I’ve gone through all of my saved email Channel to-dos this morning – yay me! I’m going to sum up all of my work (especially the timeline checklist I’m creating) when I get the chance.
As part of working my way through it, I emailed Tara Diversi and Christie Johnson:
“Hello ladies!
I am freaking out over my tide, and don’t yet have many trusted sources of information about the English Channel. I trust you guys.
Before booking my pilot, I tried my best to get clarity on the whole neap tide / spring tide issue, but now I am worried again. I am booked for a spring tide and my question is – is this a bad idea? I easily cover 1 mile in about 30 minutes (proven up to a 10K swim) and with training I expect to be able to hold that for quite a while.
Thanks in advance!”
Tara emailed me back – she wants to make sure that people check with their pilots, but the gist of why it’s OK for people who are the right speed is that with current GPS and information coming from the sea in real time, pilots can see where to position you to keep you heading in the right direction. Your track is longer, but it’s just you moving up and down the channel with the tide – your progress is perpendicular to it. I hadn’t heard the bit about the GPS before, and it makes total sense to me.
Ginormous sigh of relief.
And here are some links that came out of the process (note to self)
Here’s the Dover training group’s website
And here’s comprehensive instructions for CS&PF forms submission (2020)
(Documents are under Resources Tab / Documents Tab on the CS&PF website)
