swimming the English Channel
Sam Penny's journey to conquer the Everest of swimming
This story is only about the day of my English Channel swim and the few days either side. This is not about the journey, which was far more challenging than this day. One day I will attempt to capture the journey in words.
"If the journey wasn't challenging, the destination wouldn't be rewarding". Firstly, getting to Dover is a waiting game. One of the traditions of the Channel is that just after 7pm, you get a call about whether you are swimming the next day or not. The boat pilot waits for the 7pm weather forecast before the final decision is made. Quite often, you have a fair idea if it's going to be a swimmable day based on the forecasts. But you just need to wait. And wait we did. On four nights we received a call from our support head, Tim Denyer, about if we were swimming.
9 Comments
I've got the call! I'm heading off to tackle the English Channel at 5am Monday(2pm Australian time)! This is very exciting. I'm hoping to do this 34km trek in under 12hours. Let's hope the weather stays brilliant with the waves, current and wind at my feet. We will have a final confirmation at 7pm our time tonight and post updates on the below Race Boss page. With the English Channel, it is a real waiting game. 1 year of preparation has come down to this moment where we wait for the right conditions. Being patient has been easy for me but not so easy for Helen. I am 100% ready for this and very excited. (Make sure you click on the Read More) |
AuthorSam Penny is attempting to swim the English Channel in August 2018. Follow his journey here. Archives
August 2018
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