Dover Dave has decided to spend a week with me and shadow my every move. Really that’s week 12, but given that he was back from Covid at the weekend he said that he’d like to write to blog this week.

Be kind to him, he’s not used to doing this.

Over to you Dave……

Weekly Review

NB Please scroll to the bottom for a selection of the photos taken

I’m back!!

Covid really knocked the stuffing out of me and Mandi. I spent days motionless. I couldn’t think straight and really couldn’t string a sentence together. But I’m on the mend and feel a lot more felt than before.

It was really great to be able to be back on the beach. Emma wouldn’t let Mandi or I do very much, as we needed to be careful not to overdo it. Thank goodness that there were some great additional volunteers in place. I did still have a great time though.

This is how the weekend went from my viewpoint. NB, sometimes it’s really nice to have people assume that I don’t hear as I can take it all in. Sometimes it’s frustrating that I can’t step in. This is my chance!!

Saturday

I came to the beach with Mandi. Emma was already there and the first swimmer who was doing an 8 hour swim was already in the water. Rich & Hayley were there too so that Rich could help out. I want to be more Rich, he’s amazing.

As for the weather, finally, a weekend with great weather - the sun was shining and the sea was flat - utter bliss. The best bit was seeing victorious channel swimmers come back on the beach. I spotted the tears of joy. It was beautiful.

One day you should step back and watch all that happens on the beach. The swimmers tell me that 7 hours is a long time, and I’m sure that’s true when you’re in the water. But on the beach it’s non-stop.

Most people turn up nice and early and sign-in, chat about the plan for the day and get ready. Emma gives a safety briefing around 9:50. I was surprised that some people turned up late which makes it really difficult for the beach crew. The focus needs to be on ensuring that everyone gets in on time and safely, there shouldn’t be any distractions at that important time. There shouldn’t be any exceptions to this and that’s what I whispered to Emma.

I love the time lapse videos of the start. It makes it look so fast and some people are. Some people take FOREVER!! I know they put a time stamp on the app when people go in, but it’s very difficult to keep a track of it when people arrive late and get in late.

The bit where everyone throws their crocs from the water back to the beach was hilarious. There are some good throws and some truly dreadful ones. I know why they’re into swimming and not other sports!! Funny though and helps people go in with a smile on their face!

Once everyone was safely in the water we started to make the feeds. It’s such an easy process. I don’t know what I was thinking, but water, mix in the feed and for the maltodextrin add flavouring. Simple. We made enough for the day (and that’s a lot!).

Before the feed there was a discussion on what to expect - who is getting out when, who was having what feed. Plus any other considerations. The feeds were pre-loaded and ready to go, just the hot water to add. Sometimes the crew even got the right crocs ready for those getting out.

How they knew which approaching swimmer was which and what feed they needed I’ll never know.

Feeding is amazing. Suddenly from apparently nowhere, everyone emerges on the beach at the same time. Rich had it all under control. He knew exactly how many, what they were feeding on, including all the special requests. Apart from a couple of people who failed to wear the right hat colour, it was amazing to watch. Everyone was on time. The feeding was fun and efficient. Swimmers and beach crew were brilliant. Everyone was checked off and accounted for.

Once the feed was done, the cups were sanitised and all the crocs and feeding equipment were moved to the next place, guessing how far the tide would go in or out - how did they know that?!

Hour by hour, swimmers leave the water. The yellow hats often go back in for a second dip and then come back out again.

By the end of the session there were only a few people who had long swims planned for that weekend. The celebratory arches are just amazing. Seeing people cheer and smile after such a long day on the beach and in the water were both amazing.

I love this sport.

Time to pack up the car again. I wish there was a lock up on the beach to make it easier.

Hayley & Rich invited us out to dinner in the evening. I was too tired, so I put my pjs and face mask on and snoozed while Emma went out.

