Day 137 – 25th November 2010

Air temp - 1 degree and light snow forecast! Sea temp- dam cold!

I didn’t sea swim yesterday as I had a London meeting at 8am, so I had to leave Brighton at 6.30am. Big meeting about the growth of Seico Group, I talked for 4 hours nonstop, more tiring than swimming! did manage a 90minute pool swim and a 40 minute gym sessions after work though, so I still got some exercise endorphins in to keep that guilt at bay.

This morning the sea was extremely calm and a low tide, which of course meant a cold walk until it was deep enough to swim, and boy could I feel the cold in my feel and my face, really painful by the end of the swim. My body seems to be fine, it basically my feet when I come out and my face when I go in; I’ll try to find a better swimming hat I think and maybe some swimming socks. Bob, Paul Smith (Swim UK Ltd) and I did an around the pier swim, which in terms of calm water was easier than an easy thing, however, in terms of cold it was a challenge. It took Bob and I about 22 minutes to get back; Paul, I think was a few minutes afterwards, but he was very weighed down by swimming socks and gloves. He said afterwards, which is a very good point, that the gloves & hats certainly provide the warmth, but if they slow you down it means you are in the sea longer and therefore get colder; interesting point in terms of using them or not.

By the time we got back to the Arches my feet and hands really hurt quite a lot and it took a hot shower to get them back to acceptable levels again; my feet in fact were still hurting for a good hour after I got back to the office. After we were all dressed we decided to guess the sea temperature; Paul said under 9 degrees, I think Bob guessed somewhere under 10 degrees and I specifically said 9.2 degrees. Seconds later Fiona came in from her swim, having not heard us talking about temperature, and proudly announced that her watch said the temperature in the sea today was ..........Take a guess .........





9.2 degrees!

Mission Impossible - News - Heart - Sussex

Mission Impossible - News - Heart - Sussex

Day 136 – 23rd November 2010

After yesterdays less than happy start, I was feeling much better when I got up this morning. Not 100%, but certainly a good 80%. When you hit your 40’s, 80% is not so bad! Oh my god I sound like an old man of 55!!!!!

This morning it was Shoreham Port day. After picking up Darren and Emily (from our Africa charity) at 7.30am we headed to Shoreham Port where we met up with Rodney Lunn, the CEO plus his team & a number of our other charity partners and some local businesses that support us and also some local press. The point of today was a PR exercise for the Port and also a fantastic opportunity for us to put together a DVD, courtesy of See That, of the Starr Trust to use for promoting our Swim4Smiles campaign. It was so amazing to see so many people turn up there at 7.30am just to see me take a dip in the harbour in my trunks; or maybe it was the free bacon sandwiches and coffee on offer? Mmmmm, which one could it have been?

After some chatting and filming I undressed and popped into my trunks and then we all headed off through the port to the harbour; surreal to say the very least! With everyone standing on the dock in anticipation I climbed down the ladder from a tug boat and took the plunge. The temperature was certainly warmer than the sea, probably around 12 degrees, so that was pleasant, however, the taste was somewhat diesly! I did a short swim from the dock to a waiting tug boat and back again, probably no more than 200 meters in all, and then climbed out to rapturous applause – I have to say I found it rather odd that people were clapping me for a 200 metre relatively warm swim; but hey ho one has to take the applause when one can!! What was particularly nice was that at least 4 people, two from the Port, told me that they thought my swimming technique was “fantastic” and that I simply glided through the water; considering that I only started swimming properly in April that was super nice to hear. Another great PR day for the Trust and the Challenge; everyday seems to get more exciting.

Day 135 – 22nd November 2010

Sea 9.8 degrees. A big drop from over 11 degrees last week. Air 6 degrees.

Not a fab start to the day. Woke up feeling sick and stayed in the bathroom for 20 minutes thinking I was going to be ill, wasn’t though. Got to the beach at 7am; the sea very very calm, hardly a ripple, although I swear it looked colder than usual if that is possible. An amazing sight this morning though was the starlings, there were three pockets of them, maybe a 100 in each, doing these amazing dances around the pier; it looked like a spell cast by a great wizard; incredible.

