The tales of an absolutely normal person… who wanted to swim from England to France; and on July 11, 2022, achieved that dream

Tracking My Swim

For those who would like to follow my progress directly, you can do that here: http://cspf.co.uk/tracking

My boat is Optimist, with Paul Foreman and Jason Parrott. I don’t know what day I’ll be swimming yet – I’ll keep you in the loop (it should be between July 12th and 19th).

There will likely be updates to the blog or to Facebook or both – I’ll let you know

Updates

11 July 2022 6:15 PM – Mission accomplished! Laura has made it in under 11 hours and is back on the support boat for the ride home.

11 July 2022 5:30 PM – Only about a mile and a half to go as the crow flies! Looks like she lining up to go straight in before the tide changes.

11 July 2022 3:15 PM – The tide is sweeping Laura south as she swims across. Everything is on track as her pilot will be lining up her route to shore! 

11 July 1:40 PM – Laura is well into the French shipping lane and making great progress. Her crew says she has “loads of smiles” and is having fun racing the boat to France.

11 July 2022 12:30 PM – She’s at the five-hour mark and just exiting the English (SW-bound) shipping lane and entering the separation zone. She’s swimming very well at a fast pace and is in good spirits!

11 July 2022 9:30 AM – She’s right around two hours into the swim and has completed her second feed. Everything is going well and she’s looking really strong.

11 July 2022 7:40 AM – And she’s underway a bit early, around 7:30. It’s a beautiful morning on the Channel!

11 July 2022 7:10 AM – Laura is on the boat and they’re headed over to the starting point! We’ll be posting photos as we can over on her Facebook page.

10 July 2022 – Eric here to keep everybody updated from now through the swim…Monday is a go! Laura and her crew will be meeting at the boat at 6:30 AM and she should be starting her swim around 8:00 AM.

9 July 2022 – Monday and Tuesday are the candidates – as of now Tuesday is looking like the better weather day. My pilot will submit forms for both days and we’ll make the call tomorrow. On a side note – my swim today was awesome. I had honestly temporarily forgotten that this could be easy and fun, having been pummeled by the ocean for the last 2 weeks. But now there is only one more day of pummeling left – then I can swim in whatever conditions I like!

8 July 2022 – Well that did not go well. Saturday was not an option, and I lost Sunday, possibly because I was stupid (gigantic face palm and eyeroll at myself). I’ll tell you the whole story when this is all over. But no worries, and no dwelling on it – Channel mentality, baby. It is possible that I could go Monday – I’ll let you know!

My First Update! 6 July 2022 – 1:00 PM – Got a call from my pilot. He may have space for me to swim Saturday, Sunday, or Monday, if I can find crew. Eeeeeeeeeee!

The tales of an absolutely normal person...
who wanted to swim from England to France;
and on July 11, 2022, achieved that dream

English Channel Fast Facts

The world’s busiest shipping lane

Fewer have crossed the Channel than have summited Everest

Length of the Channel – Approximately 21 miles

Length of the Channel swim – Now that’s the question. The slowest swimmer got swept off course and swam 65 miles. Your pilot will try to keep it as short as possible.

Water Temperature – 14-18C / 57-64F

Leave from – Dover, England

Arrive at – Calais, France

Number of Channel Swimmers – 2095 after the 2019 season (some with many, many crossings)

As of 2018:

Men – 1314

Women – 610

(Within the last decade (2008-18), 680 men, 310 women (69%:31%)

First Man – Captain Matthew Webb (21:40 in 1875)

First Woman – Gertrude Ederle (14:31 in 1926)

Fastest Man – Trent Grimsey (6:55 in 2012)

Fastest Woman – Yvetta Hlaváčová (7:25 in 2006)

Average age 40

Oldest Woman – 66

Oldest Man – 73

Success Rate ~66% average

Most Crossings (Men) – Kevin Murphy (34)

Most Crossings (Women) – Allison Streeter (43)

Most Consecutive Crossings – 4!!! (Sarah Thomas 2019)

Sea Life – Lots. Jellyfish the most problematic. Sharks not a remotely likely concern.

Most successful day – August 22

Most successful months – July and August

Neap/Spring Tide success rate – about the same overall

 

For a much more in-depth look, enjoy Julian Critchlow’s blog: https://coldwaterswimming.wordpress.com/2019/07/22/more-lies-damn-lies-and-statistics/

OK, so I can’t bring myself to take down the tracking stuff below yet, nor my English Channel post 🙂

Monday 5 December 2022

I’m back!

Don’t worry, the ocean and I are still friends

I have so much post-game English Channel stuff to share, you guys. But between working full-time (by hours, if not by pay… yet), catching back up to everything, oh yeah, our great European adventures, and a potential new project, this is the first day that I’ve actually sat down with the intention of writing something coherent enough to post. Don’t worry, all of the other stuff is written… but editing is boring and tedious and Ima need some tiny steps before I start prepping the archives to post.

For those who would like to follow my progress directly, you can do that here:  http://cspf.co.uk/tracking

My boat is Optimist, with Paul Foreman and Jason Parrott. I don’t know what day I’ll be swimming yet – I’ll keep you in the loop (it should be between July 12th and 19th).

