“Publicity !! Fame.. lights.. action…..”...

Dear friends, I have made it on to the ‘Free The Children’ website, how amazing. After struggling slowly back from the shoulder injury which is getting better, I needed this boost. http://www.freethechildren.com/2013/08/gary-bruce-swims-the-english-channel-for-change/ Free The Children as you know is my nominated charity. Why? Free The Children believe that young people have the power to change the world. And they are so right. Youth can break barriers that would otherwise prevent them from achieving their fullest potential. “to achieve their fullest potential as agents of change” Free The Children is a high impact and innovative charity. The program is designed to achieve tangible results with a lasting impact on the youth and thus their future. Young people can become the greatest problem solvers. Let ‘them’, the children, make the world a better place. I began this journey with one aim in mind.. The French Coast! It was the single driving motivational force, however, with time this quickly changed. FTC has become very important to me. My goal of matching my personal expenditure of £6000 is becoming more real. Have a look at the donations page which is accessible at the top of the ‘Home Page’ of this blog and click on the Union Flag button. A big thank you to all my sponsors to date… remember satisfaction guaranteed.. Your money goes direct to much needed projects globally and I ‘will’ suffer, you can be assured of...

This is part of it .. right?!!

The shoulder is not fixed and the therapy goes on.  I have to say I have been trying to be adult and rest. Fear not all you gracious people that have sponsored me hoping to see me suffer in September, you Romans will get value for money… Lol.. Although, Mr John Jenkins (Select boat crew and chief holder of hand) wanted to insert the needles.. Miracle worker Sian would not allow it…. thank goodness!!   I have got to say amazing. And tomorrow is review day.. hopefully followed by a test swim. Hurrrrrah...

Ladies & Gentlemen.. and Zac.. ‘The Viking Princess’...

I took the opportunity whilst passing through Dover the other day, to have a short 2 hour dip and board our support vessel. Folkestone Fishing Trawler ‘The Viking Princess’. Every year Captain Reg Brickell and his brother Ray, lift her out for a complete deep clean and re-paint ready to assist her  ‘slightly mad charges’ in their adventures across the Channel. I thought that you would like to see more of her..   The fore deck.. where many dramas unfold daily during the swimming season....

“So you think that I’m fat?”

Uhmmm.. of late there have been a few comments … People have noticed that I have put on weight. This actually has been strategic and quite difficult to do given that I already eat enough food to feed two adult men each day!   The advice came from and was taken on board by a guru in the ‘cold water swimming world’. The ice maiden herself.. Fiona Southwell from Brighton Sea Swimming club. “Gary.. think like a woman.. and eat chocolate and ice cream late at night!”   So, I did.. well errr.. eat chocolate and ice cream late at night. Mrs Anne Jenkins will say “So what’s changed??” Don’t listen to her,   I needed to put on some weight to help try and insulate my vital organs within the body’s core and to provide some fat reserves. This weight is essential to aid my ability to fight against the prolonged cold during what could be up to 14-18 hours in the Channel.   Hey, why not I’m in!   Cross training is also vital to avoid injury and build general body resistance. However, as with many of these ‘time consuming pursuits’ there are barely enough hours in the day to do the swim training itself. So I cannot report that this side of my training has gone terribly well.   However, I have managed extremely competitive rides to school with my No1 fan club… and contributed massively to the ‘ice cream stall fundraiser’ after school.. mainly chocolate cones.....

I’m back !

Well haven’t you lot been lucky? No active blogging for a few weeks! Boy are times about to change. Apparently, I have another job which actually pays my salary, which demanded a little of my time.   But hey, I’m back and swimming ferociously. I have just had a great trip to San Francisco where my good friends, FastEddie Peinado, English Channel soloist 2010 and Pedro Ordenes, Straights of Magellan 1999 were on hand to ‘give me a good beasting’! That’s English terminology for ‘it was terribly hard’.   I began in the Cove at Aquatic park meeting and swimming a few laps whilst they sunned themselves and ate my rations on the dock.. this lasted for a South American nano second, 2 hours to you and me, when they decided that it would be more fun to be on paddle board and in kayak where their barracking would be more effective.   After being led inside and outside the breakwater to battle with the current of the flood tide, which is great raining but very tiring they finally decided to jump in and join me for the last hour of my 4 hour swim.   The weather was fabulous and I was...

