Swimming day 536 - Wednesday 8th August 2012

No hours left….

Picked up in my car and on the way to Dover: –

Leo - 11.45pm – done  

Fiona - midnight -  done

Bob & Lindy - 12.15 -  done

Alex - 12.25 -  done

Shoichi - 12.30 -  done

James - meeting there – done

Everyone in the car and we got to Dover by 2.30am and met James and Lois (our 14 yr old crew member, back up swimmer and definitely future channel swimmer).  We were on the Louise Jane by 3.30am, all loaded and read to go.  The swimming order was set as follows:

Lindy, Alex, Leo, Shoichi, James, Rob.  The order was based on various things; the most important being that the two quickest swimmers get us out of Dover as fast as we can covering as much distance as possible; as expected Lindy & Alex did just that.

We had expected, and hoped for, a calm sea throughout and a bright sun once the moon had dropped off.  What we got was a gale force 4 from start to finish, a cloud covering that was greyer than something very grey and the odd splat of rain.  So this clearly was not going to be a channel swim with ease.

The swim itself was gladly not plagued by jellyfish as we all feared and a force 4 gale, whilst very choppy and bumpy, was not enough to stop 6 swimmers who spend every morning in the sea off Brighton; a sea which mirrors channel conditions so much.  In fact I would suggest that a lot of the unsuccessful attempts are because people simply do not have the opportunity we have to swim in such a similar sea everyday.  Saying that, I can easily think of at least 3 big differences between Brighton beach and the English Channel:
1) Sal content – the moment I jumped in the sea when James was finishing his leg I was shocked not by the cold water (it pretty much averaged 15 degrees the whole time which was spot on) but by the salt.  It was so acrid in the water, a mixture of salt content, natural chemicals that build up and also shipping oils (as well as the diesel fumes from the back of our back) that the moment I hit the water my throat started to swell up and the inside of  my nose started to burn – I had no idea how I was meant to swim for an hour like that.
2) Water volume – not only is the volume of water in the channel so much more than the local beach, but we were on a spring tide, which I now at last understand means that the water is building up for a bid tide and adds to the volume.  This makes swimming a lot harder and makes the waves and bumps massively heavier.
3) Shipping – Very rarely one is confronted by million ton tankers in Brighton beach!  In the channel they are like insects; none one minutes and hundreds the next.  Incredible to see, but very challenging when they are heading to you and creating massive waves.

Despite all of this Team Starrfish rocked.  Lindy was a speeding fish and was averaging 84 strokes a minute each time, Alex was hot to trot covering massive ground with an average 74 strokes per minute, crazy Leo & Shoichi were ploughing through with averages of 64 strokes a minute, Dr James was out old stalwart with no fear and no excused and was averaging around 60 strokes a minute and for me, well my average of 52 strokes a minute was good enough for someone who two years ago could hardly swim and had never been in the sea.

The Louise Jane, our boat, was perfectly adequate and the crew led by Andy King, were wonderful.  They wee totally supportive and did everything they could to protect us from the waves by trying to block them and by battling a massive tide to keep us as lose to our landing destinations as possible.   The Louise Jane is a fishing boat, as are all the pilots for the CSA, and it was basic to say the least.  There was the wheel house for Andy and his two crew, there was a small (elphin like) toilet outside the wheel house and then there was the back of the boat for us!  This was simply an open backed boat with large storage containers where we could keep our bags to protect them from the sea & rain and then we get to sit on them for 20 odd hours!  From the moment we boarded the sea was sloshing in over the decks and throughout the swim we were in a mix state of being thrown left, right, up and down and being sloshed in sea water. Getting into the sea was almost a welcome relief (almost!).

It worked like this; Swimmer 1 gets in by jumping in to the sea from the side of the boat.  The pilot offers his preference as to which side to try to protect you from the massive swells, however the choice is yours.  As it started at night time we wore flashing bright lights.  A whistle is blown and you start swimming.  The first person swims to the beach at Dover form the boat 9a few hundred metres), walks out to the further place beyond the sea and then enters the water to start the swim once the pilot sounds his horn.  The swimmer then swims as fast as possible for an hour.  Five minutes before the hour is up, with the second swimmer now changed into swimming gear and has Vaseline in the appropriate places (!), a whistle is blown and the swimmer is given a hand signal to show 5 minutes.  After the 5 minutes (which feels like another 20!!)  the swimmer hears two sharp whistle blows and then treads water.  The second swimmer then jumps of the boat, landing behind the first swimmer.  The firm swimmer then swims around the second swimmer, to the back of the boat and climbs out, with help from the crew (you are rather exhausted by then).  The next swimmer, now in the sea is signalled to swim for a hour.  The process is then repeated throughout the swim, with each swimmer doing an hour at a time exactly and following the sae swim order as was started.  If during this any of the swimmers in the sea touch the boat you all go home, if any of the swimmers touch another swimmer who just came in you all go home, if any of the swimmers swim out of the agreed numbers you all go home and if any swimmer refuses to go back in you all go home.  Oh yes and the pilot can call of the swim at any time if he fears for your health or simply feels you can not make it.  Lots or regulations and rules.  It goes without saying as well that wetsuits are not allowed, men must wear Speedos or trunks that are just below their bits and women can only wear small costumes suits.  Whist all this is going on the swimmer who just got out has to somehow, whilst the boat is rocking madly and the sea sloshing on the floor, get out of their costume, dried, get into their clothes, get as warm as possible and consume a hot drink an get some food in them.  Everyone else is simply sitting around on the boxes trying to stay warm and dry and trying not to be sick.

