North chennel swim

pc11

This chap (Stephen Redmond) is going to attempt to swim the North Channel, that's from Northern Ireland to Scotland. He says it's significantly tougher than the English Channel. He's doing it for the Irish Cancer Society.

http://www.cancer.ie/news/news.php?newsID=379?b

I did a bit of googling and they won't allow you to attempt this without having done the English Channel and apparently only 8 people have ever done it! Many Channel swimmers have tried and failed it seems.

What do you reckon? Why is it so tough? Is it that much colder?

Paul

hunnymonster

It's colder, the currents are stronger, the jellyfish are unreal and there are very very few suitable days each year. So many people have trained for this and then sat around all year waiting on a suitable launch date and never even gotten the chance to start. Heart breaking.

I wish him the best of luck with this. A fantastic thing to strive for and a superb charity to boot.

petermijackson

There was this programme on BBC a few weeks ago Swimming to Scotland: Crossing Hell's Mouth

"The story of Frank Chalmers, an open water swimmer setting off on the challenge of his life. Having successfully swum the English Channel, Frank has been training for over a year in preparation for his toughest swim yet - to cross the Pentland Firth"

It's the strip between the Orkney Islands and Scotland - looks like it should be easy but the programme gave some insight into the currents and the tides

okane1

An Irish Swimmer Anne Marie started this swim on the 3rd of August but was pulled out after 5hrs after been stung by jellyfish for nearly the entire swim. She was treated in hospital and after one day returned back to Donegal. Certainly one of the world's toughness open water swims.

http://openwaterchicago.com/2010/08/12/north-channel-2010-annemarie-ward-ireland-to-scotland/

pc11

Thanks Okane, that's an awesome article.

What a challenge!

swimforever

The water in the North Channel is only about 12degrees, whereas the English Channel is usually about 15 at the start of the season and can go up to 18 or 19 in September if the weather is good (and possibly even warmer near the French coast). So the temperature difference is a big one.

Also, there are lots of Lion's Mane jellies up there, which can be huge and have a painful sting (especially when stung repeatedly over 15 or more hours!). Alison Streeter, who has swum the EC 43 times, was pulled out unconscious on her first attempt from jellyfish stings and ended up in hospital.

I think despite all of this though, the biggest discouraging factor for training for this swim (for me anyway) is HM's point that there are very few days in the summer when conditions are right for an attempt. The training for it is very tough mentally because you need to spend so much time in cold water, and then it could all go to waste if you don't get a chance to swim. Of course that's a risk with open water swims in general but more so up there because conditions need to be excellent to have a chance of getting across.

I was talking briefly to Steve last weekend at a swim and he's absolutely itching to go now! He's been training all summer and just wants to get up there now and get it done. He's the only person booked with his pilot for the rest of the summer so if a good day does come up he'll be up there like a shot I'd reckon. Fingers crossed for him that that day turns up!

mloc123

What is the stoty with jelly fish on either this or the English channel attempts? Is it a case of getting stung and HTFU? Do people take any measures to avoid them etc..?

swimforever

Jellyfish don't tend to cause big problems on English Channel swims. I only saw 3 over my 35 hours last summer! I have heard of people swimming through shoals of them but they're usually just the common jellies that don't sting much. There are some compass jellies in there too, their sting feels like a nettle sting and the best thing for it is cold salty water...in other words, just keep swimming!

As for swims where they are more prevalent like the North Channel...

There are some creams on the market that are advertised as 'jellyfish repellents', I'm not entirely convinced that they'd make much difference though considering that swimmers tend to swim into jellyfish and not the other way around! I can't imagine a jellyfish suddenly deciding to move in a different direction just because this person comes towards it with jellyfish repellent on!!

SafeSea is a cream that I've heard about that tries to block the sting, so it puts a protective layer on the skin to stop the venom from getting through. I've heard of swimmers using it, I'm not sure how effective it is. I'd imagine that it's meant to be effective for people who are going to be in the water for short lengths of time, I don't know if it would work for a long swim when a person is getting hundreds of stings. No harm in trying I guess though!