“So what’s the problem with cold water?”...

  ‘I am now entering the last stages of panic.. tee hee’. I need regular immersion in colder water and will be moving my efforts more towards Dover and Brighton for the remaining time before my crossing. The sea temperature in the Channel at present, if you click on the link on the right side of my blog, is 11.9C. I bet that you are not monitoring it as much as me! A famous ‘Channel guru’, Freda Steeter who holds swim clinics every weekend, is ‘asking’ swimmers to do two swims of 3 and 1.5-2 hours at present. This is for acclimatisation. So what is the big deal? I thought that you may like the following article kindly forwarded by ‘H2Open’ magazine, which does a great job of explaining more. H2O Cold...

O’Dark O’Clock Swim

So another weekend down. I had planned to do several events in the French open water calendar this weekend to get a total of 30km in within 3 days. However, the water at 14C, a ‘positively balmy and almost chaud’…. were cancelled. This left me with a gaping hole in the training program. To fill this I managed to persuade  my trusted ‘lifeguard’ to accompany me for a 4 hour stint in my lake, which was 14C.   I struggled up at 0400 to fuel myself, awoke Madeleine (Monkey No1) at 0500 and was in the water by 0600. Monkey No1 is a fabulous lifeguard and very creative. Having split her time between dutifully watching ,feeding and encouraging me… building sandcastles using the nutrition bucket.. making movies, ‘Spielberg eat your heart out’, taking pictures with my phone and cuddling up to the ‘club cat’, called…… “Le chat”, I felt that she deserved her usual fee.   I had made her a scrumy breakfast of Weetabix with warm milk, chocolate chaud and thought that the usual unspoken deal of a lolly pop after the swim would do it… “Uhmmmmmm…. Non”   What I hadn’t factored in were the spiralling costs of inflation these days. Knee boarding is obviously a new form of payment!   Oh, bye the way.. I swam 15 times around the lake (14km), saw the sun officially rise (beautiful) and got harassed by the ‘Moorhens’ in one corner. Job done. Feeding, yummmmm..     Monkey No1       Law breaker !     At last..   Payment !     Smell of success !     “In to the future and beyond !”          ...

‘Special Needs Boat Crew’..

And finally the last two members of the boat crew……. “What have I done?”       And finally, adding a much needed International outlook (and good looks generally) to the ‘dream team’, Eddie Peinado, the celebrated Brazilian adventurer has taken time out from his attempt to circumnavigate the Great Lakes in an inflatable canoe to add his experience to the crew. Eddie, an accomplished budgie wrestler is uniquely qualified, having himself swum the channel 2 years ago in 12 hours and 29 minutes. He will therefore be the perfect ‘safety officer’ onboard, able to recognise when Gary is actually in need of something as opposed to just ‘girling about’ and also just how high the volume on the pa needs to be to ensure that Gary can hear just what a good time is being enjoyed on the party/safety boat…..     To complete the dream team support crew is “Hagar”, enrolled for his expertise in all things wet (T shirts, towels and nappies). More used to providing top cover from his aerial taxi, H will be providing a bird’s eye view on the crossing from the warmth of his sleeping bag and tightly gripped thermos. A born leader he has pushed, coaxed and motivated lesser mortals to the brink of their abilities even occasionally beyond them into A&E. Hagar is a natural explorer himself spending many of his weekends rummaging through the car boot sales of Dorset seeking that elusive reward. If there is one man who can singly handed help Gary achieve his goal of crossing the channel Hagar, will try and find him or her! Ladies and Gentlemen the ‘Dream...