-start a sports scholarship programme at Rosemead by …
Sponsoring us via justgiving: please sponsor us
So, just like the Rosemead ladies who rowed across the Channel two years ago, our weather window has gone, and our swim has to be rescheduled for later in the year.
It’s hugely disappointing. Thank you to all of you who have sponsored us. We will do the swim, but at this moment I’m not sure whether it will be August or September. And I just don’t know if we’ll be able to coordinate as a six again.
And, of course, it means we’ll have to keep swim fit … so yet more Dover harbour and Lido swimming.
We’re all tremendously down at the moment, so please cheer us up by encouraging and helping us in our efforts to raise funds to kick-start a sports scholarship programme at Rosemead by …
Sponsoring us via justgiving: please sponsor us
Saturday 18 July 2015
T + 1: go, go, go!
It’s go, go, go! We’re on for a 2.00am start Sunday morning, so we’ll be driving through the night to meet our pilot and his boat at 1.30am.
The weather’s still not brilliant, but there are no guarantees it will be any better for Monday morning.
Our first swims will be tough. We’re expecting 15mph headwinds (gusting at 20mph), with 3ft waves every 6 seconds. On a positive note, the water temperature is 16.3 degrees, and the wind should have died down by the time we get to our second swims. (We’re expecting to do three swims, possibly four!)
Life on the boat will be unpleasant for the first 6 hours. It will probably be better in the water than on the boat. We’ll be taking Lynne up on her offer of ginger tea (the natural remedy for sea sickness apparently), and I’ve bought another pack of sea-sickness tablets.
So please, please encourage and help us in our efforts to raise funds to kick-start a sports scholarship programme at Rosemead by …
Sponsoring us via justgiving: please sponsor us
You can track our progress across the Channel with this link (scroll down to the Google map):Viking Princess
The weather’s still not brilliant, but there are no guarantees it will be any better for Monday morning.
Our first swims will be tough. We’re expecting 15mph headwinds (gusting at 20mph), with 3ft waves every 6 seconds. On a positive note, the water temperature is 16.3 degrees, and the wind should have died down by the time we get to our second swims. (We’re expecting to do three swims, possibly four!)
Life on the boat will be unpleasant for the first 6 hours. It will probably be better in the water than on the boat. We’ll be taking Lynne up on her offer of ginger tea (the natural remedy for sea sickness apparently), and I’ve bought another pack of sea-sickness tablets.
So please, please encourage and help us in our efforts to raise funds to kick-start a sports scholarship programme at Rosemead by …
Sponsoring us via justgiving: please sponsor us
You can track our progress across the Channel with this link (scroll down to the Google map):Viking Princess
Friday 17 July 2015
T + 1: sharks
This is our second day of waiting. Our boat pilot has given us a 50:50 chance of swimming this evening (which actually means 2.00am tomorrow morning). I think the thunder and lightning last night didn’t help.
Amidst hoots of laughter, my wife showed me a BBC Internet news report this morning. It spoke of shark sightings in the Channel. They’ve been spotted off West Sussex. That’s a fair few miles from Dover, but it’s another unforeseen scary thing to add to our challenge. (And I did assure Alex that there was zero possibility of encountering sharks!)
So please encourage and help us in our efforts to raise funds to kick-start a sports scholarship programme at Rosemead by …
Sponsoring us via justgiving: please sponsor us
Amidst hoots of laughter, my wife showed me a BBC Internet news report this morning. It spoke of shark sightings in the Channel. They’ve been spotted off West Sussex. That’s a fair few miles from Dover, but it’s another unforeseen scary thing to add to our challenge. (And I did assure Alex that there was zero possibility of encountering sharks!)
So please encourage and help us in our efforts to raise funds to kick-start a sports scholarship programme at Rosemead by …
Sponsoring us via justgiving: please sponsor us
Thursday 16 July 2015
T + 1: waiting for the weather window
Back in 2012, 150 climbers were queued at 25,000 feet on the Lhotse Face, ready to make their final push to summit Everest. That day, 16 of them died.
It’s a sobering thought. We’re in a similar, not-quite-as-life-threatening scenario. We’re not camped out in a so-called ‘death zone’, but we are waiting for our weather window. And, if we were to push ahead and swim now, we’d be facing 20mph winds and thick fog. We want to be safe.
