At 3:00am on Saturday 17th June, me and 5 other swimmers boarded the Louise Jane piloted by Andy and James King and started our Channel Relay. Ray was our first swimmer and jumped into the water just as the sun was starting to break. He swam to the shore stood above the sea level and waved, just as the clock started for our big channel swim. 5 minutes before his hour was up, Cate got ready and sat on the edge of the boat ready to jump in. Andy the observer called time on Rays first stint and Cate jumped off the boat into the water. Her hour was difficult with waves coming from every direction with no real form but despite this she covered a good distance and kept her head down. In the 3rd hour, Andrea did a very fast swim and took us up to the Northern shipping lane. After Andrea it was my turn, I’d been jumping up and down, excited to get in and do my hour. I had a good swim and got us through the northern shipping lane. Rob was next in and covered a good distance that took us closer to half way. The final person in the first run through of our relay was Sarah. She swam brilliantly and got us past half way and into “no man’s land” this is the area where you aren’t connected to French or English telecoms, you are very much on your own and just thinking about how far out you are and how deep the water is, really is amazing. After our first run through it was now 9:45am and we still had a long way to go.
We then started the whole order again and Ray, Cate, Andrea, me and Rob all completed our second swim. No one knew whether our last swimmer, Sarah would get the privilege of landing or would Ray get to finish on his third swim. After a tough swim against the waves, Sarah swam the penultimate hour that would keep us on track for the finish. Unfortunately, it was not to be and Ray had to get in a do the final push onto the slipway at Cap Gris Nez.
After 12 hours and 34 minutes, Team Dorkshire Swimmers landed in France.
Robyn Dyson