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Saturday, September 18, 2010

we're back........

Hi All
Just finally back to the van park after a looooooong day at the office!

the last mile was nothing but horrific -but Mort was in the water screaming at Duncs the whole way and got him there in the end  - 11 hours and 33 minutes!!!!  PHEW!!!!!

We arrived back to see the flag flying high - and the beautiful Evelyn and David had prepped the van with the heaters on etc... there is also a big banner taped to the front saying 'congratulations - you have swum the Channel' - too cute!!!

Duncs is shattered and is now showering and warming up - we have stocked up on the wine and the first glass is going down very well.

Better get back to looking after my 'star' husband - and from tomorrow ITS ALL ABOUT ME!!!!

ps: there are many more video's to come so stay tuned......

Victory lap?

Well we are waking to a victorious dawn and a happy boat!

Duncan finished in a very smart 11 hours and 33 minutes!

Huge congratulations :)

Past half way

Duncan is still going strong though as we all know the toughest is to come as the tide turns.  The pilot is predicting another 7 hours (7 more beers Gus!)

Mort hasn't had to get wet yet so he is still safe on the boat with JR, Chris and Charm.

I'm off to bed now but will get up at 4.30 and hopefully have some news for you all then!

Swim day

Duncan is looking very relaxed and feeling fabulous.  Passed a few other swimmers and going strong!

A perfect day though a chilly 10 degrees.  Brrrrr

Friday, September 17, 2010

Swim Day

Duncan is looking good, determined, just about to have his first feed.
Sun is trying to come up (or so they are trying to believe ;)).  Water warmer than the air!

Swim Day

Duncan is in the water and we have an official start time of 6.05!

Swim Day

Duncan getting ready to swim to beach for start.
Stop watches ready.
Observer ready.

Swim Day






G'Day all!

Lesia taking over from Jeanette as your writer for the day.
Don't know about you guys but I for one am SO excited!!!

Well word is in from Dover. ….


Tminus 10 minutes till cast off.

The pilot is confident of a good day with calm seas and many swimmers due to set out. 

Duncan is rested and focused!

If they can the team will be sending me texts so I can keep you updated.

GO DUNCS!!!!!

Fri night - just before bedtime...

Enjoy the vids - we have had lots of fun filming them - something to bide the time.....
The night is crystal clear with a full moon - which translates to being very cold but hopefully no wind... the temp has dropped remarkably in the last few days so its going to be brrrrrr.......  but hopefully that will make the water seem a bit warmer! 
We are prepared as we can be so now its all about the swimming - I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for your good wishes and extra BIG thanks to all those who have donated to spur Duncan on - this all means a lot to him and we will yell these messages to him when he thinks he is at the end of his tether.
So for now - in the words of the Two Ronnie's  - its Good Night from me and its Good Night from him.

Lots of love to all from the team xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Duncan's Interview with BBC (filmed from behind!)

Anniversary!

UK Observations....

A few random images....

Friday 17th September- STOP press STOP press STOP press STOP press

Morning everyone!
While you probably have been expecting this edition to contain some juicy tit-bits about our channel swim I am afraid we are still sitting in our caravan on the hill.  Last night at about 7pm we received the phone call saying that the winds were again expected to pick up and it would be best to leave it till Saturday.  I must admit Saturday is looking pretty good and they are expecting all boats out on that day.  No boats have gone out in the last week. 
The latest news here is that also on Saturday there is a French chap called Phillipe who has no arms and no legs and is attempting to swim the channel - not sure if the news has covered it there but he uses a snorkel as he has small arm limbs and then has flippers on his lower limbs - what an inspiration!!
OK - so back to yesterday - we had our normal swim in the morning and then got a call from Chris the pilot saying we would be on for Friday - everyone immediately picked up phones and I could almost see the text messages bouncing off the radio waves.  All hearts began beating at a para-normal rate as lists were composed and packing began.
At lunchtime we thought we needed a drive in the country to settle Duncan's nerves and create some distraction.  After meanering along some B roads, then C roads then 'horse and cart' laneways we stumbled across a quaint little village with even a quainter little pub.  The funniest thing about this was 3 years ago when Duncan and I were here we got lost and ended up in the same little village and the same little pub!
At this point I have an apology to make.....  - when talkng about the shocking state of food earlier on in my blogs I now stand corrected - the meal we had yesterday was just superb!!! - The best meal we all have had for a long, long time.... needless to say - it did cost more than 2 quid!! - As the food was so splendid we had to wash it down with a drop of Burgandy and finish it off with a wonderful lemon tart and glass of lemoncello (almost as good as yours Donna!)
We then came back and put Duncan to bed and created more lists.  Mort and I took a trip to the boat with supplies and on our return we got the news we were off.  We immediately opened another bottle of red and settled back down to some more waiting.  At least one more decent nights sleep was had!
So that's it for today - Mort has used up all our bandwidth loading up some video's so we hope you enjoy them.  If you do not hear from me tomorrow morning you will know we have set off - scheduled time around 4am here - that's 1pm Sat Aussie time.

ps: and you think you are sick of waiting???

