How you can swim the channel

Braving the ferries and the cold: England to France under body power

"More people have been to outer space than have swum the English Channel."

Marcia Cleveland was the 445th person to cross La Manche (the name the French use) when she uttered those words in 1994, but the quote is hardly accurate today: the numbers of solo swimmers and swim teams arriving from all corners of the world multiply year by year. There can be no doubt that the English Channel is a real challenge for any open-water swimmer, after which, as one successful crosser pointed out, the sun shines warmer, the sand feels softer and Guinness tastes better. For a few short hours, at least.

Punishing conditions

The English Channel, a unique and demanding swim, isn't just about the distance (21 miles/32 kilometres), it's also about the conditions you're likely to encounter. Sea states can change very quickly in the Channel, with little warning. Even in light winds, the strong tides can give rise to rough seas with steep, breaking waves. Visibility is often poor, rendering navigation difficult. The water is cold. During the swim season (July to September) you can expect the temperature to range from 14 to 18 degrees Celsius.

Loraine Verghese, who crossed the Channel in 2007, remembers the first time she jumped in. “I dipped into the freezing water and it was a shock to the system, as no one really can explain what cold water actually feels like. I had such a head-freeze with the water temperature being six degrees – the pain I endured was immense.”

The deadly sea

Besides hypothermia and the risk of cramp, which are a danger to any athlete, swimmers face other horrors such as jellyfish and raw sewage. The English Channel also happed to be one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world, with 600 tankers and 200 ferries passing through daily. The tide is hard to predict too, as it changes direction every six hours and the currents are very strong. In 2001, the coach of the Liechtenstein triathlon team, Ueli Staub, spent 16 hours in the water before disappearing close to France. His body was washed ashore in Belgium a week later. It was a cruel reminder to all; humans get tired but the tide does not.

All this makes English Channel swimming an extreme sport, requiring extensive and rigorous training. It takes courage, guts and determination. The success rate is embarrassingly small, wavering at around 10%. Alison Streeter, the Queen of English Channel swims, has crossed the thing 43 times. She remembers her failed 31st attempt, when the weather was so bad she had to give up halfway through. “I was getting far too confident after 30 crossings, and here was the Channel smacking me in the face and saying, 'Have some respect'.”

A price on the crossing

To make matters worse, Channel swimming is not exactly cheap. According to the Dover Solo website, the 2009/2010 season prices vary from around £2,250 for a one-way crossing and £4,350 for a two-way crossing. The rates are high because of the compulsory pilot boat that plot the course during the swim and give the swimmer hot drinks and encouragement. Escort boats carry a coach, training partner, spouse/parent, an official observer of the Channel Swimming Association (to make sure no-one cheats) and the skipper.

Know the rules

Swims usually start at or near Shakespeare's Cliff or Samphire Hoe (in between Folkestone and Dover), and aim to finish at or near Cap Gris Nez (between Boulogne and Calais). It's important to everyone involved that the rules stay consistent throughout history. Having the same equipment as Matthew Webb, who was the first to cross the Channel in 1875 without the use of artificial aids, keeps the challenge intact. The rules that he set out are simple.

The swimming costume can't cover the arms or legs, provide buoyancy or give the swimmer thermal protection. A standard channel swim must be accomplished without assistance of any kind, other than the provision of nourishment and pilotage. Since the swimmers are forbidden to have any physical contact with another person, they will have to be creative in thinking up ways to get the nourishment.

“Most use squeeze bottles and bags passed to them with a pole, strung along on a string to them, or even passing larger-than-normal-sized cups,” says Jonathan Miller, who attempted the crossing a few years ago. Swimmers drink hot liquids that are quickly consumed; high carbohydrate sources, plain chicken broth, liquified bananas, watery oatmeal, and tea with honey. “I trained hard to get the quantities right as too much at a time can upset your system. Almost every swimmer will go through a bad patch around the 5th, 6th, or 7th hour when the body starts to convert its own fat to energy.” Miller threw up many times during his swim and was finally too exhausted to continue.

How fast is fast enough?

Even though channel crossing is not a race, and there is just as much satisfaction in making the second fastest crossing, it is important to have a steady swimming speed. Around 30 to 35 minutes per mile is generally agreed to be the best rate of attack. Most of the successful channel swimmers are not pool-trained athletes but open water swimmers. Michael Oram, the secretary of the Channel Swimming Federation points out that it is a common misconception that ocean swimmers need to swim long periods without a break. “Lots of interval work is far better. What matters is to get extra centimetre out of every arm-pull. The more efficient your stroke, the better your chances of success,” he explains.

Most Channel swimmers acclimatise themselves to local conditions on the beaches of Folkestone or Hythe in England. Loraine Verghese remembers that six months before her swim, she was training five times a week, for a total distance of between 10-15km. “By March, this increased to 15-20km per week, and so on with a gradual increase of 5-10 km each week.” She also had to gain weight in order to survive the freezing water: “With nutrition, I played around with protein drinks for over four months, trying to get my body to build that strong muscle layer before I started piling on the pounds to provide insulation. Regardless of how much weight I gained, I was always afraid it would not be enough.”

All in the mind

“I always remind people that the Channel is a mental as well as a physical swim,” Oram says. “Possibly even more mental than physical. Many a failure has come about by not having the right mental attitude. Willpower is needed to push through the pain barriers that never go away. People always wonder: what will the swimmer think about during the average 14 to 16 hour swim? The answer is anything and everything. The goal is to focus on swimming efficiently. Sometimes your crew will hold up informational or entertaining signs. Sometimes you sing songs. I heard of one Channel swimmer recently who had 'Nellie the Elephant' stuck in their head for six hours.

"What you don't want to think about is 'How much longer?'"