The match was set. The start horn went off. The game went on.

The massively difficult cold water swim relay is now completed across the ultimate venue, the English Channel.

Dr. Alexandre Fuzeau was onboard the men’s boat in the first winter crossing of the 33.5 km English Channel. Five men versus five women in the 7-10°C water and 2°C air temperature. Life onboard was very tough, trying to rewarm and recover for their next leg en route to the shores of France.

Dr. Fuzeau reported on Facebook, “General Ger and his valiant troops conquered winter and crossed the English Channel [in 14 hours 45 minutes]. It wasn’t easy, to say the least. Cold, currents, the waves…

The most important thing is to build a strong team where everyone can count on each other. How far can human endurance go? We discover more and more every day…

In 2018, I contacted Ger Kennedy about preparing a winter crossing of the English Channel in relay. At the time, it was considered crazy. It was hard to find a boat in the off season. Since three Frenchmen Frédéric Kocen, Philippe Fort and Denis Colombe completed the earliest relay in the season, swimming in April in water around 9-10°C, achieving this feat gives hope.

With his usual stubbornness and courage, Ger methodically organized the project…according to stringent criteria.

This January 13th the weather is 2°C, but the wind has calmed down.

At the same time a women’s team is also trying to cross [in 7° water at the start, 8° water in mid-channel, and 9-10° later.

The bodies are in pain. The rotations are coming together: 2 Irish. 2 Englishmen and Frenchman Stève Stievenart. For some, warming up is more difficult. Their endorphin-charged bodies hold strong on the second rotation. The exhaustion is starting to show on the faces on their third rotations. Swimming an hour at these temperatures in the waves while freezing wind at night and not losing sight of the boat is not extremely easy…even Steve is cold.

We risk missing arrival in France, because of the game of tides that [move] the swimmer from north to south.

Around one o’clock in the morning on January 14th, the tide turned north. We just missed Cape Gris Nez.

Despite the hardness of the ordeal, smiles and joy light up everyone’s face. We made it through the first winter.“

Ger Kennedy organized the two-team relay competition across the English Channel, called the Winter Relay of the English Channel where five hardened men raced against an equally stoic team of five women in the coldest English Channel crossing in history, bar none.

Per standard English Channel rules, each athlete swam 1-hour legs under the auspices of the Channel Swimming & Piloting Federation. The men’s team consists of Ger Kenney, John Myatt, Stève Stievenart, Vincent Donegan and Lee Johnson. The women’s team includes Debbie Hazeltine, Nicola Doran, Nichola Murch, Laura Nesbitt, and Michelle Lane. They all have and ice swimming pedigree and have all been gearing up for this challenge for months.

The men finished in 14 hours 45 minutes. The women aborted* their effort before reaching the French shores.

The Women’s Team

But there was a valid reason for the DNF for the women’s team.

Richard Harding reports, “There were issues with the boat mid-channel. Up to that point, the women were neck-and-neck with the men’s team. The ladies had to tread water at 8-9°C while they tried in vain to fix the boat. The abandonment was ultimately down to boat failure.”

Helen Timmins was adamant, “The women did not abandon the relay. They were forced to stop due to the boat issues.”

Reportedly, the sea anchor from the women’s escort boat got caught in one of the twin engines just over halfway. Incredibly, two of the women had to tread water for two hours to keep the team’s original rotation in order to follow the English Channel rules while the crew tried unsuccessfully to free the fouled prop. As a result, the crossed was aborted.

Nicola Doran gave a first-hand account of the team’s experiences on her Facebook page, “I am [far more] proud of our relay failure.

Our team became the strongest icy sea warriors and together, we supported, encouraged and cared for each other! I felt extremely overwhelmed with pride to have started this race, on the famous Shakespