Thank you so much to all those of you that supported our Channel Relay attempt, writes Anna Harrison. In this instance it is with regret that I have to say late last night we had to abort our crossing. Our oldest member of the team, and last to swim before we all rotated in again, got hypothermia and severe cramp in his swim, not to mention a way too close for comfort miss with an anchored light house barge in the shipping lane. Until then, the 5 other members of the team had been going great guns, with huge amounts of ground covered in the first 5 hours, on course for what the pilot reckoned could have been an 11 hour crossing, beating our expectations of 13-14. However, as I have learned over the past 24 hours, unexpected things happen; I have to say until we started on this journey it never even crossed my mind that not making it was a possibility.
When I saw a team mate delirious on the upper deck of the boat, still shivering despite being covered in all the clothes and sleeping bags we could muster, I think it dawned on the 4 of us on the boat at the time, that even with 5 other fully fit team members, continuing the crossing would be irresponsible from a health and safety point of view, and that he needed to be back warm and dry as soon as possible on land. Norm, at this point in time, was in for his second swim oblivious as to what was happening on deck, pounding away at the increasingly choppy sea.
The sun was setting, and I knew that I was next up to swim, and while it was looking very likely that the swim would have to be aborted, we felt that all team members should be consulted; realistically I would need to get back in to continue the relay once Norman’s stint was over so that he could have a chance to assess the situation. At this point team moral was very low, the boat was tossing from side to side, the sun was setting, Geoff was freezing and unresponsive, and I was preparing to get back in for what I have to say felt like a slightly fruitless swim. And then, just as I was having lights attached to me for the onset of darkness, and about to go down the ladder into the water, Barry, one of the crew casually goes – you’re alright with Jelly Fish aren’t you? At this point we were in the separation zone in the shipping channel, the area where Jelly Fish are most commonly found, and I thought that after the sting that I got the other weekend all would be fine. But then I looked in the sea, and saw it literally swarming with hundreds of them I have to say I was terrified. However for the relay to continue, I knew I had to get in for the good of the team, until the decision was made with Norman consulted to abort. So I jumped in, taking over Norman in the hand over, with dread in my tummy.
It was a spooky and terrifying experience; everyone on deck was concerned with our ill team member and consulting Norman, while I was fighting against the waves and handfuls of jelly fish going through every stroke with the sun setting. When it got really bad, I turned over to backstroke as Barry had suggested, so I didn’t have to see them; but I could still feel the glutinous beings slipping through my hands. About 20 minutes in I got the signal; aborted, done, finished. This time it was not meant to be. I don’t think I have ever felt so many emotions in 24 hours; elation and exhilaration at the fact that we were finally going, nervousness at the extreme choppiness and my first swim, worry at the health of a team member, despair that realistically we were not going to be able to carry on, terrified at the thought of the jellyfish, panic while swimming in them, and finally horror, belatedly, as Matthew tells me he was busy vomiting over the side as I jumped back into Jelly Fish and his vomit.
And finally today, disappointment and deflated. Not getting there was not an event that ever crossed my mind; even when dealing with the tougher wave and wind conditions than we had anticipated. But when the safety of one of your team members is compromised, you realise that things really have got real, and the English Channel is not something that you mess around with.
For now, English Channel 1, President’s Select 0. But don’t you worry, we’ll be back; there is unfinished business here…..