My usual friends were in the Arches; Two Bobs, David, Lindy, Paul, Soweichi, Simon; all keen and ready to go. We headed to the sea and all did our usual; some tiptoeing in, some staying close to the edge and some, Simon, Bob & I, taking the plunge and just going for it. It was Cold with a capital C! After a few hundred metres my sickness came back on and I had to stop swimming and just float for a couple of minutes until it subsided. Somehow floating in 10 degree water for a few minutes seemed to do the job and I was able to slowly breaststroke back in to shore. All in all not my greatest swimming experience so far!

After warming up I headed to the office and had my first meeting of the day with Southern Water's Head of Charity Fundraising, Kevin Buck MBE; a really great guy and full of enthusiasm. Despite my feeling unwell and not performing to my usual standard, I think that the meeting went really well; Darren and Micala sat in on the meeting and that certainly made my life easier. Kevin seemed very keen to work with us, especially with Swim4Smiles and also our CHOCS programme; so a very exciting meeting indeed.

After this meeting I headed home at full speed and just made the bathroom in time and then spent the rest of the day and night in bed feeling not so good! This is the first time I’ve been sick for ages, well over a year – I hate being sick!!!

Day 134 - 19th November 2010

7am and the first of two sea swims today. The second was at 10am when Fiona, Bob and I went back to meet Richard Lindfield (friend and local radio news reader) who is going to make a film blog for the Argus on my channel training.

Swim number 1 - It was around 4 degrees in the air at 7am this morning and it really made for a cold wake up call. The sea was back to be calm, which meant we could actually get in and have a swim, although the cold in the air and water made for what I can only describe as a “character building “ start to the day. We swam to the silver ball along the pier, then over to the donut on the groin and then traversed back to where we’d left our flip flops. All in all about 20 minutes I guess. I’m not sure yet how long we’ll be in at 10am, but if it’s much more than another 20 minutes I think I might be cold for the rest of the day!

Swim number 2 – Being back at the Arches at 10am and back into my Speedos seemed somewhat strange; I had barely thawed out from the first one and here I was again ready for another freezing! Saying all that, it was so sunny and gorgeous by this time, that it was a pleasure to be back down there. We met with Richard and two young lads he is training and they set up their camera and interviewed us individually, then filmed us in and out of the sea. It caused a slight stir on the promenade as people stopped to watch the three crazies in their swimming costumes; some people even came over and asked us if we “are really” going to go in the ocean (they were American, so it was all very British to them!). The interviews and swim lasted around half an hour and was good fun. Hopefully it’ll be available to watch over the weekend and then I can link it to my blog for all to see.

Aside from the two swims this morning, there was great discussion/debate in the Arches on my use of the word Pilchards in my blog (see blog dated day 132) – this rowdy discussion was led by Little Bob (you need to make up your own minds on which bits of him are little – I am sure this line will start another debate!); he was clearly the ring leader in the attack on my verse, however, he was soon joined by all those who felt 'pilchards' was just not a kind word to describe my fellow BSC members. On the drive back from the Arches to work I gave this matter some thought to see if I could think of a better word to describe grown men & women lying flat together on the beach being washed over by freezing mountains of water. I considered “brave” as an alternative, I considered “wondrous” as a description I even thought of words such as “heroic”, “extraordinary”, “phenomenal” & “astounding”, but after much thought and internal deliberation I just kept bringing back to my mind the picture frozen there of grown men and woman lying next to each other on the beach and all I could see in my minds eye were Pilchards! But we should not forget the value of Pilchards should we? They are rich in so many things; vitamin, calcium, protein to name just a few. Also it should be remembered that in my prose I could have referred to us all as Sprats or Plankton!! So to Bob and all his cohorts perhaps after all you should slapping me on the back and thanking me for the kindness shown in my description; food for thought my friends, food for thought!!!

Day 133 - 18th November 2010

Another choppy day, but at least I managed to get in!