I think that for the North Channel swim they do try to avoid them if possible-it does mention that in the article about Annemarie's swim. A lot of the time though it's hard even from the boat to see where is ok to swim without hitting any, especially at night and if they're in a big shoal. So then it's just a case of taking anti-histamines and painkillers to try to reduce the effects as much as possible and putting up with it as long as you can really. Not a particularly inviting prospect!!

airscotty

Why is there more Jelly fish up there? I though they rather warmer and calmer seas?

swimforever

It depends on the type of jellyfish. Lion's Mane are one species that only live in colder waters (which means that thankfully we don't get them off the Cork coast!).

There's actually a study going on into jellyfish species in the Irish Sea which seems quite interesting. They give some information about which species occur, where they occur and how bad their sting is here.

Jellyfish do prefer calm waters, they tend to go down deeper when it's choppy. Unfortunately though it's the calm days when Channel swims are attempted that they come up closer to the surface!

ajk24

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#!/pages/SCHULL-TRIATHLON-CLUB/402544810327

Update from north Channel swim Update at 5.15 pm - Stephen Redmond in 11 hours now...... he is 8 miles away...with tide helping him...Jellies still manageable...

pc11

He made it!

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Irish-Long-Distance-Swimming-Association/203658376806?ref=ts&v=wall


I found his MyCharity page, though I gather he has done a lot more fundraising offline:
http://www.mycharity.ie/event/stephen_redmonds_event/

hunnymonster

Fantastic effort. Well done.

Zuppy

Awesome!!!

mithril

Curious as to the choice of route?
The shortest route between Ireland and Scotland is from North Antrim to the Muill of Kintyre -several KMs shorter as the crow flies - but the attempt was made from further south.

Is the current between Ireland and the Mull of Kintyre so strong that this option is not practical? It would also be in less sheltered water (closer to the Atlantic).

ir666

North Channel, first female swimmer.

The Portnablagh woman completed the 35km (22 mile) swim in a time of 18 hours 59 minutes and 26 seconds, finishing near Port Patrick on Thursday morning at 3.25am.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2010/0903/1224278127724.html

mjon3105

..... and now AnneMarie Ward is in the lead for the "Open Water Swimmer of the Year" award. Would be great for Ireland if she could win this title. In same way as other Irish sportwomen eg: Katie Taylor, received little media coverage for years, so too have AnneMarie's achievements been somewhat overlooked in mainstream media though a small number of articles have appeared like the one mentioned in the last post.

So that ALL Boards.ie readers have the opportunity to VOTE for Anne Marie as No 1, here is a piece I recently penned together with a link to the Voting website and later a blog from another open water swimmer/friend Nuala Moore

So here's calling ALL Irish sports lovers to vote for AnneMarie before the Poll closes on 31 December....so after the fantastic successes of Katie Taylor, Grainne Murphy and other Irish sportswomen in 2010 let us help ensure we end up with another World No 1 albeit uncelebrated and virtually unknown in Ireland outside of friends,family and the open water swimming/triathlon communities....

http://www.sportsnewsireland.com/2010/12/18/open-water-swimming-annemarie-ward-the-remarkable-story-of-an-irish-swimming-heroine/

ir666 wrote: »

North Channel, first female swimmer.

The Portnablagh woman completed the 35km (22 mile) swim in a time of 18 hours 59 minutes and 26 seconds, finishing near Port Patrick on Thursday morning at 3.25am.

Cabaal

Direct voting link is http://www.openwatersource.com/vote-for-the-world-open-water-swimming-woman-of-the-year.html

locteau

We all tried really hard to promote this, so keep voting people !

Lots of people pushed this up on facebook, websites, papers, twiter etc....

It's looking good !

mjon3105

Great news then that she won as hereunder

http://www.sportsnewsireland.com/2011/01/01/swimming-anne-marie-ward-on-top-of-the-world/