Swim & Tonic

When I woke up this morning and checked the GPS Tracker – I learned that my boat pilot was out with the first swimmer!  So, it looks like we are a go for tonight…I told Matt I just got nervous…yikes!!

We will call Eric later this morning to confirm and verify timing.  I will post another update as soon as I know.  Off to eat some carbs…

Matt and I spent most of the day running around getting the final items we need for the swim. And, I was able to get another short swim in today. The water felt colder than it did earlier this week even though it was only 7 tenths of a degree colder. But, there was significant cloud cover and wind. Regardless – I felt good in the water and was glad to have another day in the Channel.  

When we spoke with Eric about mid-day he confirmed that we were, currently, still set for Thursday. There is some question about whether the wind will actually lay down over night. But, he is planning to take the first swimmer in the early hours of Wednesday. So, when I get up, I will check the tracker to see if they actually did make the attempt. If so, then I certainly expect we will be going tomorrow night/Thursday morning.  

Marcia Cleveland said in her book, Dover Solo, that after she arrived in Dover she thought to herself “I’m going to make it.”  She also said “Even though there were lots of things going on out of my control that made me feel uneasy, I had this inner feeling that in a bathing suit, swimming next to a boat, I could swim to the other side.”  That is how I feel (and I hope I’m not jinxing myself!). 

I’ll post another update tomorrow and then, hopefully, we will be off to France!

Today was very eventful! We met with my boat pilot mid-day and went over the necessary information for swim day. One of the people who was ‘in-line’ ahead of me hasn’t arrived from South Africa yet and isn’t due to arrive until this Friday. As a result, I’m effectively now in second position.

For those of you who don’t know, each boat pilot arranges for approximately 4 swimmers during the neap tides throughout the season. My neap tide is August 8-16. Originally, I was in third position. So, I expected that two swimmers would go before me. As a result, realistically, I thought the earliest date I would swim would be August 10th (the third day of the neap tide). But, since the second swimmer is unlikely to arrive until Friday…I’ve been bumped up and am tentatively scheduled to swim this Thursday!!

So, what does that mean. I will start about an hour before high tide in Dover. On Thursday, the first high tide is scheduled for roughly 4:15 a.m. That means, I likely will start swimming around 3:15 a.m. We will need to meet the boat pilot about an hour before start time – so around 2:15. So it looks like a wake up time over night Wednesday/early Thursday around 1:00 a.m.  To do the math for those on the East Coast – I will likely start swimming around 10:15 p.m. on Wednesday night and will swim into the day on Thursday. Assuming a 14-16 hour swim – that would put me finishing around mid-day on Thursday – East Coast time.  

And…yes, that means I will start swimming in the dark and swim into the sunrise! I will know more tomorrow…but, as for now, the weather is looking good as of Wednesday and is predicted to be good through the rest of the week. So,  I’m off to bed as I will need as much rest as I can get over the next 48 hours. Had a great pasta dinner in Dover tonight. More tomorrow…

We had a great day getting acclimated to the area.  Our friends Todd and Mary arrived and they will be with us for the duration.  Most importantly, they will be crewing on the boat!  We are planning to meet our boat captain, Eric, tomorrow at 12:00.  I will be very curious to see what he says about the forecast for the upcoming week.  As for the “land” forecast – it looks pretty good between the 8th and the 10th – so I’m hopeful that he will say there is a good chance that I will swim Friday the 10th.  I will post another update after we meet with him.

I had another good swim in the Channel today!  I felt very good in the water and can’t wait to head across rather than up and back along the shore.

We are all having a big time with the new colloquialisms we are learning…

Cheerio!

My friend Chandra put a large picture of the English Channel on my wall at work…along with some motivational additions!  I’ve been looking at it for weeks and can’t believe I’m just a few days away from leaving for England. Send good weather and good luck vibes my way over the next few weeks!

I was practicing my French earlier today…trying to say “don’t touch me.”  If some nice French person tries to help me out of the English Channel and they touch me before I clear the water, then I would be disqualified.  Matt, who lived in France for a year and went to a French language school, was, of course, listening.  And, I came out with “Je ne me touche pas” instead of “ne me touche pas.” Matt began laughing hysterically and explained that instead of “don’t touch me” I had actually said “I’m not touching myself”….definitely need to work on that one!!!