Nothing really like yesterday, however still a very strong pull as well as large waves on shore. After much thought I decided to just go for it and launched myself in through a big wave and kept my arms going until I cleared the breakers and was out into the deep. Bob and Midgie were not so sure and were heading for the girlie beach, but decided to stay and watch me as they were a bit worried about me! Bless em; I was really fine though. Then from nowhere Big Paul Smith came lumbering down the beach, straight passed them and hurled himself in, joining me in seconds. I think this was the driving force that made Bob throw caution to the wind, then suddenly I was not alone ; one became three! Midgie stayed on shore as I guess she was the one with a tad more sense!

The swim was rather tough as the sea was very choppy and cold, but we got to around the silver ball before heading back. The swim back was actually a challenge; Bob had a fight with a large wave, Paul got in after about 3 unsuccessful attempts, but as usual the Starr luck stayed with me and my entry missed the big wave and I coasted to shore on a nice mid sized one. Great to get in and have a hard workout. Let's see what tomorrow brings.

Now on train to London for a more normal few hours with more normal people; if only they new how my day had started! On the train I had a chance to look over the Trusts proposed 21 children projects that the Channel swim will be sponsoring; I'd swim it for any one of them let alone all of them, all amazing and such worthwhile causes. Hopefully they will be finalised in a couple of weeks and then I'll blog them for you to see.

Day 132 – 17th November 2010

After two very calm days, this morning the wind made a triumphant return. As friends, the wind and the waves really go everywhere together; and boy oh boy were they here together today.

This was yet another first for me; this was the first day we could “not” get into the sea due to the weather. Usually on a day like today we would go onto the “girly” beach; being the one on the East side of the Brighton Pier as it is usually not as mad because the pier blocks a lot of the movement. However today the girly beach was more like a lady with PMT; ANGRY and unforgiving!! There was no way one would attempt to even step near the sea on the that side. So there we were, maybe 8-10 of us, standing on the edge of the sea on our normal beach, just trying to see where/how we could get in. The waves were so big and powerful that just looking at them made you wonder on the madness of going in. After a few attempts by a couple of people it was clear that going in would be very difficult, if not suicidal, but coming out would be potentially bone breaking; I am “not” exaggerating. I’ve been in some very rough seas of late, but really haven’t seen waves as powerful as this before. We did try a few times to get in, making our way almost to the foot of some monsters, and in the process getting soaked by waves much taller than us, but it was just simply too dangerous. You would have thought at that stage we would have all turned around and headed straight back to the warmth of the Arches and dry clothes, but oh no, this is the Brighton Swimming Club, such common sense could never prevail. Instead, like a bunch of eccentric fools, we simply all lied down as close to the edge as we could get and let the waves crash over us! Just how crazy would that have looked from the seafront! We were simply like a line of adult pilchards along the sea shore; crazy, but huge fun. Just lying there and letting the waves go over you was actually extremely hard; not just from the cold water, but from the strength of the pull. You had to literally dig your legs into the stones and push you palms as far down as you could, otherwise you were sent rolling down the beach, being scratched and turned on the Brighton pebbles as you went; which happened a number of times despite your best efforts to hold yourself in place. A lot of fun in a lot of respects as it really made you forget you are an adult with a shoulder full of responsibilities and let you just feel like a kid again; however, once is enough as we were there to swim and swim was what we wanted to do.

Hopefully tomorrow will still have some challenges, but fingers crossed we can get in and out safely. Once again what a difference a day makes!

Day 132 – 16th November 2010

Today was much like yesterday in terms of temperature and conditions, although as usual the actual swim cannot be compared to yesterday as each day is very much governed by so many things, not least one’s own feelings that day. For me today was a much “nicer” swim than yesterday although that’s not to say I didn’t enjoy it yesterday as well. Today was very much a colour day; it really is incredible the colours one sees when one is in the sea. The sun was a reddygold, the pier was almost maroon, the sea was kind of milky, the clouds were virtually opaque, the sky was a mixture of light blue and dusk all swirled together; seriously a really poetic colourful morning. I never in my wildest dreams would have thought sea swimming could evoke so many emotions and thoughts just through the colours, quite something.

