Week 8 in review

This was always going to be a tough weekend. I mentioned in my last blog that Ady, our much loved, longstanding DCTer died suddenly and unexpectedly last week. The news sent shock waves through the community. I personally have not really been able to process the news, it just doesn’t make any sense. We’re all dealing with the news in our own ways, and this is the time that the family nature of our sport means that we can support each other through these impossibly tough times.

We all know that Ady had a thing for Battenberg, something that we tried out as a treat on a feed in 2017 and, well as they say, the rest is history. It seemed appropriate that Battenberg should feature this weekend. I’m sure Ady would be chuckling at the fact that we had Battenberg before we even started the swim! The session was dedicated to Ady.

Saturday was also on of our ‘On Tour’ sessions and the forecast dictated that the location should be Hythe. Because we only swim at different locations infrequently, the briefing for this one is different and very specific for the risks of the location and the forecast. Unlike the harbour where we have walls that offer protection, the walls also impact the way the tide impacts us. We’re never truly exposed to impact of the tide. It’s completely different when we swim in Hythe or Ramsgate.

I’ll come back to this point at the end of this section as there are some important take-aways.

The conditions ended up being better than forecast. Battenberg was served at every feed (don’t get used to it!!).

There were also a lot of white feathers found on and around our kit and on the water. Not sure if I believe in all that, but I really do hope that was Ady looking out for us and approving of the plans for the day.

Sunday was back to Dover and was Dirk’s first solo Level 1 session. Well done Dirk, and well done to the whole team. I’m still there with you though, the plan that’s put together is done by me, so even though you don’t see me, I feel like I’m still there in many ways. However, it did mean that I got to enjoy my own masters training, and the post training sauna. I’m slowly clawing my way back from long covid.

The day was uneventful, yet full of the achievements that we have become accustomed to, and Battenberg featured again.

Overall, a weekend for Ady.

Incident

Back to Saturday and the briefing given. Some of the points that I covered in the briefing included:

• Hythe ranges being ‘live’ and the range boat marking the hazard

• Swim zone end points (both ends)

• Maximum distance from shore

• Risk of other water users and fishermen at the groynes

• The fact that the tide direction would change during the swim

• Advice for how to handle the tricky points when the tide is strong (e.g. they can be challenging currents around the groyne) and if all else fails, get out and walk

• If you’re unsure the direction of the tide or its strength, stop and watch which way you move relative to land (this is distinctly different to bobbing!!)

I also covered the normal elements of the briefing including a reminder that the feeding plan is to feed at 2 hours and then hourly.

I liked the questions, shows you were listening. Thank you. The swim started without event.

After a quick run around the beach when we had unexpected rain (closing bags, putting non-waterproof stuff under cover etc), we settled to the normal routine of feeds, checking all swimmers are ok and waiting for the big achievements.

However, this turned into one of my least favourite sessions. It was the ONLY session where I have called the coastguard for one of our swimmers.

At the 2 hour feed we were missing two swimmers. Both experienced. One was a regular, one was an infrequent visitor. However, we are aware that the tides can catch people out and we allow a margin of error. One swimmer did indeed appear, very late, and very apologetic. The main thing was that we knew that they were safe. The other swimmer did not appear, not even at the 3 hour feed. At this point we asked the swimmers to stay within a restricted swim area to make any next steps easier. It is always a judgement call about when we invoke our emergency action plans, it’s not something we do lightly. There are many factors to consider, including water temperature, water conditions, swimmer experience etc. As the beach crew on duty we did all the searching we could reasonably do and decided it was time to bring the professionals in.

I dialled 999 and spoke to the coastguard. In that moment I was everso glad that we had an app. I could say with certainty who had signed in and when everyone entered the water. I could say with certainty who had fed. I also had ready access to key information that I could share with the emergency services. Fairly quickly we saw the range boat move at pace towards Folkestone, the call handler also advised me that the lifeboat had been launched and the coastguard and police deployed. We agreed that the natural next steps would be to clear the water of other swimmers in the group to make the search easier. As we started that process the missing swimmer appeared and I was able to call off the search with the emergency services.

