First and foremost, prior to departure on the Friday afternoon, the team said a fond farewell to Danny who can no longer continue with his duties and thanked him for all his hard work and contributions; he will be missed.
Friday 6th May
The weekend began in true style at 5.31 as the “Top Gear”-esque race began. In typical fashion, upon arrival at Victoria Station whilst waiting for their next leg of public transport [train], 3 of the 6 team members (myself, Tarkan & Yvette) found the closest watering hole available and began as they intended to go on, with a beer. In the mean time, Taras [Taz] and James were travelling by “The Clarkson” [car]. The first to arrive at our final destination would earn bragging rights for the weekend.
However, with a drink already down, it appeared that the affects of alcohol were already evident with the first of two, later to be deemed lightweights, Yvette.
Yvette managed to activate her on-board ‘saffie’ sat-nav and locate a store stocking only what she classified as South African treats. But if you ask me, Biltong, Flings and Beacon easter egg bars can hardly be classified as such! Nevertheless, Yvette knows how to get more for your money. An ‘under the influence’ lean over the counter knocked over a box of chocolate eggs and dropping to the floor, the attendant offered them to her for free! What a discount.
The train departed at 19:04 and after 10-15 minutes, Tarkan made the first drinking error and ‘broke the seal’. However, it was a more than eventful trip down the carriages, and alcohol had taken its second prisoner as it was revealed upon Tarkan’s return that he had taken a fall in the cubicle. Let’s hope he fell backwards, or maybe forwards would be better; who knows!? A school-boy error nevertheless.
With Taz’s GPS indicating an estimated arrival time of 8.25pm, and our arrival at Brighton train station around 8pm, it left us just enough time (thanks to Google maps) to walk to our B&B in the estimated 20mins. However, we thought we’d play our hail mary and secured the win thanks to our public transport trump card, the taxi! Victory was ours.
With a huge smile towards Taz and James upon their arrival at the B&B, they disposed of their bags, and we awaited the final member of our team to arrive, Rosie. Our wait was short, and we immediately head to the pub.
Beer, Cider, Sambuca, Jaeger bombs, and a barrel of laughs later, it was soon mentioned by Taz that we should take a dip in the sea before the others. This would “not only introduce us to the cold open water before everyone else, but being it 3am, it would also give us a taste of what it will be like to swim in the dark!”; So a drunken stagger to the sea for some early acclimatisation soon became a reality as we ventured to the shore.
Only the photos can really justify the events thereafter, the rest of the night/morning is pretty much a blur!
I woke up with cut-up knees and shins, which I can only assume was from the ‘sandy beach’.
We do however remember the following sentences:
“I need a PUK code!!!” (Thank you Rosie) & “My knees are locked!!” (Thank you Tarkan)
Saturday 7th May
My alarm went off at 07.30 and we all stumbled down to breakfast hoping to put some grub down us as we missed dinner the night before (explaining quite a bit).
We exercised a walk similar of snail’s pace down the coastline for our 10.30 meet with Aspire and the other teams to discuss the day’s agenda.
After waiting 3hrs in a gym reception area with temperatures similar to that of a sauna, the other teams had finally finished their pool based training and it was our turn. This training focused on techniques required for successful open water swimming. After a swift 16-length warm-up, Taz could take part no more as the night before caught up on him and he excused himself from the pool for a visit to his porcelain throne.
After the pool work, there was an hour to kill before we were on the beach and preparing for our initial acclimatisation to 10°C waters. This first swim really was just to become accustomed to the temperatures.
We stepped in and walked deeper and deeper with what can only be explained as stabbing pains to our feet and legs being the parts submerged. Obviously, submerging the groin area was an achievement in itself!! However, we battled on against the cold and slowly started acclimatising. After 20minutes, I could begin to feel my fingers ceasing and thankfully we got the sign to get back to shore.
Getting out and recovering from the cold is almost as important as the cold water swimming. We were advised that there is a three minute grace period between exiting the water, and the signs and effects of hyperthermia becoming major concerns.
In these three minutes, whilst we are mentally battling to keep control of our bodies, stumbling over the pebbles and back to our gear, we needed to get dry and keep our core temperatures as warm as possible as quick as possible.
Everyone reacts differently, and I seem to be the lucky one as the cold does not seem to affect me anyway near as much as the others. I recommend asking one of them how they felt when they got out of the water, but it didn’t look comfortable.
After the group had warmed up, we were free to do as we pleased for the rest of the evening and I, Taz & James decided to take a long mile walk to re-ignite our childhood memories of the Brighton Pier and a game of crazy golf (which Taras won).
After a short trip to the end of the pier we headed back and picked up some of the local cuisine (Fish & Chips) and eventually got to our beds for some much needed shut-eye.
Sunday 8th May
Another bright and early start as we all met down at breakfast, feeling a lot fresher than the day before. Weather forecasted as thundery showers, we were not looking forward to our plans.
A 9.30 meet on the shore for our first of two swims and the skies seemed to be holding out.
After the previous days shock introduction to 10°C seas, we were all a little more hesitant to get back in. Not only this, but we’d be in the water for 35mins rather than 20 this time around. Nevertheless, we battled on and through the cold and swam and swam and swam.
There were a couple of nervy moments when feeling something stick to an arm, leg or shoulder, which certainly got the heart racing. I was about to shout “JELLYFISH!!!!” before I noticed that it was just seaweed. <huge sigh of relief>
I can only explain the feeling of swimming in these waters as being blind, and a mouth full of salt! You can’t see the end of your outstretched arm whilst swimming, with the swell obscuring your view of your swimming direction, ‘spotting’ became difficult. On top of this, a quick breath over the shoulder often became a mouth full of sea water as the waves tried breaking on us.
The call eventually came through and we headed back to the shore to get our gear on and head inside for a 90 minute recovery so to warm our core temperatures back up before heading back out into the cold waters.
At this point, I don’t think Taz, Tarkan, James & Yvette could think of nothing worse than getting back in as they tried dealing with the cold as best they could. I’m not afraid to say, but there were definite man love moments where I hugged Taz using my body heat to warm him up! (I don’t think he got the wrong idea?)
The 90minute break came around quick, and we were soon heading back out to the cold weather where the storm seemed to be holding off. The objective of the second swim was to force ourselves to accept that we had to get back in.
When actually attempting the Channel in September, we will all most likely swim twice, possibly three times for some of us, so this mental barrier of re-submerging ourselves had to be accomplished. So again, we ventured in to the murky waters for another 25 minutes.
Finally, we got ushered out of the sea, and headed to the showers. After peeling the murky conditions off us, we got changed, and all headed home, with the taste of salt water to remain in our mouths for hours yet.
