Week 9 - Jellyfish central 🪼🪼🪼
“An athlete cannot run with money in his pockets. He must run with hope in his heart and dreams in his head.”
Week 9 in review
We have had a very challenging few weeks in our sport.
We lost our much loved Ady, we had a challenging incident in our training environment and on 20th June, we heard the dreadful news of a channel swim aspirant, Iain Hughes, went missing on his solo crossing.
My heart goes out to everyone impacted by the news of the missing swimmer, and especially to Iain’s family, friends, colleagues and the pilot and crew on the day.
Training this weekend was once again likely to be impacted, this type of news often challenges us in ways that we don’t predict. Well done to everyone who faced demons and put their best foot (or arm) forwards and continued their training.
The jellyfish were out in force and very unwelcome. However, they did also serve as a distraction. Furthermore, many people are concerned about how bad jellyfish stings will be, well now you know! We’d rather not have them, and yet we can carry on anyway. Well done all who got stung and carried on - a tough day in the office.
Did you know that there’s a badge for that? Well there is, and the badge is a real cutie!
I saw a moon jellyfish in the shallows, it was no longer alive, so I took it from the water to show some of the SwimTayka swimmers who had concerns what a moon jelly looks like, and gave them the opportunity to touch this harmless creature (moon jellies are pretty and they don’t cause harm).
This weekend was another SwimTayka nominated training weekend and we had fewer swimmers than anticipated as one team was actually out in the channel battling it out (more of that later)!. Well done to all who stretched their boundaries. The more you do in training, the easier the big day will be. I hope you enjoyed your adventures at Shakespeare beach on Sunday.
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:
Swimmers: 39
Water temperature: 16.5C
Air temperature: 24-27C
Conditions: F3 SSW. Water flat with algae bloom. Sunny sky. Jellies in force.
Sunday:
Swimmers: 26
Water temperature: 16.7C
Air temperature: 27-30C
Conditions: F2 SW. Water flat with algae. Jellyfish remained in force.
Shout outs to …..
You’re a talented bunch. I suspect there were many quietly amazing moments. Here are a few of the big swim achievements:
5 hour swims for Ania P
6 hour swims for: Alex C; Emma W
7 hour swims for Jemma W
5 & 4 weekend for: Hayley B; Helen G; Jo SN; Chris M
7 & 5 weekend for: Jack D
7 & 6 weekend for Chris R; Dominic B; Emma W
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.
Thank you!
Thank you to the following volunteers who were on the rota for the weekend:
Level 1: Mandi B
Level 2: Emma F, Sarah P, Nicola B
Thank you to all Level 3 volunteers who helped out a little or a lot.
I’d like to say a personal thank you to everyone who is helping out when I am not able to this year and to those who have asked after me. Thank you. I may not always be able to be there. I do always care.
We are looking to expand our Level 2 volunteer team, if you are interested, visit our volunteers page or contact our volunteers lead.
Channel Swimmer on the beach!
I love this part of the season when people come back to visit after their success channel swims. You may have seen that I’ve introduced a news section and I’d be delighted to show an article about your successful solo or relay swim. So if you trained with us, let me shout it from the rooftop for you.
These are the swims that I heard about in the week of this blog:
Kevin Magnay - English Channel Solo: 22nd June, 13 hrs 52 mins
Kerry Yonushonis - English Channel Solo: 24th June, 14hrs 45mins
SwimTayka Brazil - English Channel Relay: 24th June, 15hrs 42mins
Kevin Magnay - Channel Swimmer!
Kerry Yonushonis - Channel Swimmer (and triple crown)
Walter’s Worries
I’d like to start by thanking the swimmers who came and had a chat with me this weekend. It’s been a tough couple of weeks and I was glad to be able to lend my furry ear.
Just like with the extra community calls, we heard a lot about your concerns around the swimmer that went missing and what that means for you. You spoke about how you’re getting questions and concerns from friends and families. You spoke about your own fears and concerns.
I decided to do some research. The Dover UK website has details of all the tragic incidents in the history of our sport.
Reflections & perspective
That’s 10 very sad stories, now 11. To put it in context though, that’s 11 swimmers out of several thousand crossings. Channel swimming is an extreme sport. We mitigate as much risk as is possible. These tragedies are the reason that many of our rules are in place today. All swimmers have to complete a ratification / qualifying swim. All swimmers complete a medical. It’s the reason we practice the process in training. Each swimmer has multiple eyes watching at any given point: the pilot (or their crew); the observer; the crew of a soloist or the team members of a relay team.
Tragedies do still happen, unfortunately.
