Maybe Friday AND Saturday!

We may start our swim on Friday night around 8 p.m. and swim into Saturday, if Alison's relay goes out tonight. Or we will start on Saturday morning around 10 a.m. and land late at night, maybe into Sunday. The wind starts turning tonight and will be coming from north-west, pushing the swimmers, finally!

The good thing about swimming into the night: the night is usually calmer, you will have daylight and hopefully some sun for the harder part of the swim, it's a great experience swimming into the day and you also will land in daylight and avoid getting torn bloody all over when trying to climb over the barnacle-covered rocks in the dark to reach dry land. I am estimating around 15 hours for my swim ( in 1985 it was 17 hours, but friends who are slower were faster on their swims - depends a lot on the wind and currents).

Saturday or Friday?

The weather and the forecasts keep changing, but my guess is Saturday. Some people made it yesterday, some didn't, due to hypothermia, seasickness, lack of mental preparation etc. Today all the boats stayed in the harbour. The water today felt much colder, almost arctic, but it was quite calm in the harbour and the sun is out, warming. Swam with Rashmi again. Tonight Marie-Therese will arrive and we will get everything ready and worked out. It's my Channel-anniversary today, but there is no special feeling - the future is more exciting than the past. Still I am amazed at how calm and peaceful I feel.

Options

Just talked to Alison, my pilot. She offered me several options. Friday is taken by a relay, but they could change to Saturday. Tomorrow and Thursday seem to be swimmable, but still with windforce 3-4 in the wrong direction. Saturday would be calmer and northerly winds. Wednesday is out of the question for me. Will check the weather charts again tomorrow.

Looks like Saturday or Friday now (Sept. 10)/

Exciting news: Swimmers are out - and more hope!

Arrived in Dover last night by train and ferry - with an amazingly positive inner feeling, no matter the outer circumstances which only seem to be improving. Moved into a nice little attic twin bed room at Victoria Guest House WITH A VIEW TO THE HARBOUR AND THE CHANNEL! And with great breakfast and wireless laptop (if it works), with extremely supportive landlords and more Channel swimming company.

Swimmers are out today!

The yacht harbour at Dover Marina, where the pilot boats are moored, looks quite empty today.
A number of boats with their swimmers including Alison with Roco went out early this morning. We are all very excited about it. On the ferry yesterday it didn't look too bad - wavy yes, but not unswimmable, with north-westerly winds. More swimmers are getting ready to go tomorrow morning, if they get the confirmation tonight, but right now Tuesday looks windier again. Wednesday and Thursday are looking quite good right now, then it is getting windier again on Friday. Alison took a swimmer or a relay out today - so there is only one person or team before me now!

Good omen

When I came to the harbour around 9:30 this morning for a two hour training swim - after a huge Channel swimmer breakfast of porridge, eggs, beans, potatoes and toast at the Victoria Guest House with another swimmer from California and his crew (and pizza last night) - who was there, as if waiting for me? Rashmi, the 18 year old Indian girl and her family, still training and waiting for a chance to do her 2-way attempt! Great hello and lots of chatting and picture taking, until Kiran, her mother chased us off into the water. But first we still had to admire the sun partly covered by a tiny cloud, creating a rainbow halo-effect for just a minute! Very unusual! Rashmi is taking it as a good omen. "You came and are bringing the sun!" she told me. I wish I could bring about her swim! She is still 4th place with her pilot ("left-over" swimmers from earlier tides have to get to the end of the line behind the official swimmers of each tide). On Monday they will be going back to India, no matter what.

Two hour swim and international company

I totally enjoyed the two hours of swimming, it felt smooth, easy, powerful, plus I enjoyed swimming side by side with nice company, including another Indian girl we met in the middle of the harbour. After taking off our googles, we realised we know each other from the Zurich lake swim last year. She may go out tomorrow!