As for the actual swim itself; Bob and I went around the pier again, keeping a steady pace I think it took us about 26 minutes. In this temperature that is a decent pace; we even stopped briefly a couple of times to chat (only briefly though as you don’t in want to be hanging around in this temperature). It was funny actually because when we stopped around the head of the pier to chat I could still see our breath in the air. The temperature walking down the beach was circa 3 degrees and the temp in the water was probably about 10.5 degrees. Coming out we met Simon on the beach, and the three of us walked back up to the Arch; my feet at this time was so cold that they actually hurt. It seems that I can take the cold OK in my body; my face hurts when I get in but soon warms up, however my feet are the issue. They get really cold very quickly and then start to hurt when we come out of the sea and walk up the beach. Now, some 70 minutes later, I am at the office and my right for (little toe particularly) is still a mixture of being numb and painful. I guess I should consider wearing swimming socks again, but I really want to put that off as long as I can as I really don’t love the feeling of swimming in gloves or socks. There is talk about a wet suit for the winter so we can stay out in the sea longer; but I really am not sure I’ll do that; I really want to stay just in my trunks if I can.

Off to London in a minute for a day of meetings, hopefully my feet will warm up soon. Also I have got this ridiculous swimming cap line around my forehead, it looks weird to say the least! I desperately hope it fades for my first meeting; can you imagine walking into a high powered London meeting with a dent around your head – nice!!!!

Day 131 – 15th November 2010

Boy it felt cold today. The air temperature this morning at 6.30am was around 4 degrees and the sea temp was 10.9 degrees. I know that it is going to get down to half of that pretty soon, but for now this is plenty cold enough thank you.

After a few days craziness, the sea was very calm today. There was a fairly strong current from East to West and then a strong pull back to the beach once you went around the pier and were near the stairs coming back. It was a once around the pier swim with Bob and it probably took us about 25 minutes I guess; the cold does slow you down, but you want to keep moving the whole time because if you stop you really will cool down even more. The cold seems to be OK in my body when I get in; the pain for me is in my face, particularly around my temple – it really is quite painful for a few minutes. After that you pretty much get used to it and then it’s just a cold swim. The walk back up the beach is always hard on the feet and then I found driving to work afterwards I was shivering a little (just a little though). Hopefully we’ll have a couple of clear days like today so that we can get some swimming in, but I think that the waves are due to return later this week. As for the pool; if my cold goes then I’ll do a 5 hr Wednesday as usual, but if my cold persists I may well just stick to the sea and the gym this week and return next week – I really need to get this cold gone now as it’s now in week 4! I will go to the gym after work for an hour as last week I only went once in the week and then also Saturday night. My gym sessions do need to now start increasing. Hopefully Ross from Esporta will deal with that once he’s back from his hols.

On Friday afternoon Micala and I met with Rodney Lunn, the CEO of Shoreham Port. It was a really good meeting as Rodney expressed that as well as making a financial donation to the Swim4Smiles challenge, he is keen for the Port to also support me in terms of PR and events, as well as letting me swim in the Harbour whenever I want. Swimming in the harbour will be good for me as it will be yet another test in terms of swimming style and also it will make some good PR for both the Port and the Starr Trust.

Day 130 – 12th November 2010

So nice to be back in the sea today after two days in the pool; the sea really opens up my airways and lets me breathe again; I might need to take a week away from the pool and see if that helps. We were meant to be filmed today for the Argus, but sickness their end meant it is postponed until next Friday; shame really as the conditions today would have been a good site to behold.

No rain today which was good, but plenty of wind (in the air that is!!). The sea was really rough, so we went in on the girls beach and just played around, although if you had been there you might not consider it playing. It was quite hard to actually swim as the tide was really strong and dragging to the Marina and the waves were just constant and dragging (literally like a clamp on your body) you out to sea. We swam a short distance out, but it felt a little scary as it wasn’t an easy swim to get back in; so we kind of stayed near the shore as much as we could. As for the temperature, it felt like 10 degrees today; my face actually hurt for a couple of minutes.

