The Big Swim

We awoke at midnight on August 2 and packed our bags and trekked to the Marina. It was raining and cloudy but the wind was calm.

The boat went out and then our lead swimmer, Chris, with the cool glow sticks on his goggles had to swim back to the shore in the pitch black, get out, and stand on the beach. Then the official time started once Chris started swimming from the pebble beach. His first swim was very choppy and very dark. Chris got sick once in the water but did an incredible job getting us off the shore.

Then Susan jumped into the dark and rough sea and thought.. this is going to be hard, but she had no problem going fast. Jeff followed as the sun came up and at the end was swimming into the English shipping lanes. Shelle & Marcia followed and swam thru the English shipping lanes and encountered a lot of tankers, ships, etc. We finished the first round and Chris was back in for his second swim. Chris and Shelle spent most of the time on the boat in the "infirmary" or with their heads over the side of the boat:) Chris felt better on his second swim and kept us going. Susan had no problems with her second swim and got us thru the dead zone. Jeff and Shelle motored thru the French shipping lanes on their second swims. Then Marcia was off on her second swim, which she describes as a carnival ride, it was big swells and 3.8mph current. Chris was off on his third swim, he swears the last 10 minutes seemed like an hour.

Susan was the one to bring us to France. They idle the boat and take the dingy off to follow Susan into the shore. It was a difficult swim due to breaking thru the currents. It was amazing watching Susan get to the shore and we were ecstatic. This was an experience of a lifetime.

Here is the team at the end of the day with our wonderful crew from the "Anastasia".

Highlights from the deck. Or the low lights from Shelle and Chris in the "infirmary".

• Watching Jeff in his "when pig's fly" pants on the deck.
• Watching our official observer (Martin) puke over the side of the boat.
• Minimal trash and jellyfish, except Shelle almost got hit buy a wood door floating around
• The dolphins and sailboats when we were close to France
• Being surprised of the fans cheering for Susan at the Cap De Griz, France from the top of the cliffs
• Chris and Shelle never seeing much of the outside world and never standing up unless they were getting up to get in the water.
• Greg helping with all the unexciting chores. especially in the "infirmary"

The tradition after crossing the channel is going to the White Horse Pub and signing our names on the wall... with a pint in hand.

Below is the gps map of our swim from Dover, England (top) to Cap Gris-Nez, France (bottom).

Thanks to Greg and Virginia for joining us in England. Also, thanks to all our friends and families for all the encouragement and support.