Turning the Tide

Three years ago I was an occasional pool swimmer, logging 20 lengths or so at my local baths a couple of times a week. In 2006 I took up open water swimming in order to take on the challenge of swimming across the English Channel. Last October I left my job as head of communications for a round the world yacht race in order to take on a number of extreme swims and to raise £50,000 for three charities in the process.

My campaign spans 18 months and started with the Finnish Ice Swimming Championships in February 2009. I competed against a field of over 600 international swimmers at the annual event which took place in a frozen lake in Imatra on the Finnish-Russian Border. At the beginning of August I was one of just two women to complete the gruelling British Long Distance Swimming Association’s Double Windermere Race, two lengths of the largest natural lake in England totalling 21 miles.

At the end of August I swam from Europe to Asia in the annual race across the Hellespont Straits in the wake of Lord Byron who swam the same stretch of water some 200 years ago.

On 27-28 September I successfully completed a solo cross Channel swim, the Everest of marathon swimming – covering 27 miles in 21 hoours and 20 minutes.

A successful Channel swim takes months of gruelling training and more than a little luck. I'll have to deal with strong tides and waves, unpredictable weather and jellyfish along with the 600 commercial vessels and ferries passing through the relatively narrow Dover Straits every day.

On 4 June 2010 I swam the Gibraltar Striats from Spain to Morocco in 5 hours and 59 mins. See my blog for further details.

Follow my progress here as I tackle these swims to raise £50,000 for three great causes. Thanks for your support.

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