UPDATE - the swim on 19th August was postponed due to weather and will now take place on 16th September!

Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

On 19th August, I will be attempting to swim from Guernsey to Herm - a challenge which seems more enormous the closer I get to August.

I have never excelled at any sport (although have tried many!) but swimming is the one sport I do regularly. When the opportunity to swim to Herm in aid of two amazing charities came about, I naively thought it would just be a case of swimming a bit more often than usual and buying a wetsuit.

My first proper sea swim in May (as in head down and doing front crawl rather than splashing around on the beach with the kids) was a shock. I struggled to put my head under the water, felt claustrophobic and dragged myself the 400m across Havelet Bay feeling very despondent.

A month later I took part in a race at Portelet and ended up being pulled out by the inshore rescue boat with severe sea sickness and wondered how I would make 4.75km across to Herm.

A month later and on a blissful Sunday afternoon with the most perfect swimming conditions, I completed a 4km qualifying swim in 1 hour and 20 minutes! No backing out now!

Signing up to swim to Herm is an enormous challenge. I'm the wrong side of 40 for endurance challenges and I work 32 hours a week, have two small children and a house to run so finding the time to swim is not easy. I'll be the last one in the pool at Beau Sejour and in the sea every Sunday at 8am but hopefully the support of my family and friends will inspire me.

The two charities benefiting from our craziness are This is EPIC and The Guernsey Society for Cancer Relief. I've taken part in lots of fundraising events for This is EPIC and love what the team there is doing - empowering and inspiring people in some of the poorest communities in the world. I am blessed that none of my family have ever needed the support of The Guernsey Society for Cancer Relief but the work they do brings huge comfort to islanders at a time when they need it the most.

I hope that you can make a small donation and inspire me to make it across the water to Herm. 

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving - they'll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they'll send your money directly to the charity. So it's the most efficient way to donate - saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

Thank you so much for your support.

Katrina x