The Party is on !

It’s a ‘Gooooooooooooooooo’ !! Tomorrow morning on the 24th September 2013, at 0215  I will be leaving Dover marina on ‘The Viking Princess’ fishing vessel Commanded by Reg Brickell to attempt my English Channel dream! I wanted you to be the first to know. I cannot begin to tell how much your support and help has meant to me. It truly has moved me to achieve great things which have all added to the necessary building blocks of success for this swim. You can follow me using one of two methods: I will have a ‘personal GPS Spot onboard the boat. This is a GPS satellite position transmitter which will be live for the day of the swim and show my current location updated every 20minutes. Don’t worry I will not be moving that fast! This link will be on my blog: http://www.swimolibre.com and the direct link to my GPS tracking page: http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0fgqVyq6xSisqr2hbbvKSVnNbyb7sZDeI OR.. The other method is on the swim association website accessed from the link below. They are easy steps: 1. http://cspf.co.uk/tracking# 2. However over the ‘white triangles’ on the map with the curser and find the ‘Viking Princess’. Click on it. 3. Then within the info box that appears.. click on current track! 4. That will be me! Must go and get ready for my dip…… My No1 Fans!!...

Panic over!

Right.. panic over.. we were in the middle of ‘The Last Supper’, our style.. cooked by chef John Jenkins.. Last supper rehearsal   And……. Reg called….. We are not going tomorrow! We are now looking at Tuesday. Of corse I will keep you posted. Now… ‘feeding practise..’ I Will update you all.. sorry for the false alarm.. but ‘this is the...

Tense days of nail biting.. OMG.. I paid for that nail job!...

From tonight, Sunday 22nd at midnight the ‘tidal window’ opens, running until midnight the 4th October. We chose this window of opportunity because the two tides that run daily in the Channel are at their relative weakest. Why? Because the earth, moon and sun are out of phase, the moon is 90 degrees out of sync. This produces less gravitational pull on large bodies of water. Thus, within this window, I will swim on the first day that the weather conditions are swimmable. Nothing like holding your breath and waiting! Nervous now. I called Reg the pilot, one hour ago (1730, 22nd September). He has put me on standby!! Confirmation will be given later tonight!! We will see.. Yikes that’s possibly tomorrow! However… still enough time to try and run down the ‘Worlds No1 Open Water Swimmer’ and ‘fastest human’ across The Channel over!...

Things are hotting up.. there’s competition!...

This truly has been a journey and I have met some fantastic people. Last week I was privileged to swim with Otto Thaning who next year will swim the EC again at 74 years old.. with his fabulous and renowned sidekick, Roger Finch (Rog you need to pull up your drinking socks!) and this week.. I was pitted against some great guys: Sylle Estadiö of France, who is swimming the EC butterfly, jumping tomorrow morning, Saturday 21st September. Good luck Sylle! Justin Hanby of Australia.. a secret speed merchant, I am sure, who will be ‘wind assisted’ without any doubt! Due to swim on my tide, with The Famous World No1, top dog… Trent Grimsey  (Australia). Trent who swam The English Channel last year in 6hours 55minutes, claiming fastest crossing time ever is Justin’s ‘boat crew’!! I want to know what exactly my ‘boat crew’ are bringing to the party.. tee hee.. Justin in the ‘Green Budgies’, “Sucking it in..”,  Trent white cap centre, Tim Denyer (red top) EC veteran and fabulous professional coach to all, Sylle in the yellow cap, two lovely gentleman from San Francisco California, the Dolphin club… and some fat guy on the end?? Needless to say, I gave Trent quite a few tips.. he has taken them onboard and I believe that they have already yielded positive results….. His drinking ability has increased two-fold! Eventually we get to swim..   And fast.. in my ‘dreams at...

‘Cream Teas in Devon’

I must report a fantastic fundraising event held on my behalf in Tiverton, Devon. At the same time I must also reprimand that individual for giving away top secret recipes! It really is shocking that the moment my back was turned having left home just recently…. 34 years ago…. my Mother Brenda, decided that it was okay to give away ‘scone and various fabulous cake recipes’ in the name of fundraising for my swim??   Luckily, I can reassure you that there was absolutely no Christmas cake involved. That would have led to severe sanctions!   A big, big thank you to my Mum and Dad, Brenda and Graham, for hosting the ‘Tiverton Cream Tea Fundraiser’ and of course, to their friends for their most generous support, encouragement and kind donations for ‘Free The Children’ in connection with my swim.   “Is it too early to order my Christmas Cake...

Test Week !

Another fabulous trip to San Francisco.  This week was very important, as I have managed to swim 40km Monday to Friday. This was the first big training week since injury! It means that my shoulder is coping. I arrived at the South End Rowing and Swimming Club upon my ‘trusted steed’, fully fed and rested. Having eaten a massive breakfast consisting of a ‘Star of Bucks’ porridge, protein shake, carbo shake and a coffee with… 8 hours jet-lag. I was feeling pretty good. My first day of swimming consisted of a well constructed route from Aquatic Park to beyond Pier 39, where the Sea Lions lounge around in the sun. Yikes, not too close as Edison insisted that it was ‘mating season’!  Assisted by one, Edison Peinado marine life expert, who managed to prevent me from being locked up by the US Coast Guard, run down by super tankers, flattened by ‘The America’s Cup’ Oracle yacht… or worse at the ‘flippers’ of the frustrated Pier 39 inhabitants, I swam in the bay. Was this a foreign conspiracy to sink Alcatraz Island? The swim went well and I was able to stretch out once again with no real pain… well, that is.. apart from the usual pain encountered when taking a ‘dip’ for 3 hours in 16C. On the way back we stopped off to examine the ‘Liberty ship’, The Jeremiah O’brien.   With 4 weeks to go until my ‘Channel Window’ opens I will now maintain the progress made, rely upon the ‘base training’ period that has passed and move down to Dover after the 9th September. It’s really close now, I can smell the sea air!!!!!  ...

Back in San Francisco.. and the shoulder is stronger!...

  The shoulder is getting better!! Although, I am incredibly careful with it and now limit the amount of ‘paddle work’ that I do. I have managed 20km in the last 3 days, slowly returning to normal. Today was a 2 hour swim, which was meant to be with equipment but the wind was blustery and prevented me from really using my toys. I ended up doing a few coves and practising ‘sighting’ along with breathing.. yes breathing air and not… water!!   All in all a good day. 7Km more tomorrow in the USF pool.. plus a little dip if there is time.   Off to eat some ‘pasta’…...

Lesson learnt!

Back in San Francisco and the training has commenced again after a fun filled two weeks of masquerading as a ‘pin cushion’ at the hands of Siân Baker, physiotherapist and ‘healer of Hampton’, London. It has been frustrating and I have learnt my lesson. I made a common mistake at this stage and was concentrating on the mileage and intensity of my workouts, set to top 50km that week, at the expense of stretching and yoga for middle aged men.   I managed to swim for two and a half hours yesterday and although, slightly delicate the shoulder is stronger! Thank goodness.. can’t stop now, off to middle aged man yoga.. I could get in to this! By the way, it is rumour only.. concerning the...