On Tuesday 16th July Emily I Simon Thomas successfully completed a four-woman English Channel relay of the English Channel in ten hours and 40 minutes with CSA pilots Peter Reed Jr and Sr. This was her second EC relay.
I joined this team, writes Emily, five weeks before the event and am still a little bit overwhelmed by how beautifully it came together. This can be summarised as –
1. Amazing team (including pilot, of course)
2. About as much Dover Harbour training as a girl can fit into a month (and a bit more after Nick Adams asked ‘Have you done enough?’ and I stupidly responded 'I haven't done very much')
3. Helpful conversations with Nick and John Tierney the day before, after the tragic news about last year's relay member from my team, Susan Taylor.
4. Turning up
5. Lucky pigeon hitching a lift on our boat.
Learning:
- You can achieve a lot in a month!
- Although I was extremely lucky on this occasion, common sense and other experiences suggest proper longer term forward planning and training are a good thing.
- Channel jellyfish probably won't kill you
I'm not sure I could imagine a better relay experience, so may need to think of a new swim project now..
