Patrick Thomas - English Channel Swim - Saturday September 08, 2012 - 13 Hrs. 56 Mins.

Above (left to right): Me, Patrick Thomas from Cape Town, South Africa and Dave Granger (Channel Swimmer 2011) on board Anastasia in Dover Marina on Saturday September 08, 2012 - about 2:30am.

On Thursday July 26th, an e-mail came into the Channel Swimmers 'chat group' asking for crew members to hep a guy from South Africa called Patrick Thomas to swim The English Channel on the September 07-14 tide. I contacted Patrick and following some e-mail conversations, on Sunday August 12th he e-mailed me and Dave Granger to say that he would like like us to crew for him. He also said that a close family friend called Janeen De Klerk would be coming with him from South Africa. He said that she had "no swimming experience ... but is an ultra marathon runner and a very calm and settled all round person". Ideal to compliment a couple of mad Channel Swimmers then!

Patrick and I liaised over the next few weeks until he finally arrived in England. I had been tentatively telling my massage and nutrition clients about crewing in The English Channel the following week, and explained that I may have to change their appointments at the last minute due to the nature of Channel Swimming. This is why it can be difficult to get crew. You literally have to be prepared to go, food, clothes etc., drop everything, head to Dover and crew at very short notice! Not an easy task for ayone when you have work and family comitments.

Here's how the conversation went by text:-

Mon 3 Sep 2012 - 11:46 - Patrick in London: "Hi there Paul. This is my UK number. Awesome day here today :) Cheers, Patrick Thomas".

Paul: "Excellent! Spoken to Eddie [the pilot] yet? If so what's the forecast for the weekend?"

Patrick: "Hi there. Just sms-ed briefly. No discussions as yet. Thursday and Friday look great wind picks up Saturday ... Not sure there is space for two pre weather turn. Heading to Varne Ridge tomorrow and will try have a chat to him tomorrow."    

  

Paul: "Cool. Stand at Varne Ridge and gaze across The Channel. It's an awesome view. Sends shivers of excitement down my spine just picturing it in my mind!".

Patrick: "Cool. Can't wait. Will be in touch tomorrow evening :)".

Tue 4 Sep 2012 - 21:27 - Patrick at Varne Ridge: "Hi there. Spoke to Eddie today. He is confident 1st slot will do real early morning departure Friday. Makes me Saturday morning (EARLY) start ... Too early to read much into weather - aiming for then and updates on weather tomorrow evening. Cheers, Fatty Patty :)".

Paul: "Ok. Let's check again tomorrow. Cheers. Paul." 

Wed 5 Sep 2012 - 19:23 - Patrick at Varne Ridge: "Hi there again. Just spoke to Eddie again. Still looking OK for Saturday real early (Around 02h30) ... No definite time as yet ... But that is our goal for now :D".

Paul: "Ok cool. Will plan for that at present. Exciting!".

Thu 6 Sep 2012 - 19:26 - Patrick at Varne Ridge: "Hi there ... again. Just spoke to Eddie. We are still on for Saturday very early. To meet at Harbour at 2h3. To be confirmed again at 19h00 tomorrow. He is 90% confident of that decision :)".

I then realised that we were very likely to be on for the swim early Saturday morning, but not certain. I had a bit of a difficult decision. I had purposely not booked any appointments in for Friday (pm) and would have to chance getting to Dover for about 7pm not actually knowing if we were going to swim or not. A 145 mile drive - maybe for nothing. I packed and ensured I had my swim kit because at least I could swim in the harbour on Saturday morning if we didn't go.    

       

To be completed...

This week - The biggest swim of my life so far!

This past week I have had a relaxing taper down week, to rest my body for what will undoubtebly be the biggest swim I have ever competed in. It is the FINA Open Water Grand Prix Sabac Swim Marathon 2008, which will be hosted in the town of Sabac in Serbia.

The full 19KM course is as follows:-

I will be swimming against none other than the English Channel World Record Holder Petar Stoychev. He is the number 1 seed, and I am listed as No. 21 of 26, and I am also the second oldest in the competition. I will report back after the swim, but I will be doing some light training this week in the pool and in the river Sava in Serbia.

For training diary update click here

This week is Loraine Verghese's Channel Swim week, and I am her support swimmer

Above: Loraine supported me on my channel swim day, now it's my turn to support her.

Today, Monday August 20, 2007 is the first day of the tide for Loraine Verghese's Channel Swim attempt. Loraine is swimming to try and raise £100,000 for a little boy called Jack who has a rare form of cancer. Jack's dad will be on the support boat with us.

Unfortunately, the weather is not looking good so far this week. Loraine is swimmer No. 3 which if the weather was good would mean that she swims on Wednesday. However, having spoken to her pilot Andy King (who was also my pilot) it's not looking good for the number 1 swimmer at least until Wednesday or Thursday. This means we won't be swimming until at least Saturday!

We will keep you informed here via this blog as to when we expect to set off.

TEXT UPDATE FROM LORAINE - 20/08/07 - 20:23 Hrs.
Weather forecast tomorrow not suitable for first swimmer but there is hope further in the week fingers crossed...

TEXT UPDATE FROM LORAINE - 22/08/07 - 12:45 Hrs.
To the crew of Louise Jane. Well and so the story goes "No pain, no gain". The waiting is torture, more like your nail being pulled out from the nail bed! But there is hope, can someone wave the magic wand. I want to get out there. Paul is keeping my spirits high and being a great support. Thanks Paul and to all who have already done it, lucky you! Will keep you posted. x

Above: A grim looking Dover Harbour from the web cam (see top right of this blog). No swim today unfortunately.

UPDATE FROM ANDY KING - 23/08/07 - 15:00 Hrs.
It look like Loraine will swim on Sunday morning. No. 1 tommorrow, No. 2 Saturday, No. 3 (Loraine) on Sunday morning. Spoke to Loraine, she would rather go Saturday night so she lands in France in daylight. I can understand that but have not done any night training before. This will be interesting...

Will update you when the swim is confirmed.

TEXT UPDATE FROM LORAINE - 24/08/07 - 09:06 Hrs.
Channel swim update... To the crew of Louise Jane. First swimmer off at 7am with weather looking good and sun out. So fingers crossed. Will update soon.

TEXT UPDATE FROM LORAINE - 24/08/07 - 15:42 Hrs.
Channel swim update... First swimmer out unable to make it. Bill [No. 2 swimmer] to leave tomorrow morning. Fingers crossed the weather stays good for me Arghhh ha ha.

E-MAIL FROM THE GENERAL - 24/08/07 - 17:25 Hrs.
The Bulgarian swimmer Peter Stoychev has just broken the world record with a time of 6 Hrs. 57 Minutes 50 Seconds! A new English Channel World Record! Well done Peter. I met him in Dover a few weeks back and he said he would do it! Wow!

TEXT UPDATE FROM LORAINE - 25/08/07 - 07:15 Hrs.
Channel swim update... To the crew of Louise Jane, just seen Bill off [He's the No.2 swimmer with Andy King on The Louise Jane - Loraine is No. 3]. He looked ready to rock and rol. So now it looks like my turn tomorrow at around 8am.

UPDATE FROM PAUL - 25/08/07 - 18:05 Hrs.
I'm just leaving for Dover to support Loraine. Good luck Loraine from all here in Bury, and I will update the blog on Monday when I return.

Hoffy.