By Kieran Smyth – Channel Relay Swimmer

The team assembled in the car park at Dover Harbour between 9-10 pm on Thursday 1st August, we were all buzzing with nervous anticipation! We boarded Anastasia and met the pilot Eddie and his crew as well as our CS&PF observer Geoff. We stowed our belongings and set off for Samphire Hoe where our challenge would officially begin. Once at Samphire Hoe, Alan jumped in and swam to the beach and, at the sound of the claxon, he re-entered the water and our relay was officially underway! The time was 11:23 pm. 

So what was it like? We met at Dover Marina at 10 pm on Thursday 1^st August, ready for our tide before midnight. Our team was reduced to five swimmers: one of our members, Lucy, was already part of another relay team, and as Team SwimTayka was delayed a fortnight by bad weather, the inevitable happened, and her team got called on the previous tide to us. So here we are, the five swimmers in the team and Bryan Avery at the front, one of the directors of SwimTayka who has also been our manager over the past nine months since the team first did our trials in a pool in the Cotswolds.

I was beginning to wonder when it would happen so I didn’t want to risk believing it when we were told it was happening Thursday. My plan was to just carry on as normal so that meant a very tough Spin class followed by an abdominals class on Thursday morning at 6.45am followed by work.

I would like to thank everyone who sponsored me in the Charity Cross-Channel Swim Relay. The team set off at 11:23 pm on Thursday 1st August from Abbotts Cliff, Dover. Swimming through the night and into the dawn. All five of us had to be ready at the start and then took turns of one hour each. We finished east of Wissant Town beach, northern France 15 hours 7 minutes later. Each of us had to pick up a pebble from the beach and then swim back to our boat to return to England – we are only allowed on French soil for ten minutes!

Did you know we are putting together a number of teams to swim the English Channel as a relay for SwimTayka?

See what other Channel Relay swimmers have to say about it!

Crossing by night. the moon underlines the dark breathing and swelling masses. We swam with luminescent sparkles. A night was magnifying perceptions while at the same time losing the sense of space and time.

Victoria Dolceamore, of Margate, attempted to swim the English Channel last week as part of a relay team, but they did not make it to France because one of the swimmers had a stroke as a result of a seizure while swimming.

Want to swim the English Channel in a relay from England to France and be proud to say “I swam the Everest of Swims!…

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