The water felt "crisp", and it did bite my face at first. The lake and pool had definitey been warmer, uncomfortably warm for me. But luckily my body felt fine, in the beginning I was even wondering for a second if I was still dressed. More rest and food plus the long swim weekend in the lake seem to have some positive effects! Fingers started fluttering again after an hour from the cold, but after two hours they were fine. Better than last time in Dover! The water on the left side of the harbour was quite choppy again, but that makes it only more interesting and better training. Two or three more days of acclimatisation and I am definitely ready to go!

Cosmic Game

The only constant thing is change - also in regard to Channel weather forecasts. Right now it looks much gloomier again for the tide starting today, but of course that could change again. And reality need not abide by the forecasts. Now there is only a relay and a solo swimmer before me. And there are new enthusiastic and experienced helpers confirmed: Marie-Therese, who helped Bea in 2006, will come to Dover on Tuesday - and Angela, a physiotherapist who was on the World Harmony Run in Australia, would join the van-crew and be a support-biker, if we get to swim and make it.

I bought my train ticket to Calais for the 7th and I feel it is the right thing to go. It feels nicer to celebrate my Channel anniversary on the 9th in Dover, it will be good to swim again in cold water, although tapering, and if it doesn't happen this tide I will do another long swim in Dover and only come back for the 2nd tide of September, if the weather looks good. But I am still hopeful for this tide - miracles do happen. (In 1985 my helpers had to come three times and then the day of the swim was great - so I am used to the game, it is just a matter of time, and also money, of course.)

This time, with only one helper and coming late, we will be staying at Victoria Guest House, closer to the harbour and very supportive of Channel swimmers.

Back to Dover on Sept. 7th

With a little help from my friends I will be back in Dover for the next neap tides (Sept 6-11) soon. Just checked the pressure charts: a high pressure zone is pushing its way up! High pressure usually means less wind, i.e. good swimming conditions. The first days of the tide still look not so good, but its getting better from Monday on and the 10th and 11th are looking quite promising right now also on windfnderfor example. The only thing, apart from the fact that the weather forecasts can change within a few hours: there are still swimmers before me! But one or two days after the neap tides (12 and 13th) might still be swimmable, too, if the weather is right. So I am quite excited and hopeful now!



Met office pressure forecast for Sunday 7th: the high is pushing up towards the British Isles

There are so many swimmers waiting - and quite a few left over from last tides. I really hope we are getting a chance this time. Good luck to all!

(I am aware how tiny our weather problems are compared to some much more serious weather issues on other continents!)

Last split Channel swim before the next tide (7 + 7 hours)

Last weekend of August, after almost 2 weeks of just pool swimming, including a few "fast" 400 m lap-sessions under 8 min. and quite a few days off, plus a long bike ride (previous post), I felt the need for another, hopefully last LSD-swim (long slow distance) this year and did a 7 + 7 hour split swim in the lake. A bit crazy maybe so close to the next tide which is Sept. 6-11th, but I may only swim towards the end anyway - IF (!!!) the weather allows. I was really happy to have done it, my muscles had already started to shrink, but the hunger had come back. And with the high pressure zone still around and lots of people out at and on the lake, it felt easier and safer than had I done it earlier on cloudier and colder days during the week.

Some hours, especially in the middle, felt like hard work again, but overall I really enjoyed it and knew I could have continued. I pictured my self out in the Channel, first shipping lane after 3 to 4 hours, halfway geographically after 6 hours (which is nowhere near halfway in my case timewise), in the middle of the seperation zone I went home, and the next day, as usual not starting from hour 1 but from the seperation zone with hour 8 I made it almost to France (actually I DID make it to France, I just skipped a few hours in between). After 11 or 12 hours is when the really serious part of the swim will start for me. So to have done 14 hours felt good, a little room for self-transcendence left once I will be out there.
(To be sure, I am fully aware that conditions out in the Channel will be by far more difficult: waves, currents, cold water and wind, no rest, short feedings, possible seasickness etc.)



