Notes from a Solo English Channel Swimmer

Hello!

So as you know I was booked in for an English Channel Swim in July (2023). Due to our fabulous (eek!) summer weather, I was blown out of my booked tide and therefore joined the ‘Dovercoaster’ - the up and down rollercoaster ride of whether or not you get to swim the Channel.

I finally got ‘the call’ for Monday 28th August 2023 and I successfully completed the channel swim in 15 hours and 9 minutes! (Plus a couple of years of training!)

I have since written some notes about the swim. I had a large WhatsApp group on the go and my friend, Mary Taylor, kindly took over my social media to make some public updates. This hopefully fills in some gaps and answers some ‘FAQs’ from my perspective!

Amanda’s English Channel solo swim

07.29am start - 10.38pm finish  -  Monday 28th August 2023

Written on 29th August 2023, the day after… Grab a cuppa - sorry it’s ended up an essay!!

Wow! So that actually happened! After years of working towards this and more focussed training in the last year, all of a sudden in 15 hours and 9 minutes, my solo channel swim journey is over - and my word what a journey of highs and lows, community and solidarity, love and tears it has been!

A shout out to the team…

It’s a solo swim but we all know the support needed leading up to it and on the day - solo swimming is most definitely a team event! As a brief foreword I do need to mention the support of my family, my husband and children for enabling me to commit to the training schedules, my mum who became an integral part of my training swims as my key beach crew, Christine my mentor, my swim buddies, my ‘normal’ (ha!) friends, work colleagues for covering lessons for me - everyone has contributed to me getting to the start point. And then of course Paul, Daphne and Christine for their awesome crewing. It’s a non-stop job on the boat!

The dress rehearsal…

So, last Wednesday we thought it was our time. My mum, Paul, Christine and Daphne and I all headed down to Dover, to the Travel Lodge, to prepare for a 1.30am Thursday start… A long story short (as I know you want to hear about the actual swim!) but we’d unpacked on the marina but there was no boat. Looking at the tracker it was still in French waters! We were told to hang on until 2.30am. Then told head back to sleep and return at 4am, then a knock at the door from Christine at 3.30am to say it’s now midday as there’s a problem with the boat. So full of carbs and caffeine, we went for a walk around Dover beach at 4am in the morning to bring on some sleep.

As time went on and a nights’ sleep was basically lost I knew that this wasn’t going to be the day for me, I couldn’t start a swim feeling how I was, I would have been on the back foot from the start. So at lunchtime, after a conversation with the pilot who finally stood us down, and having looked at Windy for the billionth time, Monday was thrown out there in conversation. At this point we were all so exhausted I wasn’t sure I wanted to do it at all! Then on Friday my dad was taken ill and the emotions really started to pour out of me. It was a lot to take in over the 48 hours. But then to late Saturday night, dad is ok and stable, Michael (pilot) messages to say, the weather is changeable but he wants to get me out at a 6.30am meet and 8.30am Monday morning swim start - did I want it… HELL YES! The weather improved over Sunday and Monday was looking great. This was my day.

Here we go…

I woke up before my alarm at 3.45am, put my chosen swimming costume on and set about smothering myself in sun lotion and having breakfast (in fact my mum bless her was up and helping already, with my dad out of action, mum was kindly looking after my boys for however long it would take). By 4.15am we were on the road to pick up Daphne first and then on to Christine before heading down the motorway. Bearing in mind we’d already done the full dress rehearsal on Wednesday/Thursday, we were all confident and cracking on. I got my playlist on and with plenty of deep breathing, car dancing and chatter we got to Dover.

Firstly, we were relieved to see West Winds in dock, phew, already an improvement on the previous week! We got loaded up quickly, said fairwells to the other channel hopefuls hanging around and just like that we were heading out of the marina. The crew would settle themselves in on the boat, but after the safety chat from Dan Earthquake (yes, that’s his name!), it was decided on Shakespeare beach as the start point only 15 mins out, so I started to get ready. Daphne got the music on, the pilots already considered throwing the speaker into the water ha ha, and we set about getting me ‘lubed up’. I used Desitin as a base (a high strength sudocrem for the zinc content) topped up with vaseline to prevent chaff and sunburn. Ear plugs firmly in place along with my swimming hat of choice - Dover channel training hat with messages my boys had written, googles and I was good to go. As we approach the beach I felt a calm, focussed anticipation - let’s just get this done. In I go, swim to the beach and a civilised steps exit to start me on my channel swim. The klaxon goes to shouts of ‘SWIIIIIM’ and I’m off. My previous experience of starting a channel relay swim at night was very different, as with boats all lined up I didn’t know which lights I was swimming towards, so this was much simpler!

