We were chatting about the weekend on the way home on Sunday and some of the things that happened on Saturday seemed like such a long time ago. That’s how much of an action packed weekend we had! Some or all of it would not have been visible to swimmers in attendance.

It started with visits from no less than half the pilots. It’s always a pleasure to see our pilots and as much as we love visits we hope you’re back out at sea again very soon - there are some very special swimmers practicing their best patience skills right now.

Saturday also saw lots of great swims, naturally.

Paul & I stay in the campervan at the weekends and we have our regular pitch at a local campsite - a friendly place. There was a guest this weekend who really wasn’t the sort of person we’ve been used to seeing and to cut a long story short, the boys in blue were involved and the situation contained. Interesting to watch what could have been an episode from ‘Police, Camera, Action’ from the sidelines, but an early night would have been preferable!

Sunday would be quiet, right? Er no! Swimmers did their characteristic great swimming, as usual. Then at just after 2pm, a member of the public approached us to report concern over another member of the public. Read on to find out more about our response to this.

Your pod leaders’ observations

When we start out on a path towards a big event, whether that is a relay or team event, we often think that it’s just about us and training our ability to actually do the swim.

We quickly learn that all swims are team events and as we go through training we realise that this team expands!

Take a solo English Channel swim….. Yes, it is just you doing the swimming, but to enable you to do that, have a think about all the people around you that got you there. Some examples include:

The administrators at the CSA or CS&PF who ensured you had all the paperwork in place that was required in order to enable you to even start the swim.
Your pilot who you may well have booked a few years ahead
Your crew - and you may have met some or all of these on your training journey
Your swim coach - perhaps you were a club swimmer as a child or perhaps you learned later in life. Either way, your ability to maintain speed over distance and remain injury free has a lot to do with the technique that you have learned
Your family & friends who have probably sacrificed quite a lot to enable you to pursue this dream
Your employer & colleagues who have probably learned quite a bit about you and this sport along the way too. Perhaps they’ve started to understand your need for flexibility on the big day. They may have come to accept the humorous tan lines that you’re sporting too.
People who’ve sponsored your chosen charity
If you’ve trained with DCT then there are the volunteers and beach crew who have steered your training plan and helped with any wobbles along the way. There to answer your questions too
Your training buddies - people who you’ve met in training and who have helped you on the tough days and you’ve probably helped them on their tough days. You may have even developed friends for life.
Social media groups, full of people who have a similar mindset to yours.

It really isn’t a solo sport.

Over the last few weeks, as swims start to happen, we’ve seen a lot of recognition of this team environment. Whether that’s buddies training together; sitting and chatting on the beach after training; arches to support the big swims; people you met this year crewing for your big day; recognition of the people who helped you on posts after the event or the numerous other ways. It’s wonderful to witness this unfold.

It’s also wonderful to hear stories of you achieving things that you hadn’t thought were possible - feel free to continue borrowing our belief in you until you find your own.

Thank you for letting us share your journeys with you. It is a significant privilege.

Shout outs (training)

One of the lovely things about cyclical training plans and people with their swim dates throughout the season is that whilst one group of swimmers are enjoying a recovery week, other swimmers are doing their big swims. We also have those who are stretching their boundaries for swims planned another year.

This week I’d like to call out:

Kenneth Morrison & Jamie Farquhar for their 7 & 6 weekend
Andrew Elliman for his 7 & 5 weekend
Jill Tipping, Halani Foulsham & Mel Tyrrell for their 6 hour swims

Channel swimmer on the beach!

Swims to call out this week:

Ollie Philips for his channel solo on 12th August in a time of 13 hours 59 minutes
Allie Park-Crowne, Lucy Bessant (2nd overall and fastest female in skins!), Ben Taylor, Vicky Elson Smith, Liz Hayes, Sarah Hyatt, Philip Brice, Jessica Hassall, Amanda Bowden, Stuart Handley for their successful Thames Marathon swims
Julia Maguire for your successful Swim Coniston swim

Also a very special mention to DCT alumni, Jason Betley who completed a Jersey to France two-way on 15th August in a time of 15 hours 51 minutes, a new record! 👏👏👏

Well done to all swims this week, wherever you trained. We enjoyed tracking you. 😊

Apologies if I missed anyone - there are a lot of swims going on all over the world!

If your swim didn’t go as planned, remember we’re here if you want to talk it through. Some things are out of our control as swimmers and sometimes there are small things that can be learned for next time. Take the lessons, leave the self-criticism.

Weekend Stats

Note: Water temperature taken during the swim session in the harbour. The lowest recorded reading is shown here. Air temperature, wind direction & wind speed taken from the Port of Dover app.

Saturday:

Swimmers: 30
Water temperature: 18.1C
Air temperature: 17.7C
Conditions: Force 3 gusting force 4 WSW. Sunny with a slight chop.

