The English Channel is approximately 21 miles or 35 kilometres wide at its narrowest point (Shakespeare Beach, Dover to Cap Gris Nez, France). So for a 2 way swim we will be covering a minimum 42 miles between the 6 of us, but due to tides and the route we have to take this could be several miles further. We are hoping to achieve it in a time of around 24 hours which means each of us will be swimming for 4 hours in total an hour at time with a 5 hour gap in between each swim.
By the time of the event we will have been training for over a year and each of us have on average swam 3-4 times a week to get up to a point where we can cover the distance in a pool with ease. Part of the risk of such a long event is if at any point a swimmer gets into difficulty and has to return to the boat the swim will be over, so there is obviously a considerable pressure on each of us not to let our other team mates down.
Apart from the distance itself we’ll need to negotiate various other problems along the way including, seasickness, jellyfish, strong tides, water temperatures around 15-18 C, swimming in the dark, the 600 or so boats that pass daily through the channel, and also whatever they decide to deposit into the water!