What a joy to jump into the water and swim directly out, not along the coast as in all the training swims. My first thoughts were ‘ahh it’s warm’… Getting in place next to the boat on the right hand side, I settled into my pace, taking in the beautiful green/grey/blue of the seawater, its warmth, the movement of the waves. All is good. We chose the right hand side as the pilots main station is there and there’s a section slightly lower making visibility for both me and the crew easier. Luckily I breathe bi-laterally - on both sides- so either side was fine. In my head I was doing a 4hr warm up swim, 6hr qualifier and then whatever remained. Of course I had no way of knowing any of the times as I swam but it’s how I’d mentally prepared and broken down the swim. I could then draw upon the training swims as I went, my Croatia trip, looking for sea urchins in cold crystal clear waters featured, as did laps around Dover harbour, Hove seafront, Seaford and along the beach in Durley.

Pushing away from the coast I was feeling good, the swell started to build the further we got out, but anyone who swims with me knows I love a ‘fun’ wave! You can feel the movement of the water and your breathing and stroke pattern works with the water - beautiful. I planned to feed every 45 mins. I’d made up my feed bottles of double strength mutlidextrin which could be diluted with hot water and a squeeze of squash. We had many a last minute conversation about how best to deliver solid foods as West Winds sits a lot higher on the water than Gallivant (the broken boat) so we had to rethink this. The crew settled with a fishing net and a Tupperware pot for me to reach into. Sometimes there were waves and sometimes not but I didn’t manage solid foods too well in any case. Obviously the odd custard cream…

In the first couple of hours, I’d allowed myself time for my body to ‘normalise’ - just my own expression of adjusting to the new temperature and environment. This was well practiced in cold water training! When the initial adrenalin had settled, with a light wind and cloud, I felt a little chilled (refreshed as my friend Amanda would say) but this went after 2 hours. Annoyingly my hat had started to pull back and moved my goggles so I was blinded for a while with one goggle continually filling up with sea water making my eyes sting. I didn’t want to stop to adjust it but had to keep tipping out water, at the feeds I’d try and rearrange them. I think this must’ve been about an hour but at some point I stopped noticing as it had obviously stopped! Time does a funny thing in the water, it disappears quite quickly.

From 2-4hrs I felt super, the winds had created surf waves which seemed to be pushing me forward towards France, I felt like I was flying and cruising through the water. I was chatty with the crew. At some point we joined the first shipping lane and it was a joy to see the tankers and ferries! It’s a buzz as this really is iconic ‘channel swimming’ amongst the ships. At one point we caught up with other channel boats, Viking Princess and Connemara I believe, we were so close for ages and then one slipped behind like it was drafting me! Connemara zoomed ahead - later we found out it was a 3 person relay who landed it just 1 minute beyond the channel record for 3 people to cross (9hrs 40mins - rapid).

At one point I look up to see a HUGE black tanker, so long and right in front. I looked up to our boat a couple of times, I could see that the crew were looking too, they hadn’t asked me to stop so I carried on and was pleased to see it disappear out of my line of sight to the left. It’s interesting in the water, with nothing to look at other than deep sea and the boat, you’re hyper aware of everything the crew and pilots do on board - absolutely everything from actions to facial expressions! My crew knew not to point and look anxious as that can really freak a swimmer out! (I once has a seal play at my feet on the Ramsgate-Belgium/Dunkirk relay - it totally freaked me out!)

The feeds came and went, I’d get a 5 minute warning so I knew to look out for the bottle. A flip lid bottle was attached to a retractable dog lead. I’d go on to my back kick to help prevent being pushed back too much by the tides, drink and then drop the bottle into the water and carry on swimming. I managed to keep most feeds under 1 minute, one feed I know was 2 minutes where I was busy hurling as I was trying to drink, this was not good! Daphne and Paul seemed to get into a solid routine together for this.