There will likely be updates to the blog or to Facebook or both – I’ll let you know.

11 July 2022 6:15 PM – Mission accomplished! Laura has made it in under 11 hours and is back on the support boat for the ride home.

11 July 2022 5:30 PM – Only about a mile and a half to go as the crow flies! Looks like she lining up to go straight in before the tide changes.

11 July 2022 3:15 PM – The tide is sweeping Laura south as she swims across. Everything is on track as her pilot will be lining up her route to shore! 

11 July 1:40 PM – Laura is well into the French shipping lane and making great progress. Her crew says she has “loads of smiles” and is having fun racing the boat to France.

11 July 2022 12:30 PM – She’s at the five-hour mark and just exiting the English (SW-bound) shipping lane and entering the separation zone. She’s swimming very well at a fast pace and is in good spirits!

11 July 2022 9:30 AM – She’s right around two hours into the swim and has completed her second feed. Everything is going well and she’s looking really strong.

11 July 2022 7:40 AM – And she’s underway a bit early, around 7:30. It’s a beautiful morning on the Channel!

11 July 2022 7:10 AM – Laura is on the boat and they’re headed over to the starting point! We’ll be posting photos as we can over on her Facebook page.

10 July 2022 – Eric here to keep everybody updated from now through the swim…Monday is a go! Laura and her crew will be meeting at the boat at 6:30 AM and she should be starting her swim around 8:00 AM.

9 July 2022 – Monday and Tuesday are the candidates – as of now Tuesday is looking like the better weather day. My pilot will submit forms for both days and we’ll make the call tomorrow. On a side note – my swim today was awesome. I had honestly temporarily forgotten that this could be easy and fun, having been pummeled by the ocean for the last 2 weeks. But now there is only one more day of pummeling left – then I can swim in whatever conditions I like!

8 July 2022 – Well that did not go well. Saturday was not an option, and I lost Sunday, possibly because I was stupid (gigantic face palm and eyeroll at myself). I’ll tell you the whole story when this is all over. But no worries, and no dwelling on it – Channel mentality, baby. It is possible that I could go Monday – I’ll let you know!

My First Update! 6 July 2022 – 1:00 PM – Got a call from my pilot. He may have space for me to swim Saturday, Sunday, or Monday, if I can find crew. Eeeeeeeeeee!

Monday 11 July 2022

I did it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And whereas it is more entertaining when things go wrong… I can’t find it within me to be sad that I’ll be entertaining you less today 🙂

“Oh, the Places You’ll Go!” For a long time, I thought that I never would – Never give up!

The Tale of the Completely Normal Person

Summary

I am just a regular person… who wants to walk off of England and swim until I can walk onto France. (So “completely normal” may be a bit of a stretch.) I am a longtime swimmer, and I swam in college… but I grew up swimming in West Virginia (not known for it’s swimming prowess) and I swam in a very average way in NCAA Division 3. Since then I’ve had grad school and jobs and kids and a house and… swimming when I could fit it in.

So, a completely average person who frequently has other priorities.

But I do love to swim.

I’ve always loved to swim. My mother reports me crawling toward the water before I could walk. I love to be in the water and I love to train. Will it be enough? I have no idea! That is the fun part of all this. So come, if you will, on a journey with me to find out – Can I swim the English Channel?

____________________________________________________________________________________

This blog actually originated in November of 2018, as I started to started to really mentally commit to an upcoming Channel swim.

But I was way too chicken to post it anywhere at that point. Even though there were people who knew what was in the works (a very small number integral to advising me how to make it happen – Thanks Sherry and Vanessa!), I was in no way ready to spread the word.

But now, here I am, ready to document my efforts to swim the English Channel for your entertainment and my own sanity. (And it only took me a year to get up the nerve.)

Key in that decision were thoughts from a very wise friend (thanks Alice!) – I was bemoaning that I was reluctant to blog about it, given the chance that I might not be successful. She made me realize viscerally what I knew in my head – failure is not disqualifying (and will not make people like you less. Do we ever recover from our childhoods?). People will be interested in the story, even if it does not end in the way that I hope. Success has many measures, and at this point, I have made a full mental 180, such that success is the people I will meet and the experiences I will have along the way. Living in England alone is worth the whole adventure. And, you know, if you’re going to live in England, you might as well try to swim the Channel, right?

I’ve generated a decent amount of reading material over the last year, so I think what I will do is put up my archives for any who would like to read my thoughts from the beginning, but also offer a summary here for those who want to take it from the present forward.

P.S. I’m assuming most people know that it is, like, crazy difficult to swim the English Channel. And that fewer people have done it than have summited Everest. And that even if you completely prepare yourself for the long distance (21 miles), the cold water (16C/60F; no wetsuit, baby), the jellyfish (owwie), and the weather (unpredictable); something totally random can stand in your way (I talked to someone whose boat engine broke down this year. Other people start uncontrollably vomiting. Then there’s always hypothermia). The success rate is about 66%.

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