Whilst I do love these days, I really could do with a calm sea for a few days now so I can do some sprints around the pier and work on my distance and speed. Let’s see what Monday brings.

Another week over, another week of ups and downs (literally) and another week closer to my Channel swim!

Fundraising still has a mountain of way to go, but we are almost at 10% of the fundraising challenge, which is £10,000; I personally think that is amazing in two months.

Day 129 – 11th November 2010

Not having gone to the sea today I can only imagine how big it must have been. The weather this morning was appalling; heavy winds and rain, but today was my second Falmer day. I finished my pool swim as planned for the week and at 9.30am I met with Ross and we completed my assessment; body fat, muscle tone, water balance etc. At this stage none of it means much to me, but he seemed to understand it all, or at least he sounded like he did!! He is now away for 2 weeks and then on his return he will be completing a swimming technique session with me to see how I am doing and will also start me on my new gym plan and eating plan. I get the feeling that this will increase my physical week to yet another level, although I am not sure how that is possible as I seem to be constantly swimming, running and weight lifting – how my muscles aren’t growing I am not sure, but hopefully they’ll get there in time for the swim!!

Tomorrow I’m in the sea at 10am as Richard Lindfield is going to be filming me for the Argus blog; hopefully the sea will be big and they can see the madness that sea swimming in November really is.

After tomorrow I may take a few days off from swimming as I still am really badly stuffed up with a cold, which has now been for about 2 weeks and I really need to shift it as I can hardly breath from my nose at all. I probably shouldn’t go tomorrow, but I have committed to the filming and also I really want to finish this week off with a decent sea swim.

Yesterday afternoon Darren, Mel & I met with five of the charities that would like us to support them as part of Swim4Smiles; oh my god how emotional was that. It was so inspiring to meet such incredibly dedicated people, but it was so draining to hear such sad stories about children who just need a chance in life; I so admire these people who get down to the work and make such a difference to these children around the world; I would swim the channel twice over for any one of them let alone all of them; there really are some amazing people in the world. This afternoon hopefully will be a big boost for all these charities as I am meeting with the CEO of Shoreham Port as he has expressed that he would like to support the Starr Trust and Swim4Smiles, which is very exciting.

Day 128 – 10th November 2010

The weather must have known I was in the pool today as it decided to stop raining, stop being windy and let the sea have a much needed rest; a perfect day for a sea swim!! Oh well, I was in the pool and that was that!

I did a 3 hour swim today, which being a lot less than my usual 5 hr, meant I was actually thinking it would be rather easy. I am pleased to say that all in all it was rather easy. The first hour, as usual, was quite tough, but once I got through that I found the next two hours to go by in a flash. The pool was quiet generally, allowing me to have my lane to myself for most of the time which was great. I also had my Fiona in the lane next to me, which is always great company. For a change I decided to make each hour different; the first I swam as normal, the second I used a pool buoy , which is a float you keep between your thighs to keep your legs still so you just use your upper body and then the last hour I used hand paddles, which are like solid paddle gloves that you use to pull you through the water and they really work your shoulders. It made it a more interesting swim and by the end of the sessions I could really feel the workout.

Tomorrow I have another 3 hour swim, then followed by a 45 minute assessment by Ross at Esporta; Ross is going to be my new trainer. He is a Tri-Athlete and hopefully will be taking over from Mark on my swimming technique, plus becoming my gym instructor and dealing with my nutrition. It’ll be great having one person doing all this, leaving Fiona to help me in the sea. I’m not sure what the assessment contains, but I doubt it’ll be nice and gentle! Roll on Friday for my dip back in the ocean!