Fortunately, the swimmer who needed a qualifying swim had not yet exited the water or the impact would have been even greater.

We are conducting an internal review. It is possible that we will introduce changes as a result of the final conclusions. If that is the case we will share further information at the relevant time.

Why am I sharing? Well, apart from being transparent and to tell you that we do an internal review for any incident, I wanted to remind everyone of some key non-negotiable boundaries that keep everyone safe and ensure that both swimmers and volunteers can enjoy the session.

1. Hat colour: this means something. Red is for soloists, yellow for relays (exceptions for Aspire and SwimTayka swimmers who wear green on recognised training weekends). You don’t have to wear one of our hats, any hat with the right colour works. You are naturally welcome to wear one of ours

2. Briefing attendance: this is mandatory. Whilst the content is often the same, it isn’t always.

3. Disclaimer: this gives us vital information about you in the case of emergency. No disclaimer, not swim, no exception

4. Booking in advance: bookings close 48 hours ahead. This enables us to ensure we have the right ratio of volunteers to swimmers. It also enables us to plan the session based on your own individual training plans. If we are at the limit of our ratios, and you ask to be added after the deadline, we may say no.

5. Timeliness: we ask you to be on time. If you say you’re doing, say, 90 minutes, and are having the best time ever - fabulous, I’m very pleased for you. You know you’re ok. We do not. The simplest thing is to come to the beach as ask to do more. Then we can all be happy.

6. Boundaries: I’m talking about physical boundaries here. When we share the swim zone for a session - stay inside this zone. Whether that is within the marked swim zone within the harbour, or within the boundaries we explain for different locations, these are there for your safety. Stay within them.

7. Respect: all swimmers and volunteers must be treated with respect. We do not tolerate verbal or physical abuse of our team or other swimmers.

8. Contact points: please follow the correct contact methods if you need to get hold of us.

I am grateful to the vast majority that follow these guidelines. That way we all get to enjoy our sport.

If you feel that you are not able to operate within our guidelines, I’d suggest you find a group that works the way that you wish to operate or self-support. Our boundaries are non-negotiable.

Note: Water temperature taken during the swim session in the harbour. Air temperature, wind direction & wind speed taken from the Port of Dover app.

Saturday (Hythe):

Swimmers:   32
Water temperature:   16.3C
Air temperature: 19C
Conditions:   F3 E reducing to F2. Rolling swell at high water. Cloud to start with a brief spell of light rain.

Sunday:

Swimmers:   31
Water temperature:   16.5C
Air temperature: 25C (on the beach)
Conditions:  F2-3. Overcast, occasional light rain. Sea mainly calm.

Shout outs to …..

This week’s big swim shout outs went to

• Nicola B for breaking the 2 hour mark, and marking it with your first feed

• Chris R, Martin J; and Patrick T for your 5 hour swims

• Dominic B; Mel T; Paul C; Jack D; Jon S; Kevin McC; and Drew B for your 6 hour swims

• Drew F for your 6 hour swim after completing the Champion of Champions on Saturday

• Daniel B for your 7 hour swim (and for taking the suggestion to extend by an hour at 6 hours)

• James C for your 7 hour swim

• Elizabeth C for your 7 & 6 weekend

• Maddy R for your DCT 7 & 6 that you further extended before the sessions (getting out for the briefing)

If I missed you, I apologies, please shout about it. As well as the achievements that are measured in hours or badges, there are also those more important personal victories, I’d love to hear about those as well. Here are some of the celebratory arches of the weekend.

Channel Swimmer on the beach!

The tracking season is underway and we’ll soon be wearing out our refresh buttons and shouting at small dots on our screens as much loved DCTers follow their dreams. This is where we’ll make a shout out to swimmers who return victorious to the beach.

