Day 237 - Thursday 21st April 2011

A quick dip in the ocean this morning as I’m off to London on meetings all day. Was at the Arch by 7am and in the sea by 7.05am. Swam on my own again, which means that I don’t push myself as hard with speed, but I do tend to stay in a little longer and go at a pace I enjoy. Rather than swim around the pier this morning I swam out to the helter skelter and then sideways along to the donut groin to the West and then back to the pier; total swimming time 38 minutes. Temperature was 9.2 degrees, so still heading upwards. The sea was calm and flat, but still had one of those very strong under currents pulling towards the east, so whilst a nice swim you did have to still swim hard to get back in. When I finished my swim I saw Little Bob finishing his (nice to see you swimming rather than paddling my friend!!) and we calmly strolled up the beach together.

After my shower I was about to leave the Arch when Jamie Goodhead came in from a swim. Jamie is the chap who is swimming the Channel this August and who we crewed for last year in his abortive Channel attempt. Really nice guy and a very decent swimmer. It was great to chat to someone else swimming the Channel this year and to hear how he is doing. He suggested a trip to Dover would be good for me next month, especially in terms of feeding ideas; I’ll speak with Fiona on that.

As for the day ahead, as the sun is shining and it’s expected to be in the mid twenties it should mean a lot of smiling faces all around, which certainly makes the day a lot happier. Unfortunately I’ll be in London on meetings, which will mean a hot day in a suit, however, on the fortunate side one of the meetings is with a potentially fantastic new client so hopefully that will go well and I can head back from London with a smile of my own.