Day 127 - 9th November 2010

Another day very similar to yesterday, although the wind was nowhere as strong. The sea was very wavy indeed, in fact so wavy that Bob and I tried to swim around the pier, but only got as far as the helter skelter, because wave after wave just pushed us back; I think we swam the furthest out of everyone there was this morning. The crowd were the usual suspects, however, this morning Fiona also came down for an early swim which was lovely. We stayed out for around 30 minutes, which was extremely good as it was certainly a strong workout as well as staying acclimatised to the cold – Fiona had a temperature gauge on her and it showed 12.2 degrees, although I thought it seemed warmer than that. Whilst it sounds obvious to say, it is now definitely proving to me that winter sea swimming is so much different from summer sea swimming in so many ways; temperature, waves, tidal, rain, darkness, number of people, length of swim. However, not all these are negative points as it is certainly much more challenging and a lot more fun.

On the home front, the Twins are still not better yet and Jesse in particular is finding having a bed a bit odd. I found him this morning at about 1am in the hallway near the stairs! I scooped him up and brought him to bed with me for an hour and then took him back to his car bed, which luckily he was happy to go back to. It did mean that last night I only had about 3 hours sleep, but that’s OK.

Tomorrow is a pool day, which is a shame as the sea is so much more fun, but as I am doing two 3 hr pool swims this week rather than a single 5 hour I don’t mind so much. 3 hrs sounds quite easy to me these days.

At 11am today I am heading to the Grand Hotel on Brighton seafront as they are presenting me with a fantastic auction prize that the Starr Trust can use as a fundraiser for Swim4Smiles – it is for next summer, a champagne lunch for 8 people on the Grand’s own Yacht sailing around Brighton, followed by an evening meal at Hotel Du Van for 8; I want that prize myself!! Hopefully it’ll go for much more than I could afford; which shouldn’t be hard.

Day 126 - 8th November 2010

Lovely weather to start the week off today. Anyone looking out of their window this morning would not have been surprised to see lashing rain hitting their windows and violent wind throwing leaves and rubbish all around; the clue was in the screaming wind that started at about midnight and was still screaming at 6am. Did that stop me from going for a nice dip in the sea? Did it Eck!

Driving down to the seafront at about 6.45am I did wonder on the sanity of it all and I really didn’t expect many people to be at the Arches. On parking up by the pier who did I see cycling past, almost flying up into the wind? Nope not the wicked witch of the west, although I am sure she was up there somewhere looking out for flying houses, nope, I saw my good friend and fellow crazy, Bob. There was me driving in thinking it was mad, yet he was on his bike! Gotta love that English 'can do' attitude.

Getting into the Arches, already soaked from the rain, we saw three set of clothes for swimmers already in and then we were joined by about another seven. It seems that mad days really do bring out the madness in sea swimmers. By the time we were at the sea itself we were freeing cold from the 6 degree air temperature, crazy wind and lashing rain; upon diving in and through the waves it was fantastic to warm up – the sea must have been a good 13 degrees today; way warmer in the water than on the beach. The sea itself was somewhat odd in so much that despite the conditions around us the waves were not mentally high, although they were extremely constant, and the tide seemed to be having a rest, no real pull left or right. So it was a simply case of swimming in, up and through wave after wave. Simply good fun and good exercise.

Coming out of the sea was cold though because as soon as you came out you were back in the normal world of cold air and rain; but blooming good whilst it lasted. Getting back to the Arches it took me a good minute to just turn the key to open the door as my fingers were so cold; but a warm shower soon sorted that out. Really hoping for another day like this; perhaps without the rain though!

Onto the Starr Trust www.starrtrust.com now; we have sold nearly 250 tickets for the barn dance! Amazing. The venue only holds 300 and that is without the entertainment we have going in; so 250 will completely fill the place up. A fantastic way to get the Trust message out there and get more people following Swim4Smiles and all the good work we are doing.

On the home front; yesterday Sharon and I took down the two cots and built the Twins a bed each. Now all my babies are in proper beds; I guess that means that they are not babies anymore! Where did that time go!!!!!