I’ve also introduced a news section to the website. At the moment, the only news item is about Ady. I’d like to fill this with your news. I’d be delighted to share news of your achievements here. Let’s flood the site with your awesomeness.

Thank you!

Thank you to the following volunteers who were on the rota for the weekend:

• Level 1: Emma F (Saturday); Dirk (Sunday)

• Level 2: Peter W; Nicola B

A very special thank you to Phil C who was Level 3 and was invaluable support on Saturday (and Sunday too). Thank you to all swimmers who assisted in our search on Saturday,

One of the reasons that we close bookings ahead of the weekend is that we need to know how many swimmers we have and, therefore, how many volunteers we need to work within our ratio guide.

We are looking to expand our Level 2 volunteer team, if you are interested, visit our volunteers page or contact our volunteers lead.

Paddlefish Ponderings

Boundaries

I talked about boundaries in the weekly review. It’s clear the we must have clear boundaries in place for safety.

Boundaries are important for you too.

Taking on a significant swim means that you do need to set aside enough time to do the training needed. Often people who take on challenges like this already lead busy lives. If this is you, you have choices:

• Try and cram it all in, risk burnout and find a way to muddle through

• Take a look at all that you have on and work out what you can stop doing, or at least press pause on for a while

Every Action has an Equal and Opposite Reaction. Sir Issac Newton's third law of physics.

I know that what I’m talking about isn’t really physics, but I do think this quote is relevant.

Think about it. Each time you say yes to something, you’re effectively saying no to putting yourself first and creating the time for quality training in the pool and in the sea.

Conversely, each time you say no, you open up the possibility to say yes to something you want more.

Anything else is a bit of compromise with nothing really being done to the best of your ability.

I would encourage you to think about what matters most to you and focus in on that. Work out what you currently have on your plate that doesn’t support that and where it’s possible to say no to it, and do exactly that. It will be a game changer. Clearly, there are some things that you can’t just say no to. Most of us need to work for a living. Those who have responsibilities as a parent or carer will need to ensure that their responsibilities are maintained. Sleep remains really important too, I’d advise you against short changing yourself there, that will be counter productive.

However, I think you’ll surprise yourself when you really start to look at all that you fill your day with. Small changes here and there may be the change you need.

I had a client recently with whom I had this conversation. I was so impressed by her approach. She had a look through all her responsibilities and activities and peeled back the layers, letting less important things go, for a while at least, one by one. It worked. She was a force to be reckoned with in the year of her swim. She swam strong and true, trusted the training and got the success she deserved.

Someone once said ‘do half the training and don’t be surprised if you do half the swim’. I’m not going to say that. What I will share is an observation. A significant proportion of swimmers who don’t make it the first time, come back later to complete what they started. Sometimes it’s the same season or the next. Sometimes it’s years later. If your reason why is strong, you’ll be back. So, why not make the very best of the opportunity right in front of you today.

It’s time to find your boundaries so that you can be the very best version of you today.

Walter’s Worries

Hi, Walter here.

I’ve taken over this section of the blog and I asked to go last this week. I want the final say.

Please know that anything you tell me is confidential (unless there’s a safeguarding issue). I may tell Emma some themes that I hear so that she can find the right thing to say that help you work through your worries.

This week I thought I’d lead by example. I want to talk about worries that I have of my own, afterall we all have worries from time to time.

I’m worried about Emma (and the other volunteers, I’m just talking about Emma because I’ve been living with her for the last few weeks and get to see behind the scenes).

There are probably some things that you should know, the knowing of which may help some people behave differently. Did you know that Emma has Spondylitis & Enthesitis? Big words I know, they’re also big issues. That’s why Emma isn’t around as much this year. You can google it, but the impact is that Emma has a lot of physical pain. She’s only had two nights of pain free sleep in the last 13 months.

What I found out this week, though, made me worry a bit more. It seems there are two things that have caused these issues to flare:

1. Long Covid

2. Stress

The long and short of it is that Emma has chronic fatigue, a load of pain and doesn’t need stress.

