Tracking a swim, live updates & links.

Some notes by Dan Earthquake

 

I read somewhere that in Matthew Webbs' time (1875) a reporter for an English newspaper rowed back to Dover from about halfway across to give copy for his editor & a carrier pigeon was released on completion to relay the news that the first successful Channel swim had been completed. Now we have social media & instant communcations with websites that show what the weather is doing somewhere else & GPS trackers that can show where the boat escorting a swimmer is.

 

Live updates showing the position of Sea Leopard in the Channel can be found on the following websites:

 

http://www.shipais.com/currentmap.php?map=dover

 

This site gives information about the ships, their speed, course & position & lots of other things that can easily idle your time away for an evening. There are times when Sea Leopard does not show up on the chart, especially near the French Coast. That does not mean that we have stopped! Have a look also here:

 

http://www.marinetraffic.com/ais/default.aspx?oldmmsi=235023771&zoom=10&olddate=lastknown

 

This site link shows where Sea Leopard was last. It has a lot of useful tools including a curser which can be positioned to determine the distance of another vessel or land from Sea Leopard. This can be useful when watching the final stages of a swim - the boat may be less than a mile from land, but by observing it's direction a track can be calculated with an estimate of landing time given that speed & course are maintained. Remember though that Sea Leopard does not drive up the beach with a swimmer, so if it remains offshore for a while appearing to be stationary it does not mean neccessarily mean that the swimmer has stopped. More likely is the swimmer is making their way ashore escorted by the smaller RIB & this can be some time. Swimmers often like to have photos, collect pebbles & suchlike before returning back to the boat. These few minutes can seem like hours when it is a friend or loved one who is "off the radar." Don't panic!

 

Stu Gleeson has also created a Facebook page which he updates with odd photos as the opportunity arises.

 

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sea-Leopard-Charter/579716718746338

"Liking" the page will put updates on your facebook timeline as they occur.

 

Please note that in the latter stages of a swim updates may not be available due to transmission of messages over the wireless network, similarly comments or questions are unlikely to be answered when underway as there is a lot to do whilst escorting a Channel swim.

 

This website will be updated regularly with swim reports & pictures from some of the trips. If your team took photographs on a trip that we might be interested in please contact Stu via the contact options on the right sidebar.