In December 2017 Rolf Saxon, a great friend and the voice of George Stobbart in the Broken Sword series, came to my hometown of York, England with his partner Julie. Noirin, and I took them to our favourite restaurant, Ambiente, which is run by the wonderful Zoe and Tim. Rolf and I had discussed swimming from Alcatraz to San Francisco over the years and were doing so again that evening, but without the expectation of ever actually doing it. And it would have remained that way had not Zoe, who also owns a crossfit gym, overheard us and said that she would like to join us.

Fast forward to summer 2018. Noirin and I were eating at Ambiente when Zoe came and joined us for a chat. Noirin complemented her on her new hair style. Zoe thanked her - then got straight to business and asked me when we were going to do the Alcatraz swim. Knowing that this risked being taken seriously, I blustered and bombasted: Alcatraz was the ideal location for a state penitentiary, I pointed out, because savage currents would drown anyone who escaped, unless they were first eaten by the Great White sharks that frequent the Bay waters - or froze to death in the icy waters. Unimpressed, Zoe leaned forward - she had just had a mastectomy, she told me with a determined smile, the hair that Noirin had admired was a wig because she had lost her own after chemotherapy, and she was about to go into hospital for a second mastectomy. She didn’t want to put any emotional pressure on me, she assured me but, she asked again, when would we be swimming from Alcatraz. And so the plan immediately and irrevocably came to be.

Cat Channon, a long time friend and games industry veteran, is an experienced triathlete and wild water swimmer who sometimes joins my annual Develop sea swim in Brighton. We happened to meet at Gamescom in Cologne and Cat, someone with huge experience in this area, agreed to join the posse.

Zoe, who is truly amazing, recovered from surgery fast - and it was agreed that we should make the swim on the weekend before GDC 2019, seeking to raise money for Gamesaid - with a focus on children’s cancer charities.

Joining Zoe, Cat and me, will be Rolf, who I ultimately blame for this whole crazy idea, and his partner Julie, as well as triathletes Claire Harker and Stephanie Magnier.

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