Emma told me that yesterday was the third incident report in 13 months. All significant incidents result in a review by the leadership team and significant ones lead to a full on internal investigation. Can you believe that there was an internal investigation last year? Emma hasn’t told me the details, but I can tell it has impacted her significantly and I think was also related to the end of a long term relationship.

All this stress has meant that she’s lost the ability to enjoy the sport she loves. Her body barely tolerates 2 hours of swimming a week (she used to do 8-12 hours). This has been the first year since 2005 when she’s not been physically capable of doing a relay. I know, crazy right, she’s normally a dead cert.

Why am I sharing this?

From my position, I see that 99% of swimmers are fantastic. They appreciate the support they get and they are the essence of a community. The trouble is, the 1% cause a disproportionate amount of work and a whole heap of stress.

I beg you, please adhere to the boundaries that Emma has laid out. I don’t want to witness the trauma that the team went through Saturday again.

For the 99% - you’re amazing, inspiring and clearly bonkers (and I like that about you).

PS If you have worries, be they new ones or related to something that happened a while ago, feel free to tell me or reach out to one of the leadership team. We’re all here to help. You now know they take will your concerns seriously, just like they take your safety and success seriously.

Looking ahead

Changed / cancelled sessions

Dover will be holding it’s town regatta on 1st July 2023 and the swim zone and parking will be suspended. We’ll be ‘On Tour’ for that session.

On Tour

Once a month we will be On Tour on on a Saturday:

• Saturday 1st July (see above)

• Saturday 15th July

• Saturday 19th August

• Saturday 16th September

The location will either be Hythe or Ramsgate, depending on the weather forecast. The final decision will be made on the Thursday evening before this swim. These sessions are shown as ‘On Tour’ in the booking system, they are considered ‘standard’ training sessions and are included in training packages.

Spotlight in the shop

The shop is available online for postal delivery or collection from the beach. Please be aware that Emma holds the stock and isn’t always on the beach. If your order is urgent I would suggest you plan ahead, post is your best option. Products can also be purchased from the beach when Emma is present.

I had sold out of adventure lights, and I have now replenished my stock. You’ll need lights for your big day, including any support swimmers that join you in the water in the dark (solos only). Relay teams will need 2 sets between them.

If you have lights already and they’ve been very well used, we also sell replacement batteries.

Photos

A few photos from the weekend….

Key Contact methods

1. On the beach after training. Our Level 1 volunteers will be happy to chat whilst not engaged in core safety processes.

2. Weekly community call. This runs on a Monday evening from January to September and is hosted by a member of the leadership team. We've set this time aside for you. You can find details of these call within the membership area and within the booking system.

3. Membership queries can be directed to our Membership lead

4. Safeguarding concerns should be directed to our Safeguarding Lead

5. Other queries that can’t be answered at the community call should be directed to the Swimmer Liaison lead.

Other more informal routes to support:

1. WhatsApp groups these are open to all members and you’ll find details of how to join one or more of the groups within the membership area

2. Social media channels. You’ll find us on Facebook and Twitter.

Current Vacancies

Leadership team

We’re expanding our team with a few new roles:

• Marketing & Communications Lead

• Website Manager

• Retail / Procurement Lead

If you’re interested in joining the team, please contact Emma or another member of the leadership team to find out more.

Reminders

Remember to book your sessions online. Bookings close 48 hours ahead. Any bookings after that will need support and that comes with a £5 admin fee. If your late booking impacts our volunteer ratios you may find yourself out of luck.

Bookings can be cancelled or rescheduled up to 48 hours ahead. The system doesn’t arrange automatic refunds, so if you would like a refund, please check out our refund policy and get in touch if you would like a refund.

Those of you with training subscriptions, enter your email address and click in the discount code box and your automatic voucher should appear. Let me know if you have any trouble with this.

Please remember to cancel your membership when you no longer want it.