Sunday:

Swimmers: 21
Water temperature: 18.5C
Air temperature: 17.7C
Conditions: Force 4 gusting force 5. Sunny to start, partly cloudy later. Bit of chop at the ferry wall.

Volunteers & beach crew

Thank you to the pod leaders and to our volunteers. Thanks to everyone who rolled up their trouser legs and helped. Kirill was on the rota for Saturday and Jennifer simply turned up and helped out.

It was a pretty special weekend for volunteers & beach crew.

Just after 2pm on Sunday, a member of the public came up to us to report concern over another member of the public who had been sunbathing and then changed for a swim. Nothing particularly unusual there. The issue was that he had been gone for over two hours, again, quite normal in our world. In that time the tide had come in and this good samaritan had moved his clothing out of the way of the incoming tide twice. He was concerned for his welfare as he didn’t appear to be an experienced swimmer. He was wearing goggles but no swimming hat. All of this together and there was cause for concern. This didn’t appear to be an experienced open water swimmer or someone who was aware of tides.

After ascertaining as much information as we could, Keith called the coastguard, Mandi & Jennifer walked along the promenade to look for him in the swim zone and Paul got the binoculars out. Paul managed to spot what appeared to be the missing swimmer quite a way outside the swim zone beyond the green buoy. He didn’t appear to be swimming fast or particularly well. Jon swam out to him while Paul went to retrieve the recently stowed kayak to go and assist. Via radio contact we managed to identify that this was the person that we were looking for. The swimmer wasn’t making progress and Paul offered to tow him back. At about this point the coastguard appeared at the beach. We kept them informed of how things were on the water. Jennifer, an off duty RNLI lifeguard took our torpedo buoy and went out to assist. The swimmer decided they didn’t want the help and removed the torpedo buoy.

The RNLI also launched and came to the scene. The swimmer refused help from the boat and was eventually swum back in with support from Paul, Jennifer and Jon. Mandi & Jennifer helped him out of the water to save the coastguard needing to don their drysuits. We handed over to them.

With an unknown person who was a weaker swimmer of otherwise unknown ability, who’d been in cold water for quite a long time, who’d swallowed a lot of sea water, the outcome could have been very different.

The member of the public quite possibly saved his life. The simple things that we did - radios for communication, a kayak available, a torpedo float etc, were all put to good use. I said a few weeks ago that as a large group our actions are obvious to others. In this case our presence and way of operating gave a member of the public the confidence to ask for help. The way we responded enabled the coastguard to feel comfortable with the response (they actually attempted to stand down the RNLI, but the boat had already launched). The coastguard were happy to accept our help to retrieve the swimmer from the water.

All this and keeping the support for our swimmers.

Well done team DCT. Today was a good day. Thank you to everyone involved.

Reminders

Remember to book your sessions online. Bookings close 24 hours before the session, it would be a massive help if you booked by Thursday morning.

The system doesn’t arrange automatic refunds, so please message me if you cancel ahead of these deadlines and I’ll arrange a refund.

You don’t need to sign into the website to book a session - just pop your email address in to the booking system and it will remember you. Remember to click into the discount code box if you are a subscriber and it will auto complete your discount code. If you are a pay as you go swimmer and are also a member, remember to use your discount code to get your membership price.

End of season BBQ

I’m currently in the process of applying for permission for the end of season BBQ. Once that’s in place I will provide further information on how to book.

Paddlefish Ponderings: Pathways

Another common theme that I’m hearing this season is a bit of a reluctance for the fun of training to end.

The chuckles when people remember me saying ‘one day I’ll ask you to do three hours and you’ll think it’s nothing’ and realise that it’s true.

People not wanting the journey to be over.

The realisation that whilst the goal was always the channel (other swims are available), that it’s actually the journey that counts.

Realising that you are totally invested in other people’s journeys too.

We’re seeing people come back after their swim too and still get wet or help on the beach.

Paul Cross describes DCT as Hotel California - you can check out but never leave. Whether you start your swim or not, whether you succeed or not, you are part of the DCT alumni and always welcome.

So what does come next? I’ve said it before, that I’m actually glad that I didn’t make my first attempt at the channel. Not because not getting there taught me something special, but because I found the first year quite traumatic and had I made it I probably wouldn’t have ever come back. What a world I would have missed out on. Since then I have done all sorts of swims and met some amazing people. I’ve completely changed careers too.

If you’ve done your swim and are still craving to be on your journey or you want something to train for after the big swim, let’s start the conversation about your favourite swim. There are an infinite number to choose from across the globe from short to very long. Or you could be a trailblazer and find a first. Why not make a comment on this post about what the future looks like for you or asking questions of others.

Maybe you just want to come back and be involved and help the Class of 2022 and beyond. Experience beach crew and pod leaders are always welcome.