Saturday morning - 10:50 a.m. at the lake in Roxheim. The water was refreshing and clear, but lots of fluffy greenish organic matter floating around to swim through - good pratice for the Channel. In the beginning it used to scare me out of my swimming trance...



Sunday evening - ducks racing to get some cookie morsels from the photographer



Mission "Silbersee" completed - happy and sunburnt after a 14 hour swim weekend

Alison still has 2 swimmers and a relay for the next tide, but I am going back to Dover on the 7th anyway. If it is meant to be it will happen. She might even recommend another pilot if there is one available. A new helper for the boat has emerged out of the blue, let's see what the universe still has in store!

more photos

Gratitude and Patience

France in the distance, even visible from water level! So close and yet so far! (foto taken after my 7 hour swim on Thursday)

One might think the Channel is there to teach a few things: patience, determination, humility, a never-give-up attitude, and that you have to put your heart 100 % into something, if you want to succeed. And even then there is no guarantee. (In regard to the mind-philosophy: some say, 80 % is in the mind, others say, best is "no mind". Both may be right.) Also it seems the weather has become much more unpredictable and unstable.

Friday (15th) morning 13 boats went out. Only 2 swimmers and one relay (if I am correct) made it to France. The wind picked up earlier and stronger from the South than expected, making progress extremely slow in conditions that were becoming dangerous, especially in the dark (feeding in high waves, being swept away from the boat or hit by it). Only a relay and two fast swimmers made it, one of them Liz Fry with her two-way attempt, who reached France in under 12 hours and even managed to swim a big part of her second leg back to England through the night, before she had to be pulled out due to the conditions after about 20 hours.

It was hard to believe when we heard the stories this morning on the beach. I felt so sorry - we had been so sure for Jonathon (caravan neighbour at Varne Ridge) and others they would make it. And at the same time I felt a deep sense of gratitude that I still have an opportunity to go. I would not have lasted in these conditions either, being a slower swimmer who might need a window of 15 hours plus. And the night was chilly - only 11 degrees Celsius even for Calais!

Even felt grateful in hindsight for the late money transfer, the bike problems etc. which had been keeping me and my mind busy during the "unswimmable" time. Had I tried to go out by all means and failed, I would not have been able to afford a second attempt in September.

Patiently hoping now that the Channel will again be like a fruit: all the efforts put in are part of the ripening process, and when the time is ripe it will happen. You can not force it or push it. Sumeru told me about an experience Reinhold Messner had with his Mount Everest climb without oxygen: He wrote that he tried to communicate with the mountain, and one day he felt it was "the" day where the mountain would allow to be climbed. Messner even fell into a deep crevasse, which under normal circumstances would have been it, but he had no fear and just knew he would stand at the top of the mountain at the end of the day. And he did.

I remember in 1985, when the day finally came, how smooth it felt. After 6 hours, in the middle of the Channel, I had the same feeling that it was already done, I just had to execute it. Maybe the fruit is not ripe and I am not completely ready yet.

Today only 3 hours in the harbour, yesterday the same, although I had hoped for two more long swims (at least Thursday I had managed a 7 hour swim) - the energy did go down a bit. Glad to get a break from Dover.

There are a few inspiring DVDs to keep spirits up for those waiting: Kanalschwimmer (Channel Swimmers) featuring Christoph Wandratsch in his record attempt plus two other swimmers, and "Heart", the true story of Marilyn Bell, who swam lake Ontario at age 16, outswimming Channel legend Florence Chadwick.

Quote from Marilyn Bell:

It's OK if you fail something,

as long as you don't give up,as long as you say

- OK, I will try it again !

And gratitude again to the Beach Crew, especially Freda, Irene, Barry, as well as Evelyn and Dave from Varne Ridge and all the support so far from other swimmers, friends and family.

Sadness and another 7-hour swim

Shakespeare Beach - just wild!

