Indian Air Force Channel relay team Successful - 5th July 2012

Report by Stuart Gleeson, Pilot of Sea Leopard.

The Indian Airforce Relay Team joined Sea Leopard again for a second swim in the week, good keen men to do two attempts in close proximity to each other.

On this trip I was accompanied by Garry Clark – like Stu Adams,  a crewman from the Dungeness lifeboat.

Meeting at 1am, the swimmers boarded the boat. At 01:18, I steered Sea Leopard out of Dover Harbour & turned and headed for Samphire Hoe. Visiblity was good at sea level, but some mist/low cloud above. At 01:56, I stopped the boat about 20 metres off the beach.

Ankan climbed down the ladder into the sea at 01:58 and Garry shone a lantern onto the beach. Steve Franks, CSA Official Observer blew his whistle as soon as Ankan was clear of the sea and he re-entered the water at 02:00 to start the swim to France.

Yeshwant took over from Ankan at 03:00 The sky was cloudy and visibility was still poor. Sea was very calm, not much of a current on this spring tide.

At 04:00 Srihari jumped into the sea off the starboard side. He swam us into the SW Shipping lane at 04:35, 25 minutes quicker than the team did last week.

Ankan started his second swim at 06:00 and we entered the separation zone 35 minutes later. Yeshwant took over again at 07:00.

The selection process for the swim had started a year previously, with 35 applicants from Indian Air Force bases all over India. The 4 swimming today come from bases in the South, South-East, West and North of the country.

Yeshwant swam out of the separation zone into the NE shipping lane at 07:12. There was a seal, about 50 yards from the boat which followed us for a long time.

Srihari complained about the cold before his second swim, which started at 08:00.

Ankan took over from Paramvir at 10:00 taking us out of the NE lane into French Inshore Waters at 10:54.

Yeshwant began to slow down at 11:49. Srihari was about 1½ nm from the nearest point on the French coast at 12:15, the tide was taking us down the channel towards Cap Gris Nez. It appeared to me that we would miss Cap Gris Nez and be carried up the Channel towards Calais so I asked Ankan and Yeshwant to tell Hari to swim faster.

Srihari’s stroke speeded up after the team tried to encourage him to swim faster.

It looked like Paramvir would miss Cap Gris Nez as he was trying to swim to the rocks rather than following the boat. The team tried unsuccessfully to attract his attention and persuade him to follow us, but their efforts had no effect. Luckily he swam well enough to get through the current cleared the water at 1:25pm.

Paramvir in France, having completed the swim

Final time recorded as 11 hours 25 minutes, 150 m NE of the Cap Gris Nez lighthouse.



The two GPS Tracks of the Indian Air Force Channel Relay Team - Green track shows this swim.



Excellent effort again, twice in the space of a week! Hope to see you all again.

(Photos & GPS track courtesy of Steve Franks)

Indian Airforce Channel Relay Team - Successful - June 26th 2012

Report by Stuart Gleeson, Pilot of Sea Leopard.

A cool clear dry night with little wind. Stuart Adams was crewman for this trip, Steve Franks official CSA Observer. I met the swimmers at 2am & they loaded their kit onboard.

The Indian Airforce Relay Team comprises: Ankan Kumar Patel, Yeshwant Narayan Pethkar, Srihari Saripilli and Paramvir Singh. Prakash Arora was also on board.

Indian Airforce Channel Relay Team

I pulled Sea Leopard away from the public pontoon at 02:20 and we headed for Samphire Hoe. Ankan prepared to take the first swim at 03:07, as we approached Samphire Hoe. I stopped the boat at 03:14, about 20 metres off the beach.

Ankan jumped off the side of the boat at 03:14 and swam to shore. At 03:15 he was well clear of the water. Steve Franks blew his whistle as a signal to start swimming.

Ankan was making good progress at about 50 spm (strokes per minute).

Srihari was suffering from seasickness and threw up over the side of the boat. Yeshwant started swim at 04:15.

Srihari was next in. At 05:51 a containership went down the SW lane about ½ nm away. Paramvir took over from Srihari at 06:15, we entered the SW shipping lane.

Ankan went in for his second swim at 07:15

Yeshwant in at 08:15. Into the separation zone at 08:57.

Srihari started second swim at 09:15 and entered the NE shipping lane at 09:41.