This is not a challenge for everyone; it takes a decent level of swimming ability (which I have only just got), a stomach that can take the boat rolling around for 20 + hours, a mental ability to just get in again and again and a need to complete the task.  If you have all that, plus a small amount of eccentricity, then maybe you can give it a go!

Our swim went as well as we could have hoped for, and with the help of Lindys fish like ability in the water, we reach our almost finishing point in amazing time; going passed a number of other channel swimming boats who mostly ended up going back home without success. BY the time we could see our destination up ahead the tide turned and we spent 90 minutes swimming in the wrong direction.  Thankfully the tide then changed back and the last two swimmers; being Me and then Lindy, had the tide behind us and enabled me to get us within half a mile of the coast and Lindy to then roar in like a mermaid possessed! Just a magical moment.
Job done we packed up and stored everything as best as we can and then settled on our boxes whilst Andy King put his foot down and darted back to Dover at top speed.  About 2½ hours later we were back at Dover and had the much welcome site of Little Bob awaiting our arrival and with him as the dedicated driver we headed back to Brighton at midnight.

All in all I was up from 6am on the Tuesday and then got finally into bed at about midnight on the Wednesday.  I guess that’s all I can say now. Mind you the Blog word count, being 189,080 words has probably said all that can be said!– blimey I really had way to much to say didn’t I; did anyone other than me actually read all that!!

So for me this journey, which started on Day 1 – Sunday 26th April 2010 and ended on day 536 – Wednesday 8th August 2012 saw me manage to learn to swim, battle the sea and gym daily and then eventually conquer the English Channel as team Starrfish.  It has to be said that so many people encouraged and helped me, but a few in particular went way above in support.  My wife Sharon particularly put up with 2½ years of me training for stupid amounts of hours every week and then coming home and moaning and complaining and worrying all the time; she is without a doubt my Starr.  Big Bob was my training partner for two years and has probably put up with as much of my madness as Sharon has – he really is a wonderful friend and if I got nothing from this experience apart from his friendship then it was worth all those hours in pain.  What can I say about Fiona; wonder women and almost every sense; without her I doubt I would ever have been able to take this challenge on.  Then finally all my BSC friends; all of them new friends to me and I hope that friends for life.  To LB and Lindy particularly, you are special people and I am honoured to now count you as my friends.

So what has my experience taught me; well for one that every challenge one takes on has to be about the journey; the end result certainly seems important, but it is the journey that shapes us and it is ultimately the journey that we remember.  It has taught me that when things get tough we can still do our best; our best may change from day to day, but we must always still do our best.  It’s taught me that if we are heading in one direction and then life decides to change that direction that maybe we should be big enough to let it happen rather than fight for something that perhaps is not for us after all and perhaps we should see where the new direction takes us.  For me to sum that up I have to use the words of a much brighter person that I…
“If you believe you can or if you believe you can’t, either way you are right”.

And finally for my Father, Edward Starr; you may not be with us in body Dad, but you inspired me all your life and you continue to inspire and teach me now and every day.  The day we meet up again will be nothing but joy for me, but in the meantime I will always do my best and will always try to make you proud.

The End

Until the next challenge that is…………………………………………. 2014 !?!?!

Swimming day 535 - Tuesday 6th August 2012 at 10.00am

This is the actual Starfish that was stuck to my shoe at the weekend; now my lucky starrfish!

18 hrs left to go …….

This morning saw the team down at the beach and having a gentle swim in preparation for later on.  Big Bob, James and I took a leisurely swim around the pier, nothing strenuous or fast.  The sea was an enjoyable 16.5 degrees, the air was a pleasant 14 degrees and the wind was down to a simmer (it was howling last night and clearly wore itself out).   We are still on for a 4am start and I am picking up the team on route to Dover from midnight tonight; I can’t believe after 2½ years of learning to swim and daily training that it’s almost here.