Yesterday, after confirming with Alison that for me the tide is definitely over (Alison feels I can go on a good spring tide, but I couldn't now because of lack of helpers for the triathlon), I felt sad and empty. Went to the Euroline ticket center to check how I will get back, and then to Shakespeare beach again. The sea wasn't just powerful but violent, ferries were even held up for a couple of hours. In the evening it cleared up and there was a beautiful moon, almost full, over the waters which were becoming calmer. My 2 helpers had a last bus trip to Deal and walked back over the cliffs (4 hours) to Dover. Sumeru left this morning, Bea is leaving tomorrow, I may stay until Sunday.

Meditation helped me refocus - it is not even three weeks until the Sept. tide! So today (Thursday), with Bea's great support, I did another 7 hour swim in the harbour in beautiful sunshine and increasingly calmer waters again. Felt as if I had swum half the Channel (realising again the Channel is really no joke), strained but quite happy and upbeat again. And enjoyed the hard earned massage afterwards! We tried out a few things regarding feeding, such as throwing bottles and having a bit of bread with peanut butter when the sweet taste is getting too much (I like it during ultra races), and it felt good. Of course, in the Channel it will always be a bit different.



The usual swollen eyes after a 7 hour swim

Was happy to hear that Carol from Australia will come back with Max next year to finally do it (they have been so kind and offered us transport to and from the beach many times), and that Jonathan, also staying at Varne Ridge, will have his go tomorrow in what seems absolutely perfect conditions, along with many others. Amazed to hear that some pilots are still not going out. What a game.



Bea, Carol and Max

Hopefully 4 hours in the harbour tomorrow and a last long swim on Saturday, then back home, to get some work done. And looking forward to seeing quite a few swimmers back in September!

Good luck to all swimmers tomorrow!

Postponed until September

At least now we know. Friday, the last day of the neap tide, will be a great swimming day, it seems, but the swimmer before me is going out. Good luck to you, Maggie, make the best of it and don't stop until you run out of water! I will go for a long training swim tomorrow and maybe again on Friday, just to make the most of my time here in Dover.

Yesterday and today the wind has been up to gale force, even with the sun out for lots of the time, which helped to keep spirits up. When we jogged down to the harbour from Varne Ridge yesterday via Shakespeare Beach, from where swims used to start (now they may also start from Samphire Hoe, created from debris from the Channel tunnel), the waves there were breaking so high, there was no way of getting into the water. The Channel was really showing its power - exactly like in July/August 1985, when Minati and Saumya were there with me.

I will be back in September. My helpers have to be home in Zurich and Graz by Sunday, and I would not swim on a strong spring tide anyway. Waiting for the next tide is no option for various reasons. The budget will be stretched, but I am still lucky - swimmers from the U.S. or from other far away parts of the world mostly don't have this option.

We had a nice chat with Alison Streeter, my pilot, on her boat in the morning. She had been more depressed about the weather than many of us swimmers, wanting desperately to give us a chance to go. She will try to take out as many swimmers as possible already on the next tide if the weather allows so that there may be "vacancies" on the first September tide from the 6th to the 11th or so or even a few days earlier. I will be able to go to Dover on very short notice as soon as the weather seems right and there is a slot.





On Alison's boat - Bea tells the famous story of her mid-Channel haircut for the umptieth time - and we just crack up laughing again!

All the preparation is done, loose ends have been tied together, things can only run smoother in September. New helpers will be needed for the boat, but for the bike and run part the crew is already confirmed (anybody else who feels inspired is still welcome!). We have gathered valuable experience here and sorted a number of things out (feeding schedule, what to feed, how to feed, things to take into account like stomach sickness of the swimmer etc., bought light sticks, grease etc.) - and my muscles have grown! All the hours of training in the choppy harbour and acclimatising to the cold will not be lost. I might have to take cold showers and maybe even an ice bath every now and then at home, but in September the water usually is even a bit warmer. The air temperature right now is not very helpful either, rather making for a higher chill factor during the swim.

