The English Channel - a crew's perspective

As some of you know I have been away for the last couple of weeks to help out with an English Channel swim attempt by Mr Hunnymonster. Below are some of my random thoughts about the whole thing.

Both of us have a background in endurance events, neither of us are swimmers so the channel was a strange one. In fact Mr HM first learned to swim in 2005 and me in 2006. We both started because we wanted to take part in ironman triathlons. Swimming the channel is very different from other things we have done because no two crossings are the same. The effects from the weather and the tides mean you never know what you are going to get.

We arrived in Dover on the 4th September for the first neap tide window which started on the 5th. Even the journey there was difficult with the drive to Rosslare then the ferry and an 8 hour drive the other side to get to Dover. We stayed in Varne Ridge with Evelyn and David who have a long history of looking after channel swimmers. The weather was awful for the first weekend and we spent most of the time holed up in the mobile home. Needless to say this didn't help the humour of the swimmer who was nervous as hell. On sunday I got out for a couple of hours and ran a marathon in Margate. It was a great stress buster and I finished 3rd. The weather started to improve on Monday but the winds were still high and very few people were getting out to swim. We were really getting frustrated at this point as it started to look like we might not even get out at all. By Thursday, the weather had improved enough that we were able to say Friday or Saturday would be good enough. Unfortunately this coincided with the tides increasing (stronger currents) but good weather is more important than slack tides so we were going to go for it.

Thursday night we got the call from our pilot to say we would be leaving at 7am on Friday morning. We were due to have an experienced swimmer and crew person on the boat but because of the short notice she couldn't make it to Dover on time so it was up to myself and a training buddy of mr HM to crew for him.

Friday morning was calm and we got on the boat in a nervous silence. Our first job of the day was to get out from Dover harbour along to Samphire Hoe beach where we were going to start. We greased Mr HM up with lots of vaseline and lanolin and dumped him off the boat to swim to shore. 8am and we were heading for France. Water temperature was 15-16 C, much better than we've had in Ireland all summer.

He had a great start, good stroke, calm water. The first bit of trouble we ran into was one hour into the swim when we stopped for his first feed. Mr HM cannot thread water very well so stopping to drink was a problem. He was spiting back any solid food we tried to give him. This got even worse after 3 hours when his hamstrings started to cramp badly whenever he moved from the front crawl to feed. Our carefully crafted feeding plan went out the window and we started to increase the concentration of his drinks and added electrolytes and anti-inflammatories to help with the cramping. His stroke was still very strong and we were making good progress at about 3.2 km/hr. I was also very sea sick and when not feeding him, I was most likely to be found on the other side of the boat depositing the contents of my stomach overboard.

the channel is 21 miles across at the shortest point but most people swim closer to 25-30 miles with the currents. Mentally we divided the journey up into english waters -> Bristish shipping lanes -> separation zone -> french shipping lanes -> french coastal waters. After 4 hours we were well into the British shipping lanes. It was a strange thing to watch this small blob swimming alongside huge tankers. It had been raining lightly up to this point but then sun came out.

After 7 hours we were well into the separation zone and over half way there. This is an important point of the swim. Only 30% of channel attempts are sucessful but these odds decrease rapidly if you have not made the half way point by 7 hours because of the tidal movements. Cramps had improved slightly at this point, or at least he wasn't complaining about them so much. I was slightly concerned becuase he was only drinking about 300-400ml per feed. I would have been much happier with 700ml but the good thing was it was only taking him about 1:45 to feed so we were not loosing much time from the stops. He was grumpy as hell though. His stroke rate was a nice constant 55. A slowing stroke rate is one indication of a tiring swimmer and not a good sign.

At 10 hours things started to get rough. The wind picked up and it was coming from the "wrong" direction creating lots of chop which makes very hard going for the swimmer. At the 11 hour feed he was worried about the rough water. On the one hand, I wanted him to know that yea the water was choppy and it was not his imagination playing games but at the same time, I definately didn't want him to know that it was so rough that most of the other swimmers who had come out that day, had just given up and gone home. We spent three hours in that rough bit before the winds died down and it really sapped his strength. At least he was now drinking for us. At 12 hours I put the support swimmer into the water with him (he is allowed a buddy for an hour so long as the other swimmer stays behind the soloist). I wanted him to have some support for the last of the rough water. He was mentally very bad at this stage because he was tiring and we were still in the shipping lane and rough water. It was also starting to get dark. We changed his goggles over and put lights on him so we could see him in the dark. It was going to be a struggle from here in.

By 14 hours we were less than a mile from shore but the tide had turned and was pulling us up the coast towards Calais. He was jaded, calling us names and although he never asked to get out I know he was close to wanting to give up. His stroke had deteoriated and he was swallowing a lot of water. Essentially he was slowly drowning. We kept telling him how close he was to shore but because of the currents it was so hard to get in to land. I don't think he believed us any more.

I was in bits watching this. At the time I likened it to a first time father at the birth. You see the person you love exhausted and in extreme pain and there is nothing you can do to make it easier. I had to be strong for him but when he swam off from the boat I just wanted to cry. We could see the french coast but getting into shore was a long battle. by 15 hours he was completely spent. I'm sure simply breathing out was gving him more forward propulsion than anything he was doing with his arms. We likened it to a doggy paddle but in reality is was more poodle paddle than great dane. Only guts and determination would get him to france now. by now we were in only 2 meters of water but progress was painfully slow. The support swimmer got back into with him for the final push to shore. It was horrendous. It tooke 3 hours 42 mintues to cover less than a mile but eventually affter 15 hour 42 minutes in the water, Mr HM climbed up a french beach. When you are that cold and tired, your brain function slows completley. All he could focus on was "clear the water line". If you don't clear the water, you are disqualified. He kept crawling up the dunes and had to be called back repeatedly. I was bawling on the boat and the independant observer had to come and give me a hug to stop me crying. The final indignity is having to swim back out to the boat when that tired and cold.

Once on board, we had to get him dry and warm. hypothermia is scary the first time you see it. His extremities were blue, he couldn't talk or stand and couldn't understand what we were saying to him. Eventually he started to shiver violently and went grey, which is acutally a good sign. He was also violently sick but at that stage he didn't need any more energy so we were happy enough to let him puke. By the time we got back to Dover he was looking much better but still very cold. Worryingly, when he started to talk again, one of the first things he said was "Do you know, only 3 people have both swum the channel and climbed everest". I'm not laying money against that being his next challenge!

I've never had much interest in swimming the channel. Hypothermia doesn't appeal to me. Crewing it has completely put me off the idea. It's a terrible mental ride from England to France. Give me hard physical pain over that kind of mental anguish any day.