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Thursday 16th September

la la la la la ......  not much more to report now - looks like the swim will be pushed back to Saturday.  The weather seems to be remarkably good for Saturday at this stage - and then it turns nasty again on Sunday - so let's hope we can get going in that window.
With the arrival of Mort came the arrival of a camera so we have posted a video and made a few more funny ones - they say a picture says a thousand words so we may leave it at that for now - we are trying to upload some more but the wireless reception here is not particularly good - so stay tuned.
In the meantime just want to wish the two teams of the BBC who are swimming from Spain to Morocco across the Gibralta straights all the best for their swim - here is a link to their blog
I have told Duncan he needs to pick more glamorous parts of the world for swimming from now on.  Spain sounds great....
Also - there is a web site that tracks the movements of vessels in the English Channel and you can follow our little boat if you want to.  The site is http://www.shipais.com/ on the left hand side you chose a map which can be 'Folkstone' or 'Dover' and on the right hand side you can enter the ship name which will be 'Seafarer II' - this then will monitor the movement of the boat - will let you know exactly when we plan to leave so you can follow if you are interested.
So that's it from me today - please send a comment or message at some stage - I feel like I am all alone in 'blogger land'......

Wed Sept 15 Duncan Video Blog Part 1

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Wednesday 15th September - day 5

Howdy,
Day 5 and still not much happening on the swimming front - so I may have to bore you with more of my rambling - has anyone guessed yet that I am a tad bored???
Yesterday the weather was shocking - Duncs and Cameron met at 9am for their daily swim - but after Duncan telling everyone that nothing lives in the North Sea - there was a big seal wallowing around in Dover Harbour - ha - scared the boys I tell you! - they weren't particularly happy about swimming with it - us gals thought it was pretty cute! (naturally that was from the shore....)
Now a small digression - when I was living here in the early 90's I made a trip to Switzerland and met up with an aunt of my Mum's.  She queried how life was in England and finished with 'I was last in England about 60 years ago - is the food still bad?' The answer of course was affirmative.  To follow on from this theme - we saw a pub yesterday spruking 2 pound meals (I told you before we were cheap).  All I can say is you get what you pay for....  close on inedible but not quite....  I think I need to introduce them to steamers - the vege's are all cooked for about 30 minutes too long - very guey!  Geez I must be bored when I am reduced to talking about vegetables!!!!
So, after our 'so called' lunch we decided to drive to Canterbury - just 1/2 an hour up the road - what a charming place - big cathedral stuck in the middle of cobblestone streets and seething with tourists.  On our return Charm recieved an email from her Dad saying 'if you happen to be in Canterbury - check out the Cathedral - there are a few 'Frends' buried there (Frend being Charm's surname) - Doh Dad just about 2 hours too late on that info ....  she may have to hitch a ride back again to re-check it out.
So into the evening and all went to bed while I propped matchsticks in my eye's to remain awake for Morty's arrival.  At about 10pm (ok, ok I know its not that late but we are still a tad jet-lagged) I received a skype msg saying Morty's phone was not working but he was on the train...  therefore at about 11pm I trundled off to wait in the dark at beautiful Dover train station together with the drunks and misfits that tend to hang out at train stations in the middle of the night.  The 11.30pm train came and no Mort, the 12am train came and no Mort - then I was kicked off the platform as they were closing the station - 'for arrivals only' I was told.  The last train in was at 12.30 and by this time I was praying.... and lo and behold finally Mort arrived.... yeah!

Anyway - today looks sunny again at this stage but winds still strong - I swear we could of surfed across the channel yesterday - let's hope this wind abates soon!

Monday, September 13, 2010

Tuesday 14th September

Morning all,
Well - we knew it couldn't last - after 1 1/2 days of sunshine England has returned to normal and last night whilst 'perched' on our hill we were battered by the gusty winds and the rain was committing 'hurri kurri' against our window panes.  The front they were expecting has arrived in full force.  It will not be pleasant swimming today - it will be freezing and horrible.  Meant to start clearing on Thursday so Friday is still looking good as our window of opportunity.
While we are playing the 'waiting game' I thought I would explain to you how we ended up in a caravan park instead of a hotel (apart from being cheap!)  This place 'Varne Ridge Caravan Park' (google it if you are keen) is the 'place to stay' if you are a swimmer.  It is reknown in the swimming world and embraces everything about the channel.  They have big walls of plaques as you enter with everyone's name and country's flag who has stayed here and successfully crossed.  Once you cross they also raise the flag of your country on the main flagpole to indicate your success to everyone else.  Hence, yesterday morning when we awoke the Aussie flag was flying as Guy (the one I told you about yesterday who left at 3pm and swam mostly in the dark) made it in 11 hours and 35 minutes - amazing given the conditions.  So that's the caravan story - and Duncan enlightened us yesterday by stating that we have the 'gold class' van! - Noice!