I will leave some things in Dover, like food supplies, gear, clothes, so that everything will just be ready to go when we come back. Fingers crossed!

With 2 girls of the successful Teens on the Move Sea 2 See-Relay and their coach Dee from Australia, our caravan neighbours, and Dori (U.S.), who swam successfully last Friday, on the beach in Dover harbour

With Michael Read, head of the CSA (the Channel Swimming Organisation I swam with in 1985) and former King of the Channel with 33 crossings

My current pilot Alison Streeter is part of the CS & PF, the Channel Swimming and Piloting Federation, a new organisation to pilot, observe and ratify English Channel swims. For us swimmers the main thing is to swim under official observation - I am trying to keep away from politics.)

... and waiting....

Stuck in base camp, so to say. The Mount Everest of swimming is showing us its inaccessible side and has only allowed very few swimmers to cross this tide so far. Until Wednesday it will be extremely windy (25 knots and over from the south), Thursday getting slightly better but not great, still strong southerly winds, Friday is now looking like a swimmable day, but there is still one swimmer before me. Still hoping the good weather might move up in time. Saturday looked good yesterday, not today anymore, plus it is a spring tide, with 6.3 m and 1.4 m high and low tide. Opinions are divided as to how advisable it is to swim on a spring tide. A slow swimmer can end up just being swept parallel up and down the French coast - until the next neap tide..

Last Friday there was a narrow swimming window of 10-12 hours. Two swimmers I know of started in the afternoon around 3 and 4 p.m. in pretty grim conditions, with northern winds at about 15 mph pushing them and sky covered by clouds (the "chill factor", i.e. lack of sun, wind, adds to the cold water temperature). One swimmer gave up after 2,5 hours (felt sick), the other one, Dori from Connecticut, made it in 10 hours, conquering her sickness by only taking peppermint tea and carbo-stuff (maltodextrine and fruit sugar, I think) all the way, throwing up everything else. At times she could see the bottom of the boat coming out of the waves. During the night it got calmer, the water became warmer - and she touched French shore around 1 a.m., loosing quite a bit of skin in her effort to climb over the rocks in the dark night to touch firm ground. (Slower swimmers would have had the wind coming up against them a couple of hours later.)

Staying at Varne Ridge really helps to cope with the waiting time. Great views over the Channel even in bad weather, beautiful walking and running trails on the cliff tops, very friendly and supportive owners, Dave and Evelyn, who e.g. organised an indoor barbeque with great pizza and salads and German Zwetschgenkuchen (plum cake, bought at Lidl in Folkstone) on Saturday to help lift the spirits of all the swimmers and crews staying at the caravan site.



Evelyn cutting the Zwetschgenkuchen, I believe



5 Channel swimmers, 9 swims (not counting relays): Laura, Bea, Vasanti, Dee (Jersey) and Sally turning the indoor barbecue into a teddy bear party



Irish bagpipe performance (Enda's team) - there was no room for it inside....



Goodbye for the Sea 2 See-relay team - the Jersey girls are leaving with Sally, the Australians are staying a few more days (sadly, they were the only ones to get that "congratulations"-sticker on their caravans while we stayed there....)

Last night I had an evening run over the cliffs in a stiff breeze with the path of the half moon glittering on the waves, in the afternoon I treated myself to two hot chocolates with whipped cream at the clifftop cafe (open air) writing my diary, while my helpers were out for a walk.



All along the coastline (not only in Dover harbour) you encounter remnants of the war - bunkers, memorial plates and sites, like the Battle of Britain memorial which I visited a few days ago. I have been reading a book with swimmers' portraits, and one story touched me particularly: It was about a swimmer who felt his most significant swim was one between Bali and another island, not because of its difficulty, but because Hindu and Muslim fishermen, who had used to avoid each other for ages, started cooperating to help him with his swim. Similarly, swimming the English Channel - and doing this triathlon - for me has a feeling of helping heal old wounds, strengthening the feeling of oneness between countries instead of seperation.



