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Our relay challenge

Our team is called “Over from Dover”.

 

Our relay team consists of 5 people –who all share the same enthusiasm for open water swimming.

Zoe Sadler, Joanne Postins, Kate Robarts, Ellery McGowan and our only male, Phil Sears. 3 of the team have not done a Channel relay before (Zoe, Jo and Kate).

 

We are booked on the neap tide from 7^th-12^th August 2011. Our pilot is Neil Streeter who will be piloting his boat Suva. http://www.channelswimming.net/Pilots.htm

 

It will be possible to track our route on the day as it sends out GPS updates every half hour. We will get a call the day before telling us that it is our turn the next day – it is impossible to predict which day because the pilot will only attempt a crossing based on weather reports and if he feels it is safe to do so. He has the final word.

 

We will be accompanied by an official CS&PF observer who will record everything and verify the attempt so that it can then (hopefully) be recorded as a successful relay crossing. We will also be accompanied by Jim Boucher, who is acting as mentor and has completed a solo crossing, and also by Sue Green who was originally in the team but very sadly has had to withdraw due to injury.

 

Rules are– 1 normal textile swimsuit, 1 hat, 1 pair of goggles. No flippers, snorkels, wetsuits or floatation devices.

 

The rules are very simple – Start on completely dry land, swim from England to France, climb out and stand up on dry land. Then collect a souvenir (usually a pebble) and swim back immediately to the boat. No stopping off at Calais for cheap beer! The exact landing point depends on the tides.

 

The relay works as follows: Each swimmer swims for one hour exactly. No assistance – no physical contact with the boat or other people. But they are allowed to shout. That also means that no-one is allowed to assist the final swimmer out at the end – even if we finish on the rocks. When each hour is up, the next person jumps in the water, overtakes the swimmer already in the water and starts swimming. The swimmer already in the water then has to climb out immediately.

 

The swimming order is determined before the relay commences. Once the swim has started the relay has to be completed in that strict rotation order.

 

We are likely to have to swim in the dark. Many relays start very early in the morning as I understand that the French coastguard only allows landings in daylight. This means that we have to wear a glow stick on our head and on our back! Makes it more exciting!

 

The water temperature will be around 16C-18C on the day itself.

For relays, one of the biggest challenges is seasickness. The boat is very small and many relays have failed because of illness on board. Also, there are jellyfish in August, we have to cross the world’s busiest shipping zone, there are also patches of rather unsavoury things (i.e. poo!).

The English Channel is one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world, with approximately 600 vessels moving up and down them every day, plus the ferries , seacats and jetfoils crossing between England and France at very regular intervals.  The Strait of Dover has an average depth of about 120 m (390 ft) at its widest part, reducing to a depth of about 45 m (148 ft) between Dover and Calais.

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