So, our swim is now scheduled for 2.00am on Saturday. I’ll be checking in again with our boat pilot at 9.00am Friday for another update.
My carefully made salmon, chicken and meat paste sandwiches have been in and out of the fridge countless times, and my reduced to clear Waitrose sausage rolls are looking very sad at the moment, so please encourage and help us in our efforts to raise funds to kick-start a sports scholarship programme at Rosemead by …
Sponsoring us via justgiving: please sponsor us
It’s a sobering thought. We’re in a similar, not-quite-as-life-threatening scenario. We’re not camped out in a so-called ‘death zone’, but we are waiting for our weather window. And, if we were to push ahead and swim now, we’d be facing 20mph winds and thick fog. We want to be safe.
So, our swim is now scheduled for 2.00am on Saturday. I’ll be checking in again with our boat pilot at 9.00am Friday for another update.
My carefully made salmon, chicken and meat paste sandwiches have been in and out of the fridge countless times, and my reduced to clear Waitrose sausage rolls are looking very sad at the moment, so please encourage and help us in our efforts to raise funds to kick-start a sports scholarship programme at Rosemead by …
Sponsoring us via justgiving: please sponsor us
Wednesday 15 July 2015
T - 0: the waiting game
Well we’re at the start of our swim window, and we’re waiting for our boat pilot to tell us that the weather forecast is reasonable for our swim. At the moment, it’s not!
Last week’s weather in the Channel wasn’t good. 3 separate swim attempts failed. And one person (who’s in the Channel right now) had to wait right until the end of his swim window before he could swim.
We won’t be swimming tomorrow morning at 1.00am, and we won’t be swimming tomorrow afternoon at 1.00pm. We might now be swimming at midnight tomorrow. I have to check in with our boat pilot at 9.00am tomorrow for an update. Fingers crossed …
We’re all nervous wrecks at the moment, so please encourage and help us in our efforts to raise funds to kick-start a sports scholarship programme at Rosemead by …
Sponsoring us via justgiving: sponsor us please
Last week’s weather in the Channel wasn’t good. 3 separate swim attempts failed. And one person (who’s in the Channel right now) had to wait right until the end of his swim window before he could swim.
We won’t be swimming tomorrow morning at 1.00am, and we won’t be swimming tomorrow afternoon at 1.00pm. We might now be swimming at midnight tomorrow. I have to check in with our boat pilot at 9.00am tomorrow for an update. Fingers crossed …
We’re all nervous wrecks at the moment, so please encourage and help us in our efforts to raise funds to kick-start a sports scholarship programme at Rosemead by …
Sponsoring us via justgiving: sponsor us please
T - 0 (ish) and counting
Potentially less than 11 hours until our team braves the English Channel.
We’re all in a nervous and excited state at the moment. We could potentially be swimming the Channel at 1.00am tomorrow. I’ve found it difficult to concentrate all day, and last night I hardly slept a wink.
The weather in the Channel at the moment is scary. The Channel is its own micro-climate, and although it’s beautiful weather in Dover, the middle of the Channel is a different matter. Right now there are 22mph winds coming from the south-west (which is completely the wrong direction!).
It’s a waiting game. I’ll get a call from our boat pilot at 7.30pm today, and it’ll be a “yes” or a “no” for a swim early tomorrow morning. If it’s a “no”, it’ll be another agonising day of anticipation.
So, please encourage and help us in our efforts to raise funds to kick-start a sports scholarship programme at Rosemead by …
Sponsoring us via justgiving: sponsor us
We’re all in a nervous and excited state at the moment. We could potentially be swimming the Channel at 1.00am tomorrow. I’ve found it difficult to concentrate all day, and last night I hardly slept a wink.
The weather in the Channel at the moment is scary. The Channel is its own micro-climate, and although it’s beautiful weather in Dover, the middle of the Channel is a different matter. Right now there are 22mph winds coming from the south-west (which is completely the wrong direction!).
It’s a waiting game. I’ll get a call from our boat pilot at 7.30pm today, and it’ll be a “yes” or a “no” for a swim early tomorrow morning. If it’s a “no”, it’ll be another agonising day of anticipation.