I’ll be keep an on-boat blog of the adventure and will upload it on Thursday for any interested persons to see; that will then be the final blog date.

Feel free to text me on 07771 921276 or email me at rob@starrtrust.com during the swim and it will be read; with any positive comments written on the white board so I can see it whilst swimming.

My boat is the "Louise Jane" and you should be able to log onto the Dover Harbour Master website and track the boat online if you want to - may be boring though as it's just a line accross the blue (hopefully a straigtish line!!).

My next blog, please god, will be following a successful and trouble free swim.  Please keep all fins and gills crossed for team Starrfish x

Swimming day 534 - Monday 6th August 2012

2 days to go …….

I awoke this morning to the sun and the rain and at 6.30am on the way to the beach I was met with this wonderful rainbow; yet another sign of the amazing world  we live in.

 

An email from Fiona today…

Hi All,
The CSA have ask me to be the official observer.....  Yippee!! No Cheating on my watch! 
Our Pilot thinks its a 95% chance we'll be going at 4am Wednesday. I have confirmed the logistics of this with another pilot whom I trust explicitly he informs me that he will also be taking a solo at that time,  Their feeling is, its better a flat sea on a spring tide than a choppy sea on a neap tide! - it makes sense!!
I will know for certain at 8pm tomorrow evening. 
Fiona xx

So it is all set for Wdnesday at 4am; leaving Brighton at Midnight Tuesday and then driving to Dover and getting it done!

What is a Neap Tide or a Spring tide; perhaps I should have looked these up and studied them before I even committed to the swim.  In hindsight, if I wasn’t so impulsive, I would have looked into channel swimming before I decided to learn to swim and take it on.  It’s such a massive task and there is so much to learn; least of all about swimming and about tides.  Anything I take on in future I shall slow down a bit and learn about it!  Saying that, this channel swimming journey over the last 2½ years has changed my life beyond recognition in so many ways and perhaps if I had understood the task ahead I may never have started on that road; so possibly ignorance was bliss after all!

Neap Tide & Spring Tide

The following is an explanation of spring and neap tides in relation to lunar and solar cycles - 



Since antiquity, people have noticed that oceans exhibit a much greater tidal range around the time of the full Moon and new Moon. This is when the Moon and Sun are either together in the sky or are on opposite sides of the heavens. Higher tides occur during these Moon phases because the Sun also exerts a gravitational pull on our oceans, although it is only 46 percent as strong as the Moon's.
When the gravitational effects of the Sun and the Moon combine, we get spring tides, which have nothing to do with the season of spring. The term refers to the action of the seas springing out and then springing back. These are times of high high tides and low low tides.
A week later, during either of the two quarter Moon phases, when the Sun and Moon are at right angles to each other and their tidal influences partially cancel each other out, neap tides occur, and the tidal range is minimal. In fact, because the oceans take a bit of time to catch up to the geometry of the Moon, spring and neap tides usually occur about a day after the respective lunar cycles.
Now morn has come,
And with the morn the punctual tide again.
–Susan Coolidge, American writer (1835-1905)

So that clears that up then!!!!!

Due to the volume of water being lower in a Neap tide it seems it’s a better option for a channel swimmer, however we are on a Spring tide and that is that; we have no choice as our window is our window.  The dice will be rolled and the result will be the result.  We will be successful I know that for sure, however what we judge success is a personal thing and it isn’t always about crossing the finishing line; it is so very much about the journey.

As Fiona wrote on the wall at the Kings Head Pub in Dover after her successful swim in 2009

“It’s not the sea we conquer but ourselves”

Swimming day 533 - Sunday 5th August 2012

3 days to go …….

With just a few days to go (hopefully) and a lazy Saturday yesterday, I thought a nice Sunday swim would be good for the mind.  I was in the gym today at 7.30am and did an exhausting hour and then got to an empty arch at 8.45am.  The sun was mostly up and the sea was mostly calm; a strong tide to the West, but hardly any waves.  There I was getting changed and about to slip on my crocs when I noticed something stick to the inside of the shoe.  I figured it was a piece of seaweed that must have been on the ball of my right foot on Friday and I must have simply trodden it into my shoe without knowing.  However on closer inspection it was not seaweed at all, it was the smallest, most perfectly formed Starfish. I’ve never seen that before. It was embedded in my right show, in the ball of the heel and it was absolutely perfect. 

I didn’t put the shoe on!!  I repacked them and when I got home after my swim (a gentle hour around the pier & buoys a couple of times) I had Sharon use a pallet knife to gently peel it off and save it.  As my Relay team is team “Starrfish” I shall take this as a very good omen indeed. 