Then I started to feel rubbish. Pain had began in my left shoulder (I’d had niggles for a while in training), I was feeling low energy and a bit tearful. At my next feed I told the crew this and suggested 30 min feeds. This was actually the 6 hour mark, roughly at this time your body switches energy systems through ketosis and makes you feel all these things. As soon as I’d actually been able to tell another person that I didn’t feel great it was a weight lifted and each member of the team rallied around on the side of the boat to give me extra encouragement which was lovely. It was also absolutely super to receive messages on the white board. The 3 words became phrases I’d use in mantras that I’d repeat in my head with each arm pull then breathe. I often repeat my children’s names when I need to boost myself, and Ioved using the words of encouragement to keep me going and give me a boost.

So I’ve been asked regularly what I was thinking of whilst swimming?!? Through my training swims I had gathered an armoury of ‘chat’ for myself. I’d use mantras - the 3 word phrases you all messaged like ‘bold, brave you’ and other ones I made up at at the time. I’d also repeat empowering words like ‘endure’.  I sang songs - mainly Unstoppable by Sia, a little bit of One Moment in Time as you gotta love a bit of Whitney and Feel the Love by Rudimental which was playing as I got ready on the boat. If you listen to Unstoppable it’s clear why this is an awesomely motivational song. The reason Feel the Love was so important to me as I literally have been feeling the love from everyone and embracing that. From my fellow swim buddies and OW community, friends, family, even old acquaintances reaching out - amazing and beautiful! I was feeling the love and using that energy. Alive by Sia is also great, there’s nothing quite like feeling alive when pushing yourself and your body in such an extreme way! Every single message was absorbed and reflected on.

Due to my shoulder getting niggles and gradually other parts of my body (mainly joints) feeling the repetitions of each stroke, I also focussed a lot of technique - it’s always a good time for practicing technique! For me this was my rotation and reach. (We calculated I did 48,000 arm strokes just FYI!). I had said to my crew to remind me of this if my stroke was going to pot (like at the 6 hr mark ha!).

I often swim with my eyes closed, firstly as looking when there’s nothing to look at can almost become distracting, it’s relaxing and enables you to focus on your body and the feel of the water and also - I know this is ridiculous - but I get freaked out in the deep water sometimes if I over think it. So when the bloomin’ bird bit me I was so confused and had a moment of panic that something had bitten me in the water until I lifted my head to see a huge great gannet! My crew were throwing custard creams and blowing whistles to shift it, I honestly wasn’t sure how I’d fight this huge thing off but it quickly got distracted and played with the buoys at the back of the boat. You’ll laugh as for a brief moment, I had thought of West Winds being a bigger boat, which brought up the line ‘we’re gonna need a bigger boat…’ yes, from the film Jaws… Oh dear…

What else… So I took a bit of time to practice some gratitude and list the things I was grateful and thankful for at that moment. I had a lovely moment (or some time, who knows!) in a bit of a spiritual place. I’d asked my late nanny to ‘be with me’ and I had a glorious vision of her holding hands with other beloved family members waiting for me on the beach. This brought a bit of emotion but was also super comforting to think they were waiting for me and to keep going. I got stung by jellies a few times, this gave me something else to think about! I also seemed to manage to kick a few like footballs, sorry jellies. Daphne and Christine had fixed my charity banners to the boat and were holding them up for me - this also brought emotion as I was swimming for my friends too, that’s always been a big driver for me. My husband after the swim told me that he was repeating, “I am the storm” from the quote “They whispered to her you cannot withstand the storm; I AM THE STORM she whispered back”. He was saying this for me over and over and it’s so special as this is a phrase I was saying to myself whilst swimming - on the French side when I really needed to knuckle down.

I have read Ross Edgley’s book The Art of Resilience a few times and took a lot from that - mainly about his positivity, swimming with a smile, controlling the controllables and also what he went through to swim around Great Britain! At one point I also thought of Sophie Etheridge (adaptive swimmer without use of legs) for completing her swim in 29 hours just a couple of days before, I was thinking wow and how on earth! Plus the likes of Sarah Thomas, Mercedes Gleitze, Captain Webb, I made a nod to all the greats! I also just gave myself lots of pep talks - positive messages - there is absolutely NO place for any negativity whatsoever. That’s how I passed 15 hours in my own head! It zoomed by (mostly). Did I every doubt myself? No. I had to believe that I could make it and if I didn’t get there I trusted it would be because my crew and pilots had made that decision for my safety. Was I scared at any point? Yes, but I pushed it away and turned it into being fearless, brave and strong. You have to dig deep.