Channel stories abound on the Harbour foreshore and we met a lady who swam the channel in 1967 but 1/2 way through her boat broke down and she had to tread water for 3 hours in the night while they fixed the boat (these stories are really making me feel like a wimp!)
Anyway - Duncan is still in a good frame of mind and no nerves have set in yet.  Will probably just do an hour this morning and get sorted on all logistics so we are all ready to go.  May even do a day trip to Canterbury.
Morty (Dunc's buddy swimmer) is arriving tonight so will pick him up at the train station about 11pm.

signing off now - Jeanette (aka Duncan's ghost writer)

Sunday, September 12, 2010

Monday 13th September

This morning slept in a little longer to 6am - woken by a squirrel running across the roof of the 'van' - very cute - oh, that together with the 'not so cute' constant hum of the motorway. 
When sitting at Dover Harbour, watching the ferries constantly shuffling in and out of the 10 terminals and the stream of lorries marching like ants going 2 by 2 into the chunnel you realise what a seething mass of movement Europe actually is.  But for today we are not part of that movement - we will sit 'perched' on our hill top in the caravan surveying the channel from afar.
We caught up with the pilot Chris yesterday - checked out the boat - quite adequate with a nice inside area out of the weather.  He said the first option looks like Thursday - therefore Duncan (being 2nd swimmer) will possibly go Friday.  This, of course, is exactly what I predicted as Friday just so happens to be our anniversary - how romantic!!!!!  (but just think of the 'browny-points' I am accruing - I am sure this must be worth at least one diamond!)
Anyway - back to the swimming - Guy the chap I told you about yesterday didn't set off in the morning - but actually had a window to leave at 3pm ! - we saw him just before he left - his head was a bit out of sorts knowing that he only had 3-4 hours of daylight to swim in and the rest in complete darkness - this is what the channel can offer - and you just have to take your chance when it comes.  Will update today if he made it.
Whilst the weather yesterday was absolutely wonderful (not a cloud in the sky and 20-22 degrees), the tide was still a 'spring' tide ('spring' being very strong and 'neap' being weaker).  Our pilot said he would not take anyone as they would have trouble landing in France.  What actually happens is that just when you are about 3-5 km from the coast the tides change and push you (at 4-5 knots) north and away from the coast - this is when you hear all those stories about people being so close to the end and yet still swimming 4-5 hours just to battle the tide and get to the end - this is when you need your strength the most.... yeah - right - after 10-12 hours of swimming they tell you to go for it and swim a little harder???  Easily said!

Yesterday Duncan, Cameron and Helen (another Aussie girl here they trained with at home) all had a few hours swim in Dover Harbour in the morning - all three said it was really warm - just shows how mad - oops sorry I meant prepared they really are.

Today will be much the same - another few hours swim then perhaps we will make a road trip up to Deal which is supposed to be a nice quaint little village just up the road a bit - and bound to be a pub lunch in there somewhere......

Saturday, September 11, 2010

Sunday 12th Sept - after first sleep in England

Morning Folks (Jeanette taking over now - and will let Duncs stick to the swimming),
After a good flight (surprising for Qantas), we arrived in London at about 1.30pm yesterday afternoon.  London was quite warm which was a good start - however, on our drive to Dover, the old Blighty did not disappoint and the heavens opened and the rain came down......
We found the salubrious Varne Ridge Caravan Park after not too much trouble and unpacked into our perfect 3 bedroom, 30 foot van (will have to  post picks later today - it is something to be seen!)  After the mandatory Sainsbury grocery shopping (do household chores never end...???) we unpacked and Duncs whipped up a great spag bol, watched a bit of tele and hit the hay at about 8.30pm - slept well till about 4am - got a text at 5am saying Hugh (first born) had just got 3rd at Nationals for skiing - so that was a great way to start the day.
Oh - ok,ok - back to the swimming (sorry Mother's pride got in the way) - its about 7am now and the day is breaking - it doesn't look too bad at the moment - most of the sky is blue with some dark lingering clouds on the horizon.  We met a chap yesterday afternoon called Guy, who is an Aussie but living in London, and he was due to set out this morning early - so we will have to see if that eventuated.  He did attempt the channel in late June but the temp was 14 degrees and after 8.5 hours he just couldn't bear it any longer - lets hope today is his day. 
The water temp at the moment is about 17 degrees which is as good as it ever gets so that is terrific.
We plan  to meet  up with Cameron Spittle (Duncan's training mate who is due to swim this week also), at about 9am for approx a 2 hour swim in Dover harbour..  (I wonder if my drunk mate who was there last time will still be lingering in the bus shelter?)  Then at lunchtime we will meet up with the 'pilot' (aka boat driver) and go through all the logistics and talk - obviously - about the weather and how the week is shaping up.  Then we should be able to give you a bit more of a guidline as to when the swim looks like happening.

