Where to begin...

I guess a good place to start is what I am doing and why?

This swim (English Channel Solo) has been years in the making. Rewind to June 2021, after we (Sole Mates team) finished our English Channel Relay, I knew I wanted to come back to the English Channel & swim further & longer. I stepped off Paul Foreman's boat, with a feeling of wanting to come back, totally unsure of how I would, & nauseous just thinking about how much swimming I'd need to do, to be 'ready'.

Three years later, & in a nutshell I've done a lot of swimming ;) I've learnt a lot about the sport, the sea & myself.

Weather permitting, in mid-July, I will leave a beach just around the corner from Dover, to set off and swim the 21 miles to France. I'll have my trusty pilots guiding me across one of the busiest shipping lanes, & through a number of tidal gates, along with my beloved crew Daniel, Jane & Chloe, who'll regularly throw me drinks & snacks, & provide a huge amount of encouragement & support.

But this swim isn't just about me ticking off a dream, it's more than that. It's an opportunity to raise awareness & resources for a charity whose aims & ambitions resonate strongly with me.

I want to raise money for Surfers Against Sewage, a grassroots charity that campaigns for a thriving ocean. Whether you're a surfer, a swimmer, a dipper, a stay on dry land & look at the sea viewer. Whatever your affinity with the sea, we can all be united, to want to protect it, from sewage, to plastic pollution, and to support ocean recovery & the climate emergency. SAS do a huge amount of work to campaign, protect and restore, but their work is only possible with the help of donations.

I'll be very grateful for any donation you can make, your support means the world, thank you Carmen x