I thought that was that for the day, but no!! I had no idea there was more work to be done. Emma had emails and messages to respond to - swimmers who forgot to book and Emma had to step in. Last minute bookings add quite a bit of admin as new swimmers need to be added manually to the system. Then they need to be invoiced. Anyway, when that was done, Emma added the swimmers to the Sunday session in the app and planned how long the regular swimmers should do - that’s a definite art. Once all that was done it was time to wash up the feeding equipment before finally crashing out for the night.

Sunday

An early start. It takes a lot of hotel kettles full of water to fill two HUGE pump flasks. Shower, change and head for breakfast.

The Premier Inn staff are so friendly. Usual table and it was toast for me and porridge for Emma.

Then head to the beach and start all over again. Many hands make light work and it was nice of swimmers and Rich to help Emma unload the car (it takes a lot of stuff to run the session) and set up ready for swimmers to register again.

Emma let me help with the briefing. I was nervous but I think it went ok.

Sunday saw some very late people who didn’t really seem to understand the impact of being late. Emma was more patient than I would be but I could tell that she was frustrated. Some missed the briefing thinking it wasn’t important. I suggested that she should be less tolerant and encouraged her to write a post on the facebook group to remind people that it was mandatory.

You can tell that Mandi was a bit better though as she suggested a group photo and little did the swimmers know that the croc buckets had water in them. Emma counted down from 5 and the swimmers made their funny poses as Keith & Mandi threw water over them. Oh the surprise on their faces - priceless!! I kept chuckling for ages to the point where my stitches hurt. ‘Expect the unexpected’ said Mandi.

Soon enough the swimmers were dispatched and the same process as yesterday was repeated. Swimmers did great. The beach crew were amazing. The odd treat were appreciated. The arches were amazing.

I love this group and I can’t wait to see what Emma gets up to during the week.

Edit - I wasn’t expecting to have to drive all the way home which took an extra 90 minutes compared to normal, unpack everything from the car, do the washing, buy food for the next day, re-pack the car and get a few hours of sleep so that we could leave home at 4.30am on Monday to crew for a swim. Luckily Emma decided to stay over in Dover Monday night. But it was tough to then drive home at 6.30am Tuesday and shadow Emma at work all day Tuesday before starting to write this. I’ll have a break in a minute to attend the community call. I really can’t believe the hours that Emma does, it’s mind blowing.

Shout outs

Training

Congratulations to:

Drew B & James for a 7 & 6 weekend
Yoel for an 8 hour swim
Steve for a 4 & 6 weekend (post covid)
Paul for turning a 5 hour swim into a 7 hour swim
Lindi, Stefanie & Conny for 6 hour swims
Anthony R for a sensible build up post covid

Channel swimmer on the beach

Emma pre-warned me that I needed to keep my eyes peeled for achievements during the week. I did my best, but I fear I’ve missed some. If there is a swim that you think I missed, please let me know and I’ll edit.

In no particular order, congratulations to:

Adele Havercroft for her successful channel solo on 4th July in a time of 15hrs 41mins.
Aspire Honey Badgers for their successful channel relay on 4th July in a time of 12hrs 5mins
Aspire Gorillas for their successful channel relay on 4th July in a time of 12hrs 33mins
Halani Foulsham for her successful channel solo on 5th July in a time of 16hrs 18mins
Dominic Bunce and the Uswim Team Mahaffey channel relay on 8th July in a time of 11hrs 52mins
Ellis Merschoff and the Alexa’s Atlantic Alliance channel relay on 8th July in a time of 13hrs 38 mins
Stephen Tummon for his successful channel solo on 8th July in a time of 12hrs 59mins
James Barlow, Charles Barnes, Henry Barnes, Harold Ghorbanian, Blake Lyons and Benjamin Pope - Mencap Marvels - Beech Hall School for their channel relay on 8th July in a time of 12 hours 13 mins.
Conny Bleul-Gohike and the Serena Spirit team for their channel relay on 8th July
Nicolie Chaffe for her 2 way Windermere solo
Girls Alive Deep Sea Dippers channel relay on 9th July in a time of 18hrs 54mins
Andrea Ayres for her Torbay 8 mile swim
Phoebe Critchlow and the Sea Pickles for their channel relay on 10th July in a time of 13hrs 40mins
Nikki Pope, Lyon Lee and Sophie McKenzie - Mencap Marvels - Beech Hall School for their channel relay on 10th July in a time of 12hrs 11mins
Sophie Smith for her successful channel solo on 10th July in a time of 13hrs 48mins
Julia Maguire & Stuart Handley for their 4 x 1 mile Henley challenge

Also, belated congratulations to Angela Wood and the Aquaholics who completed their channel relay on 30th June in a time of 13hrs 18mins.