Paramvir jumped in for another hour at 10:15.

Srihari threw up again at 10:31.

Moonlight passed about 200 yards in front of us at 11:09

Ankan took over from Paramvir at 11:15.

Srihari was swimming at slack water as he approached the end of his hour. Steve Franks suggested to the team that they inform him that he only had ten minutes left, so he should swim as hard as he could. Paramvir said they had done that a few minutes earlier.

Paramvir in at 14:15.

I told Ankan that he would land near Cap Gris Nez if he swam fast enough, but if he didn’t the tide would carry us around the cape and add hours to the swim.

Ankan very close to shore at 15:27, Stuart Adams in dinghy. A couple of minutes later he clambered up a seaweed covered rock and cleared the sea 0.8 nm South of Cap Gris Nez

Ankan steps onto a rock in France to finish the swim.

The attempt succeeded at 15:29. Time recorded as 12 hours 14 minutes. Well done lads - some sea sickness but not enought to make a difference. Good strong swimming!

GPS track of the swim.

(Photos & GPS track courtesy of Steve Franks.)

Winter Swimming Council Channel Relay (Unsuccessful) 25th June 2012

Our preparations have been sound: distance training; winter exposure; swims off the coast with the boat; practice beach starts; swims in rough water & wind; night swims. We knew what kit to take & took it. Our pilot, Stuart Gleeson & his crew Stu Adams are friends & we are used to swimming with the boat Sea Leopard. Of course, such preparations are no guarantee for success. In our game of if's, the nature of the challenge is one of fast changing variables. We can only ever hope for the best of circumstances & some luck to help us on our way.

Our opportunity came early this time, first day of our tide. I book first slot of the season because I don't want to be in any queue. Longest day means more daylight to swim in & for me the summer is full if commitments to safety teams so my own training season runs late September to early May. This past winter yielded some fantastic training partners, some of whom joined me as latest incarnation of the Winter Swimming Council. We all trained through the winter & are comfortable in each others company.

We met at Dover Marina at 1230am, loaded our baggage onto Sea Leopard & after the usual safety briefing made our way towards Samphire Ho to start. Wind was a consideration early on, but had been forecast to drop away as the day progressed.

Ali Hornby started the event by making the lonely swim into the dark beach below the cliffs, finding it tough to get into any sort of pattern in the early stages. Ali is booked for a solo later in the year, so accompanying the relay is important practice & research. Hanno Nickau replaced Ali after an hour filling the second slot. A seasoned ultra triathlete, Hanno is attempting the Enduroman Arc to Arc (see www.enduroman.com) in August so like Ali, is along for the experience.

Nicky Graham was in at number three, fastest of the group with a solo booked for 2013. I (Dan Earthquake) am here for the third trip having been successful & unsuccessful previously. I also have the benefit of having been an observer & supporter on a number of Channel Swims, and was sick for some of them. I'm in the number four position. Number five - Victoria Hill - is relatively new to Channel swimming, very capable & enthusiastic. Six - Anji Page - is the star performer of SLCSC having joined last August with an ambition to do a wetsuited mile. By October Anji swam 7.5miles in 6hours & was offered a place in the team soon after. At seven, John Barry - also booked for a solo this year along for the ride to see the other side before his own attempt.

The wind did recede as forecast initially making for good progress, but started to increase again on the second rotation eventually producing swells that were too hard to make progress across. Consequently, we went past Cap Gris Nez, & when the tide turned had no way back. Our options to continue would take us past a third rotation assuming we could make progress against the tide. We could not. I had earlier cast my gift to Neptune with the hope that Fortune Favours the Foolish - & it did. We arrived back safely if somewhat worse for wear, some battling sea sickness, me included, but happy.

"Everybody go Blurgghhh...."
Ali, Hanno, Nicky, Dan, Victoria, Anji & John.

Winter Swimming Council 2012 Track.

I'm not despondent. Each person in the team put in their best effort & gained something from the adventure. For me, it was another day in the Channel with good company. There will be others, I know it is impossible to guarantee success in crossing but with an ambition to simply pursue a lifestyle of outdoor swimming the success/failure balance is less important. Thanks as always to the two Stuarts for their hospitality & careful attention & to Steve Franks the CSA observer who has also become a kind familiar face these past few years. Better/more photos to follow.