So a couple of times the boat pushed ahead and left me swimming behind, this isn’t a happy place for me and I didn’t like swimming next to the big parachute behind the boat yeuch! (There to control the speed of the boat and looked like a giant squid in the water!). I believe Christine had said that I wouldn’t like that to the pilots thankfully and also at night Christine had switched off the big ‘search’ light as I also prefer swimming in the dark rather than with a light blinding me. If I could control the things that scared me then we did what we could to put them in place.

Roughly from half way I started throwing up feeds. This is something I was expecting and had told my crew too. I think it’s the volume of liquid, sweet tasting drinks and being horizontal that after a while just doesn’t stay down. I threw up a couple of times when I accidentally drank sea water, you immediately heavily reach, it’s horrid! For some time I was feeling quite nauseous, not in an ill way but it was just a bit discombobulating. I mainly threw up into the water (and probably into my costume - as an open water swimmer you get used to the warm feeling of having a wee but this was different having that warm feeling down my chest ha!) Yes it’s pure glamour sea swimming…! Tea seemed to be the drink that stuck the most so lightly sweetened tea I think is what mainly got me through the last bit of the channel! I’ll need to look at the feed schedule to be sure! It was great to be able to ask the crew if I wanted anything specifically, we’d agreed that I would ask the feed before, although I know sometimes I’d shout out ‘mouthwash’ during a stint as this really helps with salt mouth.

For a bit I was trying to work out how long I’d been in the water, I was embracing the adventurer in me and seeing if I could tell the time of day from the position of the sun - futile as I had no idea which way I was actually facing. I gave up with this and also gave up caring probably around 8-10 hours. By this point the sun had come out which was very welcome indeed - as much for me as the crew as it was lovely to see them with their sunnies on looking like they were actually enjoying themselves on the boat. I have a strong sense of wanting everyone to be ok so seeing them enjoying the sun and then the sunset was great and made me happy. It was at this time that the water went all glassy as the wind had dropped. It was making the most beautiful patterns on the waters surface. I think I shouted up to the crew that I had my moment of beautiful glassy channel water! It was great to have the variety in conditions. It’s something you have to get used to anyway when sea swimming as the weather, tide and conditions can change instantly but it also changed things up a bit swim wise.

It was panning out to be a terrific day! I was still feeling good, energised and strong in the water. I had a sense of getting closer to France. Having crossed the separation zone at the halfway point, gone into the next shipping lane, French inshore waters were surely beckoning… My crew would give me thumbs up, strong arm signs, smiles, make eye contact, white board messages - it all felt so positive. The pilots at different points came out to sit on the bow of the boat and cheered words of encouragement - just what a joy! I feel like I was able to take control, digging deep but with a huge sense of purpose.

At some point then I get a message on the whiteboard to say we’re well into French inshore waters - yay! I had glimpsed the French coast at feeds (and at some point the White Cliffs of Dover disappeared out of sight - I wasn’t looking I promise - eek busted!). The sun started to set, France still looked a long way away so in a slightly passive aggressive way (ha!) I asked if my green adventure lights were switched on - the reply was ‘yes, nothing to worry about’ - ahh so that means we’d definitely being going into the night then! I was going to ask if we’d made the CZ2 buoy but thought better of it, I know I wouldn’t get any answers as to how long there was to go but to get a guesstimate I asked if they thought I had a qualifier (6 hours) or a training swim (anything less than 6hrs) to do and the answer was ‘definitely a training swim’ - happy days. Hearing I was making progress was great.

