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Welcome to my Swim Diary!
I am currently in training for an attempt to swim across the English Channel in 2012.
As a keen swimmer, I will always jump in the water on any travel or expedition and have swam in the Rio Grande in Bolivia and the Amazon in Brazil, as well as swimming across the Mekong in Cambodia and the Firth of Forth in Scotland.
| Swimming the English Channel has long been an ambition of mine, and I have decided to combine the effort with raising sponsorship funds for the charity MarocAroundTheClock. You can sponsor me via the charity's website or at CharityGiving. |
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All sponsorships and donations most gratefully received!
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15th November 2011
I never thought that I would say this but I am missing the sea swimming. So, I am going to go and get a thin wetsuit so I can continue to swim throughout winter. The wetsuits that
I currently have for diving are far too thick to swim in and would exhaust me in a mile or so.
I have now had four lessons for front crawl and really seem to have cracked it. Don't get me wrong, no one is going to confuse me with a competent crawler for a while yet but I have
stopped swallowing so much water, I have started to breathe to the side on every second stroke and I am somewhere near the surface of the water. Compare that to four weeks ago when
I looked like a drowning goat!
Now I just need to keep on with it and get as much practice as possible. I still have another four lessons booked up this side of Christmas so it looks pretty good right now.
In five weeks I shall be in Cyprus so I shall be doing as much sea swimming there as I can fit it. Cannot wait!
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16th October 2011
Yesterday I completed another great training swim in The Solent. Time with the chiropractor has obviously paid off and my wee niggle in my neck is all sorted.
For the time of year I could not have wished for better weather. I was in the water just after 11am and the sun was out in full force which was fabulous. The
water temperature was reasonable and to begin with there wasn't too much boat traffic. No jelly fish either! It really was a perfect day for a dip which was
a surprise for October.
I got across to the Isle of Wight in just under two hours. Had I swam the most direct route it would not have taken anything like as long but I swam about a mile
to the east of Yarmouth Harbour. The current was strong in places but I have encountered far worse. By the time I was approaching the beach as small group of people
had gathered and started to clap. When I walked out of the water they asked where I had swam from and just for fun I said 'Edinburgh'.
I think there is still time for some more open water training, without a wetsuit, before the weather gets too cold. Bring it on!
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17th September 2011
My neck issue is still unresolved despite 8 visits to the chiropractor and a good deal of pain. I have been told that it will sort itself out eventually though. In the interim I
have been maintaining 5km swims several times per week at my local swimming pool. Good for general fitness but not really ideal as preparation for The Channel. The warm water
lulls you into a false sense of comfort.
I’m heading back out into The Solent for a longer swim on 15th October again with Bill. Hoping to get to the Isle of Wight and then swim back. This may be the last time this year
that we can do a decent length sea swim without a wetsuit.
In an attempt to make my crossing of The Channel a good deal faster I have signed up to learn to do the front crawl. I start in October and lessons run through to December. It seems
funny to be learning to swim a stroke that I am hoping will get me across to France just 7 months later!
Currently I am setting up some swims across major British river estuaries which should culminate, for this year at least, with The Firth of Forth near Edinburgh. I have also just
committed to do a Christmas Day swim which will definitely be the coldest swim I have ever done. It may only be one length of 50 metres but you have to sign a disclaimer before
you dive in, just in case you have a heart attack!
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20th August 2011 - Swimming the Solent
Having got into a routine of swimming 5 miles a week in open air pools, I thought it was high time to get some real open water experience. And where better to start than the Solent!
Leaving from Lymington harbour on a cold and overcast Saturday morning, my support boat transported me along the mainland coast to Hurst Castle where I was landed on the beach to start my crossing.
Once I had got over the initial shock of the cold water, it was quite comfortable, and some 15 minutes into the swim the clouds parted and a day of glorious sunshine began. I had initially planned to
swim across to Fort Albert on the Isle of Wight, which by all accounts is the shortest crossing at around 1.3 miles. However as we did not get the early start we had hoped for, the current pushed me
a fair way off course and after 1 hour and 15 minutes, I arrived at Fort Victoria, just outside Yarmouth harbour on the Isle of Wight.
As a result of the last open water swim, I am now in the hands of a chiropractor to sort out my scalene muscles in my neck. I have been banned from cold water swimming for a month.
I will be using the Solent for open water practice for the next few months, and I daresay as autumn and winter approach, the water will only get colder! But it is great practice for the kind
of swim I can expect out in the English Channel.
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