Special mention to DCT alumni Ed Horne for his successful channel solo on 8th July in a time of 15hrs 51mins.

This section wouldn’t be complete without a massive shout out to the legend that is Sarah Thomas, resetting the boundaries of possible yet again by being the first person to complete a 2 way North Channel solo.

Swim stats

Note: Water temperature taken during the swim session in the harbour. Air temperature, wind direction & wind speed taken from the Port of Dover app. Please remember that we get a lot of shelter in the harbour thanks to the walls.

Saturday:

Swimmers: 26
Water temperature: 17.8C
Air temperature: 17.4C
Conditions: F4 ENE. Cloudy with occasional sunshine. Beautiful flat water.

Sunday:

Swimmers: 28
Water temperature: 18.8C
Air temperature: 17.8C
Conditions: F1 gusting F2 SW. Flat water. Glorious. Sunny. Calm. Lots of public dippers.

Volunteers & beach crew

Thank you to everyone who helped out this weekend - either a little or a lot. A very special thank you to Richard Brant for stepping in again to enable Mandi to take a less active role. Thank you also to Paul & Halani were on the rota and to Tony, Harry and everyone else who turned up and helped.

Thank you to all the swimmers who helped with feeds and flashmob arches once their swims were done.

If you want to join the fun, why not pick a date and join the fun on the beach!

The adventures of Dover Dave

My week with Mandi turned into 2 weeks as we went through Covid isolation. It started busy with helping her at work and then all went a bit quiet as we tried to battle covid. Mandi was amazing looking after me so well when she felt dreadful (she couldn’t even drink coffee for days!!). With hindsight, I was a bit of a diva - sorry Mandi.

Paddlefish Ponderings - Confidence

“When you have confidence you can have a lot of fun. And when you have fun, you can do amazing things.”

— Joe Namath

Have you had the feeling when you can take on the world, when everything is just right and nothing can get in your way?

I have, and I suspect you have too. It’s an incredible feeling. One that you could make a fortune from if you could just bottle it and sell it.

However, to appreciate those heady heights of confidence, you’ve probably, like me, also experienced days when you have a disturbing lack of confidence in yourself, your swimming, and the hard work you have done in the water.

We look up at our swimming heroes and imagine that they aren’t plagued by doubt or low self-confidence.

But they are.

Why Self-Confidence Matters

Seems obvious, but it is worth quickly going over the advantages that present themselves when we are completely on fire.

You are more likely to go after opportunities that present themselves.

Gives you greater degrees of certainty when decisions need to be made. Limits second guessing.
Confidence keeps you moving forward, always looking to increase momentum.
Swimmers with high levels of confidence chase down their own goals relentlessly. They’re not affected by the goals of others or the dreams that others have for them.
Self-confidence gives you the courage and enthusiasm to take risks and chase the outer reaches of your limits.

Those moments where we are feeling low in self-confidence are just horrid.

After all, they leave us feeling…

Constant need for outside approval or recognition.
We find ourselves comparing our worst features with others’ best features
Acute fear of failure, of coming up short.
Overly critical of personal image.
Over-reliance on how others perceive you.
Difficulty in letting go of mistakes and failures.
Resistant to trying new things.

How do we start turning these thoughts and feelings around so that we can get moving in the right direction again?

1. Act positive.

Thinking positive makes a difference, and has positive health benefits including lower rates of depression, increased well-being and even increased life span.

Hands up who wants that? 🤚🏼

Take this a step further and employ positive action.

