Swim & Tonic

We can see her clearly now vs just the flashing green light.

First feed went well. Stroke rate is 63. She looks great and was excited to get going when she first jumped in. It’s still dark out here. More photos when we can get better shots.

Eric the boat captain says we are going

I just heard from Eric and we are meeting him at the boat at 3:30 a.m.  Assuming no fog or other issues, I will likely start swimming around 4:00 a.m. tomorrow morning (11:00 p.m. EDT on Thursday night).

There is an ad over here for the Olympics (and maybe at home) that says something along the lines of “If you shout loud enough at the TV, they will hear you.” So, shout really loud at your computer screen tomorrow and, hopefully, I will hear you!

When we left Dover Harbor this morning to head to the start, it was a bit foggy. But, as we got closer to where I was going to start – Samphire Hoe, the fog had settled in and we couldn’t see 50 feet beyond the boat.  At one point we were about 100 yards away from a very tall wall with lights on it and we couldn’t see it at all. For safety, the boat pilot aborted the swim start and we came back to the harbor.

Because the swim is hugely dependent on the tides and timing the start in connection with the tide, the only two options were to wait until this afternoon and swim through the night tonight or to try again tomorrow morning. I elected to wait until tomorrow morning. We will meet the boat again around 4:00 a.m. and my start time will be the same, around 4:30 a.m. Friday (or 11:30 p.m. EDT Thursday night).

While I’m a bit disappointed, my boat pilot made the right call. The swim has to start from dry land – which means that I would have jumped off the boat and had to swim to shore in the dark and the dense fog.  Since we couldn’t see the beach, I certainly would have been unable to see the boat from the shore (even with the lights on it).

Sorry this was a bit of a false start!  But, please continue to keep me in your thoughts and prayers and we will “give it another go” tomorrow morning!

Now, we are back to bed for an early morning nap.

Looks like too much fog this morning once we arrived at the beach to put in.  Going out tomorrow morning instead. 

With the observer.

We are a go to meet the boat at 4:00 a.m. (which is 11:00 p.m. EDT)!  Will like splash around 4:30.  Keep me in your dreams!

Here is video Matt took of me yesterday splashing about in the Channel.  Water feels nice!

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