Thank you all for your generous support and for what is yet to come!

Well we smashed it, 32km in 9.45 hours, the first ever relay attempt, so a world record!

We did not get off to a great start with a 4.30 hour flight delay, meaning we did not arrive till midnight to be then up and on the boat by 4.45am.

The sea conditions were excellent with almost no wind, but we had to get to the cape before the sea got too challenging, so Armando set off without delay at 5.57am.

Armando made good progress in the beautiful conditions, but the relay rules required a strict rotation system so by 7am George was swimming. By 8am we were almost 8km up, everything was perfect, but the conditions were getting choppy as we approached Cadaques and Spyros had a tougher job, not helped by a bad shoulder.

Piers went next and made good progress in choppy waters. Miquel from the support team was beginning to worry about making Cap de Creus in time.

Armando was then back in the water, things were tougher with a southerly wind building he powered on. As the Cap de Creus approached George went in, Miquel giving strict instructions to fight on. As the rocks approached Miquel jumped in to show the way through. It was tough but once passed the rocks there was a beautiful calm channel protected by some offshore islands, perfect swimming until we were back in the waves on the other side. 

The hour was up and Spyros took on the wind, current and waves It was hard work but ort Greek Champion ploughed on, but we were pushed badly off course out to sea. Piers took on the challenge of getting us back in shore to calmer waters, it made a huge difference. Nevertheless we had another cape to pass and the sea was tough and rising. Armando and George fought through to get us into the North facing waters in the lee of the wind.

Only 10km to go, a change of strategy. We cut the relay sections to 30 minutes and were heading for a sub 10 hour time. Spyros faced one last challenge, distracted by a boat full of sirens, like Odysseus he was drawn off course. We managed to draw him back on line and soon the whole team were in the water sprinting the last 500m to the red umbrella.

The holiday makers were a little surprised by the arrival of 4 middle age men whooping on the beach, hugging and posing in their speedos! It was a great team effort, we fought for each other and cheered the swimmers on through the challenges on the route.

Armando treated us all to a wonderful dinner, 'what goes on in Caadaques, stays in Cadaques!'

It was all for a great cause, Age UK and a great bonding event.