The water had chopped up a bit, occasionally there’d bit a bigger wave which would over extend my arm and I’d get a sharp shoulder pain, ouch, back to controlling the contrallables and working on holding my technique! Much of my body was aching in some way by this point, I’d been taking ibuprofen through the swim which definitely helped. It was aching not in a bad way (I know it’s not good ) but… more in a way that was empowering as this IS channel swimming and an extreme endurance sport! I was in it, feeling it and doing it. Boom, bring it on! I was going to be an English Channel swimmer, I just knew it as I knew I would never quit. All through the swim I knew that I had to swim strong, the power of the water, the sense of crossing the tides - it’s ‘pull up your big girls pants’ swimming time - for however long that would be.

The moon was absolutely stunning, it started off a yellow colour just dripping into the water from my perspective, gorgeous. Nightfall dropped and the crew had put out fairy lights on the boat and glow sticks. All was ok. Two of my swims in the Lake Geneva relay were in the dark with these exact same lights from Daphne so I felt prepared for the dark and comfortable. The water was feeling ferocious. You get a sense of the tide in the water and it wasn’t a battle as in I was swimming against it but I was trying to make all the strokes count. I got my head down. There was chatter about the Cap, the crew had been glancing and trying to work out if that’s where we’d land for sometime but from where I was in the water, nothing seemed to be getting closer so best not to look. It would be a tough swim from this point to land it. Here goes. All of a sudden there’s a bit of a commotion, I’m told to feed quickly and swim as fast as I can. I think there was a mention of the Cap (this being Cap Gris Nez and the closest point between England and France). At the same time fumes billowed out of the back of the boat and illuminated in the lights, it looked like the boat was on fire! Thankfully this was just me being dramatic so I got my head down and picked up my pace with all I had.

The light from the lighthouse on the Cap would swing brightly over and around the water. It was to my left, it was ahead, it disappeared. I was acutely aware that we hadn’t reached the Cap at all and I was being swept up the coast. This was the same time the tracker stopped working I think so no wonder it all got a bit tense, it was quite a critical 20 mins or so!! (Or more time, I have no idea to be fair I was just focussed on every stroke I made and my breathing. My stroke rate increased from a steady 52-54 to 60). I have since found out that the tide turned 1.5 hours sooner than expected and a south-westerly wind picked up meaning that very suddenly our course had changed towards Belgium! Hence zooming passed the Cap…

Shortly after this I was stopped for a feed and the first thing I heard was… ‘Amanda…’ in a stern voice. I have enough experience of the channel to know that being taken up by the tide could mean that you need to swim through another turning tide (4-6 hours) to come back down to get into the beach. In my head I was preparing for this but I was also optimistic as the water was feeling calmer. The strong voice ‘Amanda’ was followed by - THIS IS YOUR LAST FEED! Wow, I wasn’t expecting that. Hoping for that obviously but I didn’t think it could be true! I had managed to swim through the tide and made it into the outskirts of the bay. It was a 2km swim into the beach aiming for Wissant town and the bright lights. Double wow. I’m about a 17 min km swimmer so even without doing the maths I knew it wasn’t long to go.

I carried on swimming with renewed energy again, at some point maybe this had already happened at that feed, they brought the parachute in from the boat and I needed to tread water whilst they sorted it. No problem other than all the jellies seemed to be lying in wait in the bay so I was getting quite stung! Who cares though, I was about to become a channel swimmer! Time to crack on. I was aware of Daphne wearing a swimming hat and adventure lights - yeesss - I had company into the beach. This was much more how I expecting my landing to be, it was serene, beautiful in the inky black water. I could sense the happy vibes from the boat, everyone was busy preparing for the landing. I get instructions to swim towards a bright white light, so off I go.

All of a sudden I know this is the moment I’ve been waiting for. The hours seemed to have disappeared. So slowly yet then just gone and done in a flash. This was the end of the most incredible, challenging, epic, joyful, painful, monstrous and momentous day.

Bright flashing lights lead me to some steps and I realise there’s a group of people leading me in, wow again - this is my glitter dust moment. How funny that I was landing on steps having started on steps however many hours previously! I tentatively climb out of the water knowing that I’ve been horizontal for a really long time and need to go steady on my wobbly legs. I clear the water, turn around and raise my arms and WHOOP! This was it, dreams realised!

