Tales From The Channel

As you maybe aware last week we had a relay team who successfully completed The Channel swim. A fantastic achievement I am sure you will agree.

Have a look at some of the teams stories below:

Julie's StoryO

Arriving in Dover in especially autumnal weather was interesting. The Channel was paler in colour than I imagined but living by the River Mersey anything looks paler.

Our window was due to open from the 2nd of October and it looked like we would be waiting to go until Saturday 5th, a lot of time to dwell on our upcoming swim.

The forecast was not great for that date and I liked the look of the forecast for the 3rd! Within hours of arriving Robert Hamilton came to tell us he’d been speaking to Simon Ellis our pilot..........we waited for the information to sink in! The swimmer due to swim on the 3rd had pulled out and we were a go for a 2am start!

My mind was racing trying to make sure I was ready, had I got everything!

Other than swimming in pitch black except for the boat lights which I don’t mind the only other problem is trying to get enough rest as we would probably not get much sleep once the swim started.

With everything packed we made our way to Dover Marina, the night air temperature was dipping towards single figures but the water was expected to be above 15 degrees Celsius, we had trained in similar conditions.

At 2am exactly Jessica Morrison made her way to shore and following the hooter entered the water. We were off.

The English Channel is notorious for its odd wave patterns and we weren’t disappointed.

Anxiously sitting on the platform waiting for 5.4.3.2.1 GO the water was pleasant but not calm!

Changeover from Fiona Jackson and my first swim in the English Channel began. I think I drank more water than breathed air but I kept pushing forward until I heard OUT and Laura Ormiston took over.

Fortunately I wasn’t seasick but the rhythmic swaying of the boat lulled me into sleep. I struggle to eat while night swimming and at times was greeted with “ you eat yet?” Slowly I made myself eat all my sandwiches and I would need that energy for my 4th and final swim which was hour 15!

Strong wides and currents had pushed us far more north and we were fast approaching the Calais port and it’s ferry shipping lane. Simon was fantastic plotting our course and adjusting it when he could but if Calais declined to let us through then our swim would be over.

I sat in the cabin anxiously listening while he rang and asked for permission for us to continue, this was uncharted territory for him too as he had never had a swimmer or team be so far north!

The relief on all aboard was evident as he was given the go ahead to continue.

With cross channel ferries docking behind the wall she touched Jessica had reached France and we were now Channel Relay swimmers in a time of 16 hours and 14 minutes, this is subject to ratification. As the hooter sounded there were tears, hugs and whoops of joy.

Our journey both across and up to this channel Swim has been life changing. Each swam for a different reason and I felt proud that at 61 to be able to tell my husband who is my support system and my 2 children that I had swam the English Channel! Well 4 sections of it anyway.

This team pulled together for each other and ourselves, with support from Robert who put the team together Team Vigour were victorious

You can donate for Julie's cause Action for Pre-eclampsia here.

Fiona's Story

Having trained for a solid 10 months, raised sponsorship money for my charity and literally had our English Channel Relay Crossing take over my life it was finally 9pm on Monday 30th Sept and we were starting the long drive to Dover to ensure we were settled in before our 6 day weather window opened on the 2nd of October!!!

‘Get some sleep in the car’ everyone said!!! That was never going to happen, I think I managed about 25 minutes as it was just all too exciting, what would the week ahead bring?

Unfortunately, the news of a hurricane hitting the UK was in all the newspapers and fear was starting to creep in - maybe we have done all this for nothing, maybe we won’t even get a chance to swim!!!

On arrival in Dover, our coach, Robert spoke to our pilot and was given the estimation that we would swim on the Saturday as we held the 2nd slot in the window so there was a swimmer to go out before us! 

This didn’t go down well with the team as it felt like a very long wait, however, we made plans to go training in Dover bay on Wednesday morning to keep spirits up!

However, late Tuesday night, Robert got another call from our Pilot. The swimmer due out in the 1st slot had been in touch to say they didn’t feel ready or prepared enough and wanted to wait - we were on!!!!

2am on Thursday morning we were going to attempt our Channel crossing!!!! To say the team were excited was an understatement, no hanging about for days, we had Wednesday to make final preparations, catch up on last nights loss of sleep and be ready to leave our accommodation, all bags packed and in the car at 11.30pm to head to the Marina!!

We met our crew, Maz, Simon and Rob, got our bearings onboard High Hopes, got all paperwork and safety briefings done and said goodbye to the family members that were waving us off and we sailed for 50 minutes to get to our start point - we were actually doing this and at 2am Jess was in pitch darkness stood on the beach, harms raised waiting for the claxton to sound to marks the start of our adventure.

What was to follow took us all by surprise. We had all trained for swimming in the dark, for swimming when we were tired, for swimming in salt water etc etc but what we hadn’t experienced was the PITCH darkness, the sleep depravation, the relentless seasickness, the difficulty of moving around the boat - ‘one hand on the boat’ was Simon’s repeated advice as we all struggled to stay upright as our swell got stronger and higher (made worse by the passing container ships, tankers and ferries) and the winds became relentless.

Our team then fell into a rhythm of swimming, getting warm, desperately trying to hydrate and re-fuel (which for the first 6-8 hours was impossible for us all due to seasickness), help each other get dressed & warm, support each other when they were entering & exiting the water, shout encouragement, give a gentle push to try and eat and drink (helped by Rob who knew our energy levels were getting depleted). 

Amongst all this our pilots Maz and Simon were listening to our personal reasons for doing the swim and this in turn is what allowed us to finish - we spent 3/4 hours at one point with the very real possibility of not being allowed to finish. The spring tides were too strong traveling at 5 knots with the wind moving in the opposite direction at 4.5 knots, creating cone shaped waves that were making it so hard for us to progress!!

Simon and Maz made the decision that we would need to change course to be able to complete the swim so Simon radioed Calais and asked if they would allow us to land at the harbour wall..........they said ‘yes, your swimmers can continue’ - we were back on and nothing was going to stop us!!!!

This truly was a team effort, we had gained 3 new members at midnight when we’d met the crew of High Hopes but they wanted us to finish this swim just as much as we did. 

We all dug deep, we re-fuelled even though eating was the last thing we wanted to do, we knew we had to......bananas, chocolate, sandwiches, rehydration sachets, energy shots, we took it all!!!

We edged our way closer to Calais and finally after 16 hours and 14 minutes (unratified) Jess was in the water and laid her hands on France!!!

There were tears and utter disbelief that we’d done it and relief also, the weight of a Justgiving page can be heavy on your shoulders!!

Did I know it would be this hard? No, never! Could I have trained any harder to prepare better? I don’t believe I could have.

The aching body, the bumps, scrapes and bruises were all worth it - Team Vigour swam to France and it was a mind blowing experience and has shown me what I am capable of personally and what teamwork means - it’s nothing short of incredible!!

We have our names in sporting history! We’ve written it into the CSPF books ourselves which was a very emotional moment for us as a team and as individuals.

Back home now, it does feel surreal, but all those early morning and late night training sessions and relentless hours in the water were all worth it - Team Vigour are English Channel Relay swimmers and together have raised in excess of ￡30,000 - job well done I’d say ladies!!!

You can donate for Fiona's cause Glasgow's Childrens Hospital Charity here.