Story
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SUCCESS! SUCCESS! SUCCESS! SUCCESS! SUCCESS!
At 13:29 BST on 27 September 2009 the Marlow River Buoys (consisting of Jeremy Lovell-Davis, Heath Freeman, Peter Frost and Chris Newell) completed the crossing of the English Channel as a four person relay.
I wanted to let you all know that after arriving at Dover Harbour at 2am on a cold and dark Sunday morning the team started their attempt from Samphire Hoe beach at 4am on 27 September 2009.
We completed our swim underneath the lighthouse at Cap Gris Nez in France, some 32km away, after 9 hours and 29 minutes of swimming.
Heath Freeman was the lucky man in the water at the time who was able to clamber onto the rocks and signal our success. The picture here shows us after Heath made it back to the boat. Unfortunately we could not all make it to the shore as it was a very rocky finish and just too dangerous to have all four of us in the water at once.
We were under our 10hr goal and were the first team to successfully cross the channel that day out of the seven boats that left Dover Harbour in the morning!
Judging by all other four person relay attempts in the last five years as shown on the Channel Swimming Association website, this is a quick time. We could even be one of the quickest 4 person relays this season however we wait for the ratification of our attempt by the Channel Swimming Association. This may take up to six weeks.
Suffice to say, we are all ecstatic with our performance! A little sore and sleep-deprived, but otherwise very very happy.
Our months of training in the cold river Thames really paid off and conditions could not have been better for us. We were remarkably acclimatised to the temperature of the water and actually found it warmer in the ocean than in the river. The waves played a little part in unsettling us, as did the pitch black start, but we coped well.
Our thanks go to;
our friends and families for their support,
Andy King of 'Louise Jane Charters', ( www.louisejane.co.uk/channel_crossing ) an official channel-crossing boat captain who guided us excellently along the quickest path (if not straightest on account of the tides) and finally
Volvic Mineral Water, who supported us with am significant supply of bottled of water to keep us hydrated throughout the event and to combat the effects of the salty seas.
Details of the training, the big event and the crossing can be found on my blog: (copy paste to browser)
My target was to raise £1,500 for the Royal National Lifeboat Institute RNLI http://www.rnli.org.uk which helps to keep safe all users of the UK’s beaches and river Thames of which I am a frequenter. This is a great charity and it would be fantastic to achieve my target for them. I'm a little short right now, so every little helps. I am also collecting for the Australian Royal Volunteer Coastal Patrol (Ulladulla, NSW crew) who my dad volunteers for. The RVCP are great friends and supporters of ocean-swimming in Australia and I have been under their watchful eye many times and am thankful of it. If you are an Australian resident, you can see how to donate to the RVCP on my blog page www.jezzld.blogspot.com (copy and paste this to your browser and look for the posting on Tuesday 4 August 2009) All of your money will go direct to the charity and none will be used to pay for the costs of the boat taking us across, the registration fees or the cost of provisions to keep us warm and well fed on the crossing. If you have any questions about the swim or the training please feel free to get in touch through my blog or via jezzld@hotmail.com and I'll respond with the best answers I can give. The RNLI has a long and distinguished history starting in 1824. Since its formation to the present day, RNLI crews have saved over 137,000 lives at sea and on the river Thames. Last year 2008 RNLI lifeboats rescued almost 8,000 people, an average of 21 people a day. Nowadays, the RNLI has 231 lifeboat stations around the coast of the UK and the Republic of Ireland, including 4 lifeboat stations on the River Thames. In addition, the RNLI provides a seasonal rescue service on selected beaches around the coast of England and Wales. Running costs – the sharp end of it The RNLI's running costs average around £339,000 (€440,700) a day. For every £1 raised, 85p is spent on operations and 15p is spent on generating income. Fleet costs Lifeguard equipment
Rescue water craft £8,000 Rescue board £740
Inshore rescue boat £9,500 Rescue tube £65
Binoculars £65
Spine board £295
Full wetsuit £130
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