The people gathered were a group of lovely teenagers, asking where I’d swum from and how long. I had no idea how long as I didn’t know what time of day it was and in fact I didn’t actually know my start time, so I guessed and said I left England at 8am - for the group to cheer and shout ‘that’s crazy!!’. Yes indeed it is, but fortune favours the brave and I SWUM to France! I didn’t actually say that to them as I’d sound like a right idiot but I did lots of ‘merci beaucoups’ etc. Then they said where was my lift back only for me to reply that I had to swim back to the boat for a lift only to receive and even louder gasp ‘no way!!’. So funny. Daphne swum in and joined me on the steps, as well as, ducking and diving for handfuls of sand (it’s customary to bring back a pebble but French beach sand would certainly do!). Dan had also swum in to ensure we were all safe and well and also to usher us off for that final swim in French waters. It was swimming but not any discernible stroke as I was well aware of my body thinking, ooh yay, we’re done, I can stop now. A few more jelly fish stings for good measure and I’m then being helped onto the back of the boat up the ladder.

The pilots then get to work in order to head off straight away for our 2.5hrs return journey. I receive messages of congratulations via the pilots from both French and English Coastguards! Paul, Daphne and Christine all help dress me as I was very wobbly on my legs and starting to feel the chills. I wrapped up in a jogging bottoms and jumper layer, a onesie layer custom made by my super talented friend Amanda, and then my dry robe plus all the winter accessories you can imagine. Homeward bound, tired, happy and a channel swimmer….

Christine and Daphne started filling me in on all the messages from the WhatsApp group and beyond. So overwhelming. After vomiting whatever was left in my body, we arrive back to a welcome party of Halani and Lee - amazing friends from a Croatia training camp - at the marina. Halani swam the channel last year and as I looked at her I had even more respect than before as to go through it, you really know what it entails to complete it. And I’d just gone and joined the club (less than 2,000 people), hopefully inspiring others and raising money for CF Trust and Papyrus - such an important reason for me in the first place.

I feel so very proud of myself. This is a lifetime achievement I’ll carry with me forever. I think my husband is hoping the ‘swim chat’ will die down pretty soon though ha ha!

I have this morning checked on on the fundraising page - https://www.justgiving.com/team/team21forhopeandhealth - wow - thank you so much! It makes it all so worthwhile. I want to say an extra big thank you again to Daphne, Christine and Paul. They were phenomenal on the boat - from where I was swimming, they were cool, collected, positive and in control. Perfect. And of course a shout out to the pilots! Michael has said that he’s particularly relieved that I’ve done it and won’t be calling him every few days now..!

So today, I am of course feeling sore now but I am honestly so proud of every ache - I earned it! This too shall pass (another of my mantras).

What’s left to say, thank you and I love you all and I hope you feel inspired to follow your own dream, whatever that may be xxx

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Here are a couple of poems, the first is Emma’s poem which is so personal and beautiful and the second is a poem I came across in 2019 written by crew on a channel swim.

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Channel party

To You.

My Friend.

Channel Party.

So proud💛

Bricks in Wall.

Sacrifices Made.

Hard work done.

Training complete 🏊‍♀️

Time is Now.

Music on Shuffle.

No Chat Needed.

Here Comes the Sun☀️

Arm over Arm.

Mile over Mile.

Quarter Way...Half way.....

Yellow Buoy, Ahoy!😘

Deep Breaths Taken.

Invested, Immersed.

Strength From Support.

All You Need Is Love💛

Every Part of the Wave.

By Your Side.

You’ve Got This.

Simply The Best. 🤩

Land in Sight.

Rise up!

Bring it Home.

So Proud💛

Time For You.

Time to Swim.

Time to Get this Done!

🏊‍♀️💛🙌

Emma Lambert

(For Amanda Sharples EC swim)

Under a beautiful moon I swim to France

Lights ablaze and moon beams dance

Muscles burn and skin stings

Shoulders grind but still me swims

Breathing left, breathing right

Lights on boat versus starry night

Faces gleam and wish me on

The moon shines down, but the darkness strong

Loneliness hits me but I’m not alone

My team is bright but my thoughts my own

Smiling faces, feeds come slow

Wandering mind going with the flow

Mind games come and mind games go

Keep the pace, cold equals slow

The end is close, I’m nearly there

France I’m coming, I took the dare.

Oh my god, I’m most of the way

English Channel, in my heart you’ll stay.

Joy Symons

(Watching Val Kalmikovs swim the English Channel)