Successful !! Wednesday 6th September 2023. Started at Shakespeare Beach at 12.54am and landed at Cap Gris Nez at 11.54am. Eleven hours exactly. Congratulations all round !

This is no easy feat. The English Channel is the world’s busiest shipping lane notorious for its harsh waves, floating debris and abundance of jellyfish. In fact, more people manage to scale Mount Everest than swim the English Channel!

Our team includes our Captain Daniel, Esmee, Joey, Mac and Sam, who are competitive club swimmers, friends and 6th form students in Kent, all 17 years of age.

We plan to swim from Shakespeare's Beach or Abbots Cliffe Beach in Dover to Cap Gris-Nez, the headland halfway between Calais and Boulogne in France. The distance is 18.2 nautical miles which is approximately 21 land miles but can fluctuate according to the weather conditions and tide.

The swim is a combination of physical strength, endurance, and mentality as we will be swimming through day and night in sea temperatures between 16 and 18 degrees with no wetsuits!

Each team member will swim an hour in rotation, with a 5 minute change-over period. We will be accompanied by a support boat and crew from the Channel Swimming and Piloting Federation along with our Channel Swim coaches Tanya Harding and Clair Harris.

Over the last 6 months, the team has undertaken cold water training at Bewl Water reservoir, Holborough Lakes and Dover Harbour. We all successfully passed the tough qualifying swim on the 3rd June, completing a 1.5 hr swim, followed by another 1 hr swim, after an hour recovery, in freezing 12.9 degree waters.

We will continue training until September and take part in a number of events to help continue our acclimatisation to the cold water. We will be undertaking a 24-hour relay swim at Shepperton Lakes in June, competing in the Brighton Pier to Pier Swim Race in July, and training up in the Lake District in the school summer holidays.

We are raising funds for two major charities that are very close to our hearts:

LEVEL WATER

This amazing charity provides specialist one-to-one swimming lessons for children with disabilities, all over the country, to help them develop physical skills, become socially included and to build self-esteem and resilience.

We feel privileged to be able to give back and help other children to learn and enjoy what we love doing best!

BRAINS MATTER

This very special charity provides invaluable support to adults, and their families, who have been affected from acquired brain injury, either as a result of a traumatic accident, or an incident such as a stroke, haemorrhage or brain tumour. Acquired brain injury is the largest cause of acquired disability in the working age population. It is estimated that 8,000 people across West Kent have an acquired brain injury.

Brains Matter offers a plethora of services in West Kent including community out-reach, drop in support groups, day centre activities, family support groups and hospital navigators.

PLEASE SUPPORT AND SPONSOR US AND HELP US TO RAISE FUNDS FOR OUR SPECIAL CAUSES., WHICH WE HOPE WILL BE SUPPORTED EQUALLY.

WITH ALL OUR HEARTFELT THANKS,

DANIEL, ESMEE, JOEY, MAC AND SAM