Joined: Apr 2024
Krt85 created a post Cold Feet!
1 hour, 8 minutes agoKrt85 created a post 3 months to go...
3 weeks, 5 days agoKrt85 started fundraising English Channel Relay Swim
4 weeks ago
I had been dreading Saturday for the last three weeks. I'm confident in my ability to swim for an hour several times in a row, but I really hate being cold! And Saturday was the day I started my cold water acclimatisation journey.
Our core body temperature is meant to stay at a toasty 37 degrees. In July, the English Channel water temperature is likely to be around 15 degrees. The good news is that our bodies are made to do incredible things and we can train them to cope with the unimaginable. And unimaginable was the order of the day on Saturday - the water at Sale Water Park was a chilly 10.7 degrees. The vast majority of swimmers were wearing full wetsuits, while I hovered around the entry point in my normal swimming costume (wetsuits are not permitted in Channel Swimming as they are a buoyancy aid). I had a lot of comments from others about "being brave" and nods of what I can only imagine was either sympathy or pity from wetsuited swimmers taking the plunge ahead of me.
So what did I learn from it?
I think there are some life lessons hidden amongst all that!
More to come when I hit the next milestone in my training...
This time in 3 months, it's possible I'll be somewhere in the middle of the English Channel 😬
For those of you who I haven't bored to tears with the details of how a channel swim relay works, here goes...
The first thing you should know, is that to count as an official Channel Swim crossing, wetsuits are not permitted as they are a buoyancy aid. So we will be swimming in standard swimwear and will be at the mercy of the elements, chilly water temperature (expected to be somewhere between 14 and 18 degrees Celsius) and the wildlife, including jellyfish!
I will be swimming in a team of 4 and will be on standby from 11th July ready to set off from Dover. We have a window between 11th to 19th July in which to make our attempt. Our decision to set off will largely lie with our support boat pilot - an experienced sailor who knows the tides, currents, winds and weather conditions of the Channel exceptionally well.
Once the decision to make our attempt has been made, our team of 4 board the support boat and get taken to a nearby beach, which marks the formal starting point. Cruelly, the boat isn't able to take us up to the shoreline, so the unfortunate person who is designated as our first swimmer must swim from the boat to the beach and stand clear of the water. Only then does the attempt (and the clock!) actually start.
Swimmer 1 will swim for an hour, in close proximity to the support boat, who will navigating the tides, currents, weather and traffic. They will be looking out for our safety at all times. At the end of the first Swimmer 1's hour, Swimmer 2 jumps off the boat behind Swimmer 1. Only once they've overtaken (no contact between swimmers allowed) does Swimmer 1 head over to the boat, climb aboard and try to rest and warm up. Swimmer 2 then passes the virtual baton to Swimmer 3, Swimmer 3 to Swimmer 4 and Swimmer 4 back to Swimmer 1. That cycle continues until we get to France! The final twist is that, just like at the start, the boat isn't able to get to the shoreline, so the swimmer who completes the crossing has to swim to the beach, stand clear of the water...and then swim back to the boat.
If anyone is unable or unwilling to complete their full hour at any point or get back in the water when it's their turn, the attempt can continue, but must be without that team member and effectively turns into a team of 3 for the remainder of the swim. So it's all about the team...just like it is at Trafford Rowing Club (pictured above before a race earlier this year)!
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