Swimming day 532 - Friday 3rd August 2012

5 days to go…

Having been off the sauce for some time I hit the bottle last night; oh dear!  Let’s just say an incident at work with a member of staff letting me down very badly made me turn to the bottle!  Two cold beers and two very large whiskeys later I was more relaxed with life.  Sleep was fine (I wonder why!), but the head and stomach were a tad shaky this morning.  Definitely the last drink until the swim is over.

The sea this morning was nicely warm at 16.4 degrees; actually felt warm for the first time this year.  A very low tide and a very high sand bank let me stand with both feet flat on the ground and the sea only to my chest right next to the second buoy; that has never happened before – was I perhaps in a state of such peace and calm that I floated up without realising?  Despite the low tide and also an almost stationary tide, the waves were very choppy indeed.  After leaving the second buoy Bob and I headed around the pier and it was bump slap bump slap all the way.  He and I took completely different routes, with him heading straight to the pier and up along the side and with me heading straight out to sea and then along to the pier; we still met at exactly the same moment at the head and even crashed into each other; with the entire sea before us and heading in from different places we converged on exactly the same spot as if it were a target; funny really that this happens.  Olympic Gold for the swim target shooting!!

A good strong swim followed by a very strong coffee made for a good end to a tough week.  I know I’ve still got today ahead, but I have the feeling it’ll be OK!! A gym session with Ross after work (last before my swim as I’ll leave next week clear until after the relay)  and then home for a relaxing evening with a good book (no pipe or slippers as I’m not yet the age of LB or BB). 

Last night I laid out all the stuff I need to take on the swim.  It was really odd getting my bag together after almost 2½ years in preparation.  Butterflies were flittering in my stomach throughout and probably now will remain with me until after it’s completed (please god!).

Next week marks the Relay week, amazing!

Swimming day 531 - Thursday 2nd August 2012

With 6 days to go the sea throws a treadmill at us!

Great fun actually and superb exercise. Bob and I started at the groin, swam our hearts out for 20 minutes and were still at the groin!  The tide can be so powerful that sometimes it keeps you still and sometimes it shoots you back; without us swimming like that we would have been shot back across the whole beach and into the pier in a matter of minutes.  Our aim was simply to get across the groin to the next beach; it took 3 concerted efforts to do it and on the third we did it.  It was perhaps 2 metres only, but across the line is across the line and job done.

Afterwards I headed off to my final Physio appointment before my Relay and had an hour of Kim stretching my neck until I looked like a giraffe and squashing my shoulder muscles until they looked like squashed shoulder muscles (sorry I can’t think of a suitable alternative!).

Tomorrow will be an easier Friday swim and a Roaster coffee, plus a gym later in the day.  Then it’s a restful weekend awaiting next week .  I’ve got that excited Christmas feeling; nervous with anticipation but excited about the event approaching!

Fiona decided on our order today; based on who she needs to swim when in terms of speed, endurance and ability to handle the cold:

The following in order of starting:

Lindy

Alex

Shoichi

James

Rob (me)

Leo

The big Six Starrfish; wey hey

Swimming day 530 - Wednesday 1st August 2012

7 days to go…

A week today and game on (weather permitting of course).  If all goes well my final blog will be in 8 days times and I will be looking back over the last couple of years with some wonder; everything that can be crossed is being crossed by me at the moment.

Back to reality …..  Last night was “once again” busy at home with Jesse for some reason joining Mia in our room – just as we thought he had nailed it!!  By around 1am ish I was receiving physio treatment in my back and neck by Mia; thump thump, dig dig, thump, dig, push, pull; the full works.  She may only be 4 years old but boy can she kick and pull; a true physiotherapist in the making.

I was at the seafront by 6.45am and walking with Flick and Bog Bob to the arch.  It was busy there for a change; David, LB, BB, Me, Flick, Damien, James, Mark, Martina, Charlotte, Naomi and about another 4 or 5 I can’t remember.  It was nice to get some life back in the old place again after so many quiet months.  As for the swim today; Bob wasn’t feeling totally great and as such not wanting to push it too much, which suited me as I am in my last week of training and wanting to tail it down a bit.  So we headed out to the first buoy, rest, then the second buoy, rest, then the third buoy by the pier, rest and then diagonal back to the first buoy and rest!  At the last buoy I raised my goggles to my head and let the sea slowly bring me to shore.  I’ve never done that before and let just the sea take me in without any swimming at all; it was strange to do that as instinctively you want to kick, but it was nice all the same and very calm.  The thing about the sea in Brighton is that when we say that the tide is coming in or going out what we mean is East to West or West to East (left to right or right to left).  Many places the sea genuinely pulls you in and out, but in Brighton you will go left or right (or right to left) rather than out to sea.  The natural pull is to bring you in.  The lesson  is that if you are ever in the sea in Brighton and are too tired to swim in, don’t panic, just relax and let the sea do it’s thing.