“Last of the Summer Waves”  English Channel relay

Saturday night at 11:07 our first swimmer set off from Samphire Ho to swim as part of our six person relay to France. Even though the sky was beautiful with a full moon , with a NNE wind,  conditions were not ideal until the last five and a half hours of our swim.

I was swimmer number three and entered the water at 1:07am on Sunday morning , a nippy 16 degrees but I contended with the waves, saw a few fish under water with the lights of the boat drawing them higher to the surface. I was very glad to hear our helper, Ali Pereira, blow the whistle with a “five minutes to go warning” so I could up my pace for the last few minutes, and look forward to getting into some warm clothes and have a hot chocolate!

At 7:07am I was back in for my third swim, the sun was shining and even though it was still relatively rough and I was being pushed around by the waves, I was thinking of James. With about 15 minutes to go until my hour was up, the seas calmed down somewhat and I could swim in a more controlled and smooth way. We were now in the French shipping lane.

From then on the team had a strong current to push us south, but struggled around the ZC2 buoy as the tide turned.

My third swim was heading north, and with the wind now coming from the west I made good progress to the shore. I don’t think I have ever swum so hard in the sea, or enjoyed it so much as that final hour seeing the Cap Blanc Nez white cliffs looming closer.

The fourth swimmer had just sixteen minutes of swimming to do to land us on the beach. Unfortunately we could not all swim in due to safety.

Our relay now holds the record for the oldest ladies team to cross the Channel.

Members were:

Sally Minty- Gravett         60

Kathy Batts                     57

Ellery McGowan              70

Chris Pitman                   66

Dee Richards                 67

Irene Keel                      76