Video from the Channel

Footage from the first leg of my 2-way channel attempt by Dave Mak.

Twittering across the channel

I'm not much of a twitter-er, but I have to admit that it was great to keep everyone updated while I swim. Two years ago we only had a mobile with a dead battery. My crew made calls to Tony back in London, who then updated my blog. This time we had smart phones with GPS and cameras. We'll be twittering video on the next swim.

Here are the twitter updates that Dave sent out while I was swimming. It's nice to have this record of what was happening while I was swimming. 

9:54 AM Aug 7th

Swim will start approx 10 pm BST tonight. Swimmer and crew are napping before the long haul to France & back

4:12 PM Aug 7th

Dori is in her swim costume and her crew are on the Seafarer II

6:58 PM Aug 7th

Tough swimming at night in lumpy waters.

7:20 PM Aug 7th

Dori is a trooper. Current location.

7:44 PM Aug 7th

Into the SW shipping lane.

8:52 PM Aug 7th

just finished a feeding. she's keeping it down. needs to be warmer

9:43 PM Aug 7th

Just had her feeding in the separation zone about 10 minutes ago.

9:48 PM Aug 7th

gps fail...

9:50 PM Aug 7th

Where are we?

10:17 PM Aug 7th

Halfway point. In the northeast shipping lane. She ask for vitamin I on next feed.

August 7, 2010 10:33:28 PM EDT

Meteor shower and moon slivers in the night sky as Dori swims.

August 7, 2010 11:15:35 PM EDT

16.5C water temp and 15C air temps. @mattcoarr asked. Watching the moon reappear.

August 7, 2010 11:31:51 PM EDT

Sky is getting brighter!

August 7, 2010 11:34:59 PM EDT

Seas getting heavier. Was calmer for a few hours at least.

August 8, 2010 12:02:45 AM EDT

first picture!

August 8, 2010 12:16:03 AM EDT

our expert and supremely helpful CSPF observers. Many thanks for the advice!

August 8, 2010 12:42:03 AM EDT

Shoulder hurts. Tired. Not fun...

August 8, 2010 1:02:40 AM EDT

had to maneuver around this bouy. She's getting coke and vu with her medicine next.

August 8, 2010 2:02:09 AM EDT

French coast near, choppy / lumpy seas. Swallowed some water.

August 8, 2010 2:49:07 AM EDT

Last feeding of Percy pigglets and jelly belly's was a success! Chases of diluted gu (plain) wasn't as enthusiastically consumed.

August 8, 2010 2:50:45 AM EDT

Jane reports a water temp of a balmy 17.8C

August 8, 2010 2:54:02 AM EDT

epic wind day, if you were sailing a sailboat...

August 8, 2010 3:53:52 AM EDT

10:38:30 to France!

August 8, 2010 4:22:35 AM EDT

swimming back to Dover after a two donuts break, eaten in the water after clearing the lobster pots near store.

August 8, 2010 4:23:49 AM EDT

she says this is harder than Watson bay!

August 8, 2010 6:56:04 AM EDT

After about 13 hrs Dori shoulder just was better. We all decided it was best to save for future swims. We are all proud of yet amazing swim!

August 8, 2010 7:07:13 AM EDT

Dori is deeply touched by everyone's comments and encouragement. Thank you! Sorry for the typos courtesy of @makattack

August 9, 2010 5:23:31 PM EDT

Thank you to my ace crew, Dave and Tony, pilot Chris and his crew and observers Jane and Gary. It was a great experience. I will be back!

Fundraising awesomeness

I am happy to let everyone know that I've raised $3310 to date for the Michael J. Fox Foundation. Thank you everyone for donating, forwarding my fundraising efforts to your friends and sending messages of support. Good onya!!!

Swimmers Who Lunch

I am still waiting for the official word from my pilot on my swim date. I talked with him on Sunday morning and he thought that Thursday was had the best tides and weather. 

In the meantime, I've been in taper mode since arriving in Dover a week ago. A typical day of a channel swimmer (or me at least) waiting to swim looks like this: eat a big English breakfast, go for a swim, have lunch, walk around town, take a nap and go for dinner. As it gets closer to my swim date the swims get shorter and the chats get longer. We are swimmers who lunch.

Dover is a special place. Channel swimmers come from around the world to swim to the not-so-distant French shore. On a clear day you can see the white cliffs on the other side of the channel. It has been great hanging out and swimming with friends Laura, Vasanti, Sam and Cliff, whom I met my last visit to Dover. This tide seems to be the Aussie tide. I've met more channel swimmers in Dover than I did in Oz. 

Can you spot the Brit?

Vasanti  and Dori after a swim

Showing off our muscles and a few guts: Dori, Jeff, Laura, Sam and Ted 

Hamden High School alumni Dori and Cindy Walsh

The first few days in Dover

After an 8-hour flight, 9-hour layover in Singapore and another 12-hour flight, I arrived in London on Sunday. I spend a day in London shopping, going to the National Gallery, running errands and having dinner with Tony (my crew).

On Tuesday I took the high speed train to Dover. I am staying at the Victoria Guest House with Bill and Audrey. I am in the same room I had in 2008.

Dover from my bedroom window.

Every morning I go down to the beach to swim to swim for 1-2 hours to loosen up and keep in shape.

Laura and Dori on Dover Beach.

Dover Beach at low tide.

Dover pebbles.

Looking through the harbour walls with a ferry and France in the background.

Interestingly, I came all the way to England and met Aussies from Sydney. We've been training in the harbour and chatting at the walls.

Dave (my crew), me and Aussies Steve and Jeff.

Dover weather forecast

I met with Chris, my pilot on Tuesday. The weather is looking good. There's a high pressure system coming in. We could go this weekend, but will wait until mid week if the weather is going to get better.

Weather forecast through 1st August

Early long distance workouts