The week started strangely; London's weather was as steamy as Croydon in the tropics, or Singapore if you prefer that name. The Irish cricket team looked like they were bowling their way to a win in their cricket test at Haydn’s beloved Lords cricket ground. And the hat-trick involved a man who tried to propel himself by a mini jet engine across the English Channel. And beyond that were 16 reasons for celebration. And as someone wisely said 'success is not counted by how high you have climbed but by how many people you have brought with you'
Normal expectations had been resumed by the weekend, as the Irish team had lost by what can best be described as a cricket score, and the mechanical channel hopper became a ten minute flopper into the sea. And finally the sultry weather abated.
It was a busy week for the club's members, with the Serpentine swimmers relay team completing a swim of the length of Lake Geneva. Then four swimmers successfully swam solo on Lake Windermere.
And by Saturday, we congratulated the Adams family on their 16th English Channel solo swim, as Nick Adams swam solo to naturally propel himself to France in just under 13 hours.
Nick was guided by Paul Foreman the owner of Optimist. Support crew included Deirdre Ward, Steve Gray, Shubh and Gaurvi Singhvi. Gaurvi is the 16 yr old who will swim with Paul Foreman in August. You might have met him at Serps. And Shubh is Mum to Gaurvi.
15 English Channel solo crossings for Nick, and one for Sakura... very much above average normal service resumed. Chloe will be pleased.
1 6 August 1993 14:12 [hours and minutes, England to France unless stated]
2 15 August 1994 10:51 (France to England)
3,4 23 July 1995 11:40 (England to France, first leg of a two-way swim) 3,4 23 July 1995 15:48 (France to England, double solo)
5 31 July 2001 12:05
6 14 July 2009 13:03
7 25 July 2011 10:22
8 24 July 2012 12:34
9 14 July 2013 12:16
10 5 Aug 2014 in 12:10:00
11 8 Aug 2015 in 14:16:00
12 14 July 2016 10:00 and 15 seconds
13 13 August 2017 in 12:56:00
14 25 July 2018 in 12:27
15 25 July 2019 in 12:58
[John Tierney]
