Welcome to the Class of 2023!

Dear Subscriber First Name

Less than 6 weeks to go…

Just like that and the winter period is almost gone and it’s time to look ahead to training in the summer.

Training starts on 30th April and runs every weekend until Saturday 30th September.

This email sets out key facts for the 2023 season

Membership

£20/year

Anyone training with Dover Channel Training needs to first be a member. Membership runs for 12 months from the date it is taken out and includes:

1. Membership card

2. Wall planner (worth £5.50)

3. Weekly community call from January to end of September (worth £78)

4. One free standard solo or relay training session (worth up to £12)

Disclaimer

The other thing that needs to be in place before training takes place is the annual disclaimer. If you haven’t already completed it, this can be completed by clicking below.

No disclaimer, no training, no exceptions

Key Dates

Season start & finish

• First training session: Saturday 29th April

• Final training session: Saturday 30th September

Cancelled sessions

• Saturday 6th May: King’s Coronation

• Saturday 10th June: alternative session is night swim starting 02:30

Night swims

These are optional extras and not included within any training packages:

• Friday 26th May: 10pm start for a maximum of 1 hour

• Saturday 10th June: 2:30am start for a maximum of 6 hours

On Tour sessions

Once a month we take training away from Dover and experience different conditions. This experience is invaluable for those training for a sea based event. The location selected will depend on the weather forecast. It’s likely to be Hythe or Ramsgate.

• Saturday 20th May

• Saturday 17th June

• Saturday 15th July

• Saturday 19th August

• Saturday 16th September

Intensity week

If you want a mid season boost to your training, why not come along and join us for 5 days of intensive training with a DCT twist.

• Monday 5th to Friday 9th June

What to go a little further? Why not tag on weekend training and / or night swim to one or both ends of the week.

Training packages

We offer three choices for training package:

1. Pay as you go: where you pay for each training session attended. Remember, you are entitled to one free training session as part of your membership

2. Block of 10 training sessions: use these whenever you want throughout the season (excludes night swims and the intensity week)

3. Season ticket: all training sessions for the entire season are covered (excludes night swims and the intensity week)

The choice you make is a personal choice and will likely depend on how many sessions that you are likely to attend.

Training types

Choose between ‘solo’ and ‘relay’ training options:

• Solo: Longer swims (up to 7 hours on a Saturday and 6 hours on a Sunday) with feeding after 2 hours and hourly thereafter

• Relay: Shorter swims (up to 2 hours), no feeding. Can have two dips per session

Pricing

We have maintained our pricing at the 2022 levels:

• Solo:

  • Pay as you go: £12 per session

  • 10 x voucher: £95

  • Season ticket: £195

• Relay:

  • Pay as you go: £10 per session

  • 10 x voucher: £50

  • Season ticket: £95

Bookings close 48 hours ahead of each training session. If you miss the deadline and still wish to swim, there is a late booking fee or £5 regardless of the training package option selected.

Book your training package through the link below. You’ll need to be a member to access this page.

Training sessions

Training sessions can be booked via the booking system link below (you’ll need to be a member to access this page).

When you train with us you’ll need to wear a red hat if you’re a soloist or a yellow hat if you’re a relay swimmer. You can wear any brand of hat and if you don’t have one you can buy one of ours through our online shop.

You can also book optional extras:

• Intensity week: £200 for the 5 days. This covers training only. Your accommodation and evening meals are to be arranged independently.

• Night swims (through the booking system):

  • Late start: £10

  • Early start: £15

Other updates

We are in the process of updating some elements of our website including codes of conduct, safeguarding information and volunteer information. Keep an eye out.

We take the your training, safety and enjoyment seriously. We require everyone to operate within our codes of conduct and take any breaches seriously.

We have a fabulous leadership team, each one of us have common and also unique responsibilities which we’ll introduce you to over time.

In the short term, let me introduce you to 3 roles:

• Membership: Hayley Brant

• Safeguarding: Vikki Chester

• Volunteers: Paul Cross

In the meantime, if you have any questions, a great place to get answers is the community call which is hosted by a member of the leadership team each week.

If we don’t see you before, see you on the beach!