The steps don’t have to be massive or life-changing; quite often it is the small actions, the little steps that get the ball rolling, until eventually you’ve got so much momentum that the big stuff starts to come down with little effort or thought.

2. Get to the root of what makes you bursting with confidence.

Think back to the last time you experienced an episode of gut-busting self-confidence…

When you felt in control, your emotions in check, and your swimming was steady and effortless.

Think back to the circumstances that led to that amazing feeling and focus on emulating those.

Relive what you saw, heard and felt. Make it even more real by recalling what you could smell and taste too.

When you identify the things that lead you to feeling confident in yourself it becomes possible to replicate the scenarios in order to get that feeling on demand.

Getting into the nitty gritty of what makes your swimming work when looking at the process is an easy way to give you a sense of control with your swimming.

(And as a result, inject some confidence as well.)

3. Stretch yourself.

The most comfortable place in the world to be is your comfort zone.

It’s warm, fuzzy, and we know exactly what to expect.

Within our little sphere of safety we clutch on to our familiar habits and attitudes, even it they are detrimental to our long term success.

Doubt and insecurity are generally what keep us in there, and in order to bust out and gain traction on our goals we have to be willing to stretch our boundaries and seek out challenges.

Nothing grows legitimate confidence and destroys self-imposed limitations faster than doing something you’ve never done before. The resulting confidence will grow on itself, spurring you on to chase even more challenging limits.

4. Stop caring so much about what others think.

In an age where we are constantly checking our phones to see if anyone has texted us, liked our Facebook status update, or retweeted our latest post, it’s a refreshing and freeing moment when we stop seeking validation from others.

Putting yourself first, and above the expectations you believe others to have of you, is not selfish or brash.

It’s empowering, not only for yourself but also the people that surround you.

Don’t waste a moment chasing someone else’s dreams; make your goals completely and uniquely yours and motivation and resulting confidence will pour forth.

Once you stop putting too much stock in what others say about you, or what others think, you liberate yourself to chase the things you truly love.

5. Failure will not destroy you.

Being wrong isn’t a game-ender, and neither is failing.

No matter what your overactive imagination or others will say, the sky will not fall down if you stumble.

Failure becomes an invaluable learning tool once we decide to use it as such. In the immediate after-math of a stumble, take a breath, and then look around and figure out where the lesson is.

(There is always a lesson. You just have to open yourself to looking for it.)

Not only will tripping up occasionally, ideally in training rather than the big day, make you mentally stronger, you’re gaining valuable experience that couldn’t otherwise be appreciated, while also getting one step closer to your goals.

Once the sting and timidity of stumbling is removed, and you learn to value them for the lesson and direction they provide, you can charge forth after your goals with confidence and purpose.

In summary…

Self-confidance is something you can work on. You don’t need to live by its whims on a day to day basis.

Reminders

Remember to book your sessions online.
Bookings can be made up to 48 hours ahead and be cancelled or rescheduled up to 48 hours ahead also. The system doesn’t arrange automatic refunds, so if you would like a refund, please check out our refund policy and get in touch if you would like a refund.
If you miss this deadline then I’ll book you in if I have the available time and I have your disclaimer. There is an admin fee if you don’t use the self-service option.
Those of you with training subscriptions, enter your email address and click in the discount code box and your automatic voucher should appear. Let me know if you have any trouble with this.
Arrive on time
Attend the mandatory safety briefing
Those of you who are members, please remember to cancel your membership when you no longer want it. You can do that within a membership period and still have all the benefits of it, this will prevent it from auto renewing next year. You can do this within your account, by following the link in the confirmation email when you took out your membership, or by asking me to do it for you.

Looking ahead

On Tour

Future On Tour dates:

Saturday 16th July
Saturday 20th August
Saturday 17th September

So, next Saturday we’re on Tour. It’ll either be Ramsgate or Hythe. The choice will be made on Thursday and will be based on the weather forecast.

Spotlight in the shop

Photos

A few photos from the weekend….

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Week 11 - Dave's diary