There are times that, despite all the safety measures, that disaster can strike. We’ve seen it in other sports too. We’ve seen footballers at the peak of their career at peak fitness suffer sudden cardiac arrest.
The word ‘missing’ leaves uncertainty in minds. We live in a world where we have instant access to all sorts of information, yet there are times, like this, where we don’t have all the information. That leaves uncertainty. It can lead to questions about your own swims. You only have to look at social media for unhelpful speculation. ‘Shouldn’t there have been someone watching?’ ‘Shouldn’t there have been a boat following?’. From the last statement from the CS&PF it is clear that Iain was in plain sight, was being watched and I can only conclude it was a sudden event. He didn’t wander off course, unwatched.
My thoughts go out to all those who battled hard on the day to find him and save him. I know they would have done absolutely everything humanly possible. My thoughts go out to those left behind, the family, colleagues and friends.
My thoughts go out to you too. From what I’ve seen of this sport, you achieve amazing things in training and on the big day. Things that ‘normal’ people think are extraordinary, become normal for you. Most people have never even met a channel swimmer, yet you get to count numerous channel swimmers as friends. You surround yourself with people who are also training for the same events that you are - that make it normal. It’s a great coping strategy and serves many people very well.
When an event like this happens it can shake you out of your bubble of altered normality and remind you that this is indeed an extreme sport, and in extreme sports, bad things do happen from time to time.
However, it remains incredibly unusual. In some sports it’s almost taken for granted that there will be disasters. Mountaineering, cycling and even seemingly safe sports like running. Each one shocks us out of our training zone and bursts that bubble of innocent protection.
The same will potentially happen with your support network. Friends and families who were previously totally onboard may suddenly become hesitant, reluctant, scared and even try to get you to change your mind.
So now you’re not just dealing with your ‘stuff’ but theirs as well.
Take a moment. Step back. Look at all your training and preparations. Consider the fact that there have been 11 fatalities in the entire history of the sport. I’d encourage you to get it back into perspective. If you are fit and well, if you have respected the training, the likelihood that anything untoward will happen is very low.
Take that moment, gain perspective, help those around you to gain their perspective and you can get back to that zone and rebuild the bubble of normality.
Emma and the leadership team remain there for you, as does the whole community if you need to talk. The community call is an excellent place to start.
Paddlefish Ponderings
Freudenfreude
Words are funny things. They’re just words. The only meaning they really have is the meaning that we attach to them. This is even more true when the words relate to emotions.
Some emotions are easily labelled with words. For example I suspect you’ve all experienced anger; fear; hurt; guilt and sadness. The negative range of emotions.
I expect you’ve also experienced the more position emotions of happiness; joy and excitement.
Sometimes, though, the English language lets us down. There are some emotions that there is no word that sums it up. We end up explaining the emotion rather than giving it the label of a word. This can feel confusing or like the word is on the tip of your tongue but you just can’t recall it.
Other languages have words that we don’t.
Did you know that the word Freudenfreude has no direct English translation?
It’s a shame.
I think that Freudenfreude sums up the best of our sport.
Finding pleasure in another person's good fortune is what social scientists call “freudenfreude,” a term (inspired by the German word for “joy”) that describes the bliss we feel when someone else succeeds, even if it doesn't directly involve us.
With many sports it’s dog eat dog. You win, I lose.
Channel swimming tends not to be like that. DCT is all about community, about helping others achieve their big hairy audacious goals. Our volunteers are there to support others, not themselves. The arches are a living example of freudenfreude.
What about tracking? We’ve just started the 2023 tracking season.
If you’ve tracked in previous seasons, you may well have found yourself shouting at a small arrow on the screen. Sometimes it’s the track of someone you know. Sometimes it’s the track of a stranger. You’re willing that person or team on. Wishing them success.
This is the essence of freudenfreude.
Welcome to the freudenfreude season!
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 will be ‘On Tour’ for this session’.
On Tour
Once a month we will be On Tour on on a Saturday:
Saturday 1st July (see above): Ramsgate
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.
Night swims
There are no further night swims planned for this season.
Spotlight in the shop
Rather than highlight one of the many products available in the shop, I would like to share the link of the charities that Iain Hughes, the swimmer who went missing on a channel swim, was raising money for. If you are able to support, I’m sure his family & friends would be grateful.
Photos
A few photos from the weekend….
Key Contact methods
On the beach after training. Our Level 1 volunteers will be happy to chat whilst not engaged in core safety processes.
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.
Membership queries can be directed to our Membership lead
Safeguarding concerns should be directed to our Safeguarding Lead
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:
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.
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.