So, please encourage and help us in our efforts to raise funds to kick-start a sports scholarship programme at Rosemead by …
Sponsoring us via justgiving: sponsor us
Thursday 9 July 2015
T - 1 and counting
Just 1 week until our team braves the English Channel.
Massive waves, strong currents, rapids, and water as cold as 15 degrees. Yes, Center Parcs is a great place for Channel swim training.
I've been holidaying with friends and family at Center Parcs this week, and it's given me a bit of time to check out English Channel statistics. Not a good idea.
The English Channel is the third busiest shipping lane in the world. But, the Strait of Dover (which is where we're swimming), is the busiest shipping lane in the world. Roughly 600 ships travel through the Strait every 24 hours. Given that I'm estimating a swim time of 18 hours, that means we'll be weaving our way between 400 massive ships that take several miles just to stop. It makes for some wonderful photographs, but it's scary - very, very scary.
It's the final 7 day countdown to our swim, so please encourage and help us in our efforts to raise funds to kick-start a sports scholarship programme at Rosemead by …
Sponsoring us via justgiving: please sponsor us
Massive waves, strong currents, rapids, and water as cold as 15 degrees. Yes, Center Parcs is a great place for Channel swim training.
I've been holidaying with friends and family at Center Parcs this week, and it's given me a bit of time to check out English Channel statistics. Not a good idea.
The English Channel is the third busiest shipping lane in the world. But, the Strait of Dover (which is where we're swimming), is the busiest shipping lane in the world. Roughly 600 ships travel through the Strait every 24 hours. Given that I'm estimating a swim time of 18 hours, that means we'll be weaving our way between 400 massive ships that take several miles just to stop. It makes for some wonderful photographs, but it's scary - very, very scary.
It's the final 7 day countdown to our swim, so please encourage and help us in our efforts to raise funds to kick-start a sports scholarship programme at Rosemead by …
Sponsoring us via justgiving: please sponsor us
Thursday 2 July 2015
T - 2 and counting
Only a scary 2 weeks until our team braves the English Channel.
My dad was obsessed with tides. Whenever we went to the seaside he would diligently consult the tides tables to make sure we were always swimming in the sea when the tide was coming in. Otherwise, according to my dad, we’d be swept away by the sea and lost forever.
So, in 2 weeks’ time, we’ll be breaking my dad’s rule by starting our swim when the tide is going out. Of course, we are hoping that we’ll be swept away by the sea because that will make our swimming easier. We’re also hoping that we’ll get past the halfway point as the tide goes in so that we’ll be swept onto the French coast.
You see, there’s logic to this crazy challenge. Sadly, high tide on our first swim day is 12 o’clock (midnight or midday). So we’ll either be starting in complete darkness or finishing in complete darkness. Wonderful.
I crept into the lido at 6.30 this morning to try out my new Speedos. Given that we’re in the middle of a heatwave, the pool was not empty. There were no shrieks, snorts or guffaws, but I think I’ll be first to swim if we’re starting in the dark.
There are only 2 weeks to go, so please encourage and help us in our efforts to raise funds to kick-start a sports scholarship programme at Rosemead by …
Sponsoring us via justgiving: please sponsor us
My dad was obsessed with tides. Whenever we went to the seaside he would diligently consult the tides tables to make sure we were always swimming in the sea when the tide was coming in. Otherwise, according to my dad, we’d be swept away by the sea and lost forever.
So, in 2 weeks’ time, we’ll be breaking my dad’s rule by starting our swim when the tide is going out. Of course, we are hoping that we’ll be swept away by the sea because that will make our swimming easier. We’re also hoping that we’ll get past the halfway point as the tide goes in so that we’ll be swept onto the French coast.
You see, there’s logic to this crazy challenge. Sadly, high tide on our first swim day is 12 o’clock (midnight or midday). So we’ll either be starting in complete darkness or finishing in complete darkness. Wonderful.
I crept into the lido at 6.30 this morning to try out my new Speedos. Given that we’re in the middle of a heatwave, the pool was not empty. There were no shrieks, snorts or guffaws, but I think I’ll be first to swim if we’re starting in the dark.
There are only 2 weeks to go, so please encourage and help us in our efforts to raise funds to kick-start a sports scholarship programme at Rosemead by …
Sponsoring us via justgiving: please sponsor us
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