We started the day at 1.30 am. Everything was packed and ready to go for the big swim.
Met the boat at 2.30 and headed for Shakespeare beach. The concentration on everyone’s face was palpable especially Eamonn who had the first shift in the dark.
We lit him up with a flashing beacon on his head and a glow stick on his backside. We got within 100m of the shore. Eamonn swam the short distance climbed up on the beach raised his arms the siren was let off and the clock started at 3.30am.
We employed a simple method to keep in contact with swimmer one arm up signified 15 minutes up, two arms 30 minutes one arm up again 45 and then a full hand for you last five minutes.
As each of us progressed through our solitary hour in the water, we waited patiently for that first sign of progress but mostly we wondered have the rest of the crew forgot about the one in the water. Looking back to the white cliffs of Dover, progress seemed painfully slow with France so far away in the distance.
Everyone was nervous getting into the water for their first time which made it difficult to get your rhythm and settle into the swim. We came across a swarm of nasty jellyfish for a period of a couple of hours. No chance of napping with those hanging round. Lots of stings which were more uncomfortable than anything. The sight of them swimming close to you was pretty off-putting.
The crew was great. Eddie and the gang on board the Anastasia were upbeat and encouraging. They seemed happy enough with our progress while Sharon, our observer, who evaluated each swimmer during their hour and marshalled the change-over said we were doing good. As we progressed through the sixth hour however it was noticeable that they crew were getting excited about the prospect of a 12 to 13 hour swim.
As we entered the water for our second hour the nerves had visibly disappeared. Apart from James loosing his hat and Saskia hitting a mass of sea weed, no one stopped or broke their stroke. On top of that, everyone increased their stroke rate and covered a greater distance for the second hour.
At the 12 hour mark, it was Eamonn’s turn to get back into the water to finish off the swim. Just 1.5 km to go. Enda entered the water for the final 300m to keep Eamonn company and both touched the rocks at Cap Gris Nez at 4:06 pm after 12 hours and 31 minutes of wondrous swimming having travelled a total distance of 37.53 km.
It’s hard to describe the feeling. It’s quite emotional. We all worked exceptionally hard to achieve a dream that only has a 13% success rate. 6 ordinary people pulling together as a team to complete an extraordinary feat of endurance.
We would like to thank all our supporters, family and friends for their huge support during the week. To our sponsors Stena Line, Green Acres and Brodericks.
A special thanks to our fantastic coach Heike Coners, Mick Flaherty and all the crew from Rosslare RNLI for their involvement in deep water practice swims off the Saltee Island.