Made it to France - PART II

Things were going good however we had one little issue arise.  Mike was not feeling good from the second we started the out of Dover Harbour.  After I got out of the water he puked twice but said he was alright as he was up after Janina.  Like the trooper he is, he got in and pushed through the sea sickness.  On his swim we saw a large pod of dolphins behind us getting closer.  So that was a really good sign!

Transition - Janina to Mike

At this point the sun was full bloom and there was nothing going to stop us.  I was up again and powered through my swim.  Very calm and felt a lot warmer with the sun on my arms and back.  By time I got out I had no shiver this time and my toes were not frozen but the water was still freezing.

We had a very smooth transition but there was some doubts that we would be making it with Mike's sea sickness getting worse.  I kept telling the crew and CSA officer, he will pull through don't you worry about him.  At the end of Pat's second swim it started to kick up some swells but for Janina's swim it was like a washing machine.  We were over halfway there and getting into the French shipping channel when this happened.  This was caused by numerous variables which is what makes the channel so tough.  One is the deep water in the French shipping lane, two the afternoon winds kicking up, three the tide changing, and lastly LUCK of the draw!

Mike at this point is just sleeping and is being woke up to just swim.  Which he does just like a champ!  He had to endure a pounding but not as bad as Janina's but was still pretty bad.  At this point you cannot see the White Cliffs of Dover clearly anymore but you can see all of France crystal clear.

Coming up to my third entry into the water my little friend chaffing kicked up again.  I really should have shaved as soon as we left port but thought it would be alright as it was only 7 hours since my last shave.  Cold water makes the hairs that are under the skin like sandpaper!  So this all goes back to my first swim.  I was so nervous I forgot Vaseline on my neck, armpits and face.  I put it all on the second time but it was enough to shred me.  So what did I do but shave right there and than, and oh it felt so good!

Shaving @ sea with salt water

Two Days later and have a nasty painful chaff!

We were making good time and ahead of the tide.  This is great because this is going to push us into France with no fighting the tide.  This is where the good call on the pilot comes into play.  See we started the day with two solos and three relays in the channel.  Two solos pulled out after 4 hours and heard one relay canceled.  So we now knew we would be the first to France this season if everything went accordingly.  I knew this when we booked but everything played in our favor.  The first slot, the first on the boat with no delays, first out of the harbour, the first off the beach, and the first to beat the tide.  We could  see the other boat lingering behind but knew they were behind the tide and going to get caught in another.  So this was a real motivator...

So with that shave done and dusted and the motivation to get to France first, I was ready for my third entry.  This was not as calm as it looked when on the boat.  I got pretty swished around and had to pull a 6 beat kick for most of the swim to keep straight.  What was really cool about this leg, was the clarity of the water.  It was crystal clear about 10 to 15m clear.  However things you fear you don't want to see!  Jellies, big ass jellies were about 8 to 10m under the surface.  This suckers were very large with long tentacles that could ruin anyone's day!  So this is where you say, you have to get on with it and go for it.  If you get hit deal with it later.  

We were so close you can smell the garlic...

I powered through another session and felt great however the water temp has dropped to around 11C/51F.  I kept about 63/64 stroke rate up the entire time, just to keep the body nice and warm.  It was a relief to get back and we were under 3.5 miles off the Cap Gris Nez and we thought was that it was clear sailing.  This is where the channel gets mentally draining!  The captain says we got another 3 or 4 hours more!  I could not understand but was schooled on tidal flows in the channel.  The best example I can use was there was a lobster pot about a mile and a half off the Cap.  Remember the scene in Jaws where they put the buoys into the shark and he just drags them all around with no effort.  Well when we got up to these lobster pots we thought something was pulling these buoys ie shark or big ass whale.  These things flew by the boat at a speed of maybe 30 MPH or more.  I was shocked and the pilot convinced me with a close up of GPS.  You can see us flying in the water sideways, pulling us out to the Atlantic :(   He said it is not a big deal once we get a little close we will hit the Cap's tidal waters and hit an eddy and it will shoot us in but it is all timing...

At this point I am shitting myself because my last swim I went all out and it is freezing!  Worst was the crew and liaison busting my balls that I have to go in again.  Both Pat and Janina power through there swims.  We got Mike up from his slumber which was keeping his sea sickness at bay.  He did not or could not keep fluids or food down the entire way which is not good.  So we had to give him a pep talk and kept telling him he was going to be the one on French soil.  This would have been true if he was not sick but he started out strong and faded at the end.  It did not matter all he needed was that ONE hour.  Most crossings end in this area so we did not want this to happen.  He was out and now, I had to go again, which I dreaded.  The water was freezing and not something to look forward too...  The upside was I am going to be the one on French soil!  The CSA rule only allows one swimmer in the water at any given time except during change overs.  That meant only one of us can reach the shore which sucked as a team.  So any way, with getting to shore on my mind, I used the rest of my power I had left.  It took me about 30 minutes to get to the shallows.  This was heaven and I did breast stroke the last 25m because the water temp jumped to over 16C/60F and felt like a jacuzzi.  I tried to look for a beach but we did not have that in our favor, so had to climb up on the rocks.  I don't advise rock climbing in a speedo.  This was not fun but MADE IT... 12 hours and 39 minutes and the FIRST TO FRANCE for the 2010 Swim Season!

Made it to France...

Our plot was a great line and supplied by InstaMapper via iPhone.

By far it was the hardest swim I have done to date, even though it was only a relay!  I thought going into this it would be a cake walk. Well, I was wrong and it truly is a beast on it's own.  However, I cannot wait to do a solo! Would love to do it next year but the missus would not be happy with me training and getting hitched in the same summer...  I would probably do another relay for some more experience next year even this year and a solo in 2012.