This afternoon - I think I can feel a pub lunch and a few pints coming on...  after all - when in Rome........

Thursday, September 9, 2010

Friday 10 Sept - Departure Day

The last week seems to have dragged a bit - I have been ready to go (mentally and physcially) since last Saturday.  Perhaps a quiet week of reflection is important in the final stages of preparation.

Before I depart there are many people that I would like to thank for there support, encouragement and guidance.  First and foremost my two coaches, Charm and Vlad.  Charm has pushed me to new limits of endurance and has been my guiding light throughout this journey.  Vlad has redesigned my stroke to be more efficient and faster.

The other people that I would like to thank are Jeanette, Hugh and Fraser (my family), Chris Mortensen, Paul Penna, Paul Doney, Michal, Millie, Anna T, Cameron, Margaret and all the people that have swum with during my training especially those from the Balmoral Beach Club, Cook & Phillip pool, Mosman Leisure Centre.

Stay tuned!!!

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Thursday 9 Sept (T-1day)

I had my last swim at Balmoral this morning with Mike, Martin, Dick, Rod and Jenny and the rest of the  B Team.

One more squad session tomorrow morning, then onto the plane in the evening. Flight out is 9.50pm via Hog Kong arriving at Heathrow at 1.30pm Saturday11 Sept.  We will met caoch Charm at Heathrow, pick-up our hire car and drive striaght to Dover.

As my training is coming to an end I was reflecting on the training that I had done - 1,780km over the last 64 weeks (740km in the last 21 weeks) much of that has been in open (cold) water at Bondi, Coggee, Manly and Balmoral.

1 more sleep to go!!

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Saturday 4 September (T-6 days)

Had a good swim around Balmoral for 2 hours, about 15 of us swam to Chinaman's Beach - slow trip out, into a head wind but flew back to Balmoral.

Summer is just around the conrer - the sea life is coming back to the beach - I saw a sea turtle on Saturday just off Deadman's.

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Thursday 2 Sept (T- 7days)

6 swimmers made it across the Channel yesterday,  the first swimmers in about 3 weeks.
I have had a good training week so far 6.9k Tuesday, 7.5k Wednesday, Thursday 1 hour and 15 minutes at Balmoral (water is warming up a bit 14.5-15). 

Weights at lunch followed by Pilates tonight.

Sunday, August 29, 2010

Sunday 29 August (T-11 days)

I had a light swim at Balmoral for an hour in cold conditions (13.5c) at Balmoral, every thing felt OK although I was a bit weary from yesterday's swim at Bondi and right shoulder is a bit tender.

Saturday 28 August

Swam at Bondi today for about 4 hours.  Water temperature was OK, cool (16) but very bearable.  The conditions deteriorated during the morning as the swell picked up to 6ft and the wind chop increased making breathing difficult.  A good practice swim for the conditions I am likely to experience in the Channel. A big thanks to Millie for swimming with me for the last hour.

I spoke with my boat pilot in Dover this evening.  Conditions in the Channel during August have been diasterous.  Very few swims have taken place and he has not been to sea since the 2nd week of August. C'est la vie!  I can't impact or change the weather.

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Friday 27 August

2 weeks to go before I fly out.  Getting excited!! Weather in Dover is max 18 during the day, droppoing to 8-9 at night, water temp is 17.4c.
Tomorrow I'm swimming at Bondi for 4 hours starting at the northern end of Bondi Beach at 7.30am - please feel free to join me for a lap or 2.

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Saturday 21 August

Today was my final big training swim, 6 hours at Bondi.  Water temp was somewhere between 15-16 celius, certainly the coolest Bondi has been this year.  I was joined by Cameron and Brenton (2 fellow channel swimmers), Vlad (my pool coach) and Nicola and Scott (2 swimming buddies from Cook & Phillip).  Its always good to have company on these longer swims.

Depsite the cold conditions, I felt really well at the end of the swim - I might even be getting use to the cold conditions!!