Day 125 - 5th November 2010

The last time I swam was exactly a week ago, in fact no exercise at all in this time. Whilst I've needed the time off to get better physically, I have found myself feeling mentally weak. Exercise for me seems to not only make me stronger physically but also mentally. Which in my life, with everything that I do, is vital. Therefore, whilst my cold and sore throat persist, I just had to get up early today and get in the sea. It was hard leaving the house this morning as Jessie is not very well and he was in bed with us and he really wanted me to stay; whenever he's unwell he just wants his Dad. The fact that I had to go to work anyway meant that I had to leave some time, but it was still hard hearing him crying for me to stay. I'm sure it only would have lasted a few minutes, but still pulls at your heart.

This week so far, as told to me by Handsome Bob every day by text [thanks Bob] has been very rough day by day. Some days so rough that it has been dangerous and not just not swimmable. Typical that I've missed all the fun! Anyway, back to my swim today.

I got to the Arches at 7am and pretty quickly was joined by about 9 others, a popular place this morning! Coming down the beach and seeing some very big waves meant that everyone, apart from Leo [of course] and Simon, went to the girly beach to have a play. I decided, against Bob's advice, to join Leo and Simon and do an around the pier swim. Jumping straight in without a pause we were faced with waves probably 6 feet and very angry. Swimming to the end of the pier through a very dangerous sea was not so bad, although it wasn't a walk in the park either. Getting around the pier added another dimension, simply trying to avoid being thrown into the pier. I tried as much as possible to follow Leo and Simon's line as they are way better at this than me. Having made it around the head safely I then saw mountains of water everywhere and only could just spot the shore, which looked miles away [only about half a mile in reality]. For a few minutes of swimming back through the crashing waves and the temperatures, it crossed my mind that maybe I had bitten off more than I could chew! But there I was and no way was I going to burden the boys with getting me back, so it was a case of simply putting my head down and fighting through it. It wasn't long before the shore was almost in reach and safety seemed assured.

Of course, in the sea one should take nothing for granted! A huge wave, and I mean really huge, literally swept me up, pulled me under, spun me around and threw me face first onto the shingle. First time that's ever happened to me and somewhat weird and shocking. Quickly getting myself on my feet, I ran up the beach a bit to avoid the following wave, just to see grab Leo and Simon and treat them to a spin! Walking back up the beach with them I was feeling tired and a little scratched up, but also quite full of life! At the Arches I emptied a bag of shingle out of my Speedos before showering, nice. Leo of course through all this still managed to take photos and movies; incredible bloke. Both Leo and Simon were real stars, staying near me the whole swim. I'm lucky to have such good friends so quickly in my time with BSC. All this and it was only just 8am on a Friday - funny old life.

In the afternoon I was at Esporta and chatting to Ross, one of their top trainers, and he said that he would like to get Esporta to support as well as putting up the Swim 4 Smiles display. Also our Barn Dance is almost sold out. Plus Southern Water and Shoreham Port have agreed to support Swim 4 Smiles. Another plus, Darren my brother in law, has just returned from the Middle East having visited two of our projects and he came back absolutely elated by what we are achieving there.

I think that's enough for today. Friday 5th November has truly been an explosive day of fireworks for The Starr Trust. Fabulous!

No Swimming today – 1st November 2010

While the French argue (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-kent-11664240) the merits of banning channel swimming and the CSA and others fight the good swimming corner, I shall take a few days rest. All this arguing just wears one out!!

I still don’t seem to have shaken off this bad cold that took hold after my 5 hour swim last Wednesday; it’s really unlike me to have a cold for 5 days, usually 2 days and it’s gone. I guess I’ve never before gone into the sea day after day with a cold; that could be why! Also over the weekend I developed a bad chest cough that left me with an awful rasping cough that even sent the Halloween ghouls into hiding. So after much guilt and asking the approval of Sharon, Fiona, Bob (any ayone else would I could get to offer me solace) I have decided to take a few days to get myself better.

The intention is to take this week off from all training and then start fresh and anew next week, but we shall see. If I start to feel refreshed and better then I’ll get back to it midweek; the key will be if the guilt of not training outweighs the guilt of training whilst unwell.