Battle of Britain Memorial site

Swim training has been down to 2 hours in mostly quite wavy conditions, on the weekend (yellow cap from Feda) with lots of other waiting swimmers and one head on collision (actually only "hands on") and a few close misses (Kevin just barely...) Today only one hour.



So we are trying to keep our spirits up and remain focussed, ready to go any time a window should open. Trying not to catch a cold, not to twist ankels in rabbit holes along the cliff, not to break fingers crawling into other people's face etc. If it is not to happen now, I am definitely going to be back in September!

Thanks everybody for your e-mails and faxes of support! And check back soon for updates!

Waiting

Tuesday evening, biking by the harbour, I was almost shocked: for the first time since I was back in Dover, the French coast was visible again - so clear, so near, almost in grasping distance.

Next day my two helpers for the boat arrived, Bea and Sumeru from Austria and Zurich, and we moved to Varne Ridge Caravan Park, where a whole Channel swimmer community is staying. A couple from Australia (Carol wants to come on my boat as a helper and support swimmer to get more Channel experience), Enda from Ireland, and the members of the Jersey-Australian Teens on the Move Sea-2-Sea Relay Team who made it only the other day (Aug. 6), barely missed by thunderstorms and lightning from three sides at the end of their swim in the night.

Sally Minty-Gravett, 4-time Channel swimmer in 4 decades from Jersey, coach of the Jersey girls and staying in the caravan next door, turned out to have swum exactly the same day as myself in 1985, on Sept. 9th. On that day all the faster swimmers had been held up by the French coastguards until the slower swimmers had caught up. Only then were they allowed to continue - otherwise she would have been quite a bit faster that year! We had a very nice conversation and of course took quite a few fotos.



With Sally Minty-Gravett, 4-times Channel soloist and caravan neighbour. We both swam on Sept. 9 in 1985, just like U.S. adventurer Steve Fossett, who needed 22 hours, and Philip Rush, who true to his name did a two-way in not even an hour more than I needed for a solo!

We feel like in heaven up here on top of the cliffs between Folkestone and Dover, with a fantastic view across the Channel to the French coast, with its lights glittering like diamonds in the evening. It helps us not to get too impatient waiting for the right weather. Last night it seems a few swimmers went out, I heard of one who got out of the water after only 3 hours because it was too cold for him(16.5 C water, "normal" temperature, i.e. what you have to be prepared for). Today around 3 p.m. in the afternoon more swimmers will go out, with quite a bit of wind pushing them, then calming down, but with a chance of stronger Southern winds in the morning. I still have to wait for my turn.

For the weekend it looks very windy, even Monday and Tuesday don't look too good right now, but things can always change.

Swim training is down to a minimum - two hours on Wednesday, quite fast for me in very calm water with Rashmi, the 18-year old Indian girl waiting to attempt a double. I was surprised to be able to keep up with her - confidence for a faster crossing than in 1985 is growing.



With my helpers Bea (Channel solo 2006) and Sumeru, a doctor from Austria

Yesterday, on Thursday, only one hour - all the time thinking "I am swimming in the wrong direction" - with the French coast visible in a haze in the distance, beckoning. Today again only one hour easy - like other swimmers who are waiting.

I was glad we had a chance to watch the Olympic opening ceremony - fascinating, at some points during the cultural part I had goosebumps. In spite of politics and pollution and drugs - there was a feeling something new is emerging, even if it will need time to grow.

Latest news: grim prospects even till Monday and later, some say for the whole tide! Will our prayers help? Or will it be similar to 1985, where my helpers had to come three times and I had to leave Dover in between? Coming back in September would be an option, if there is a place on a boat available. Plus it would stretch the budget quite a bit. But I cannot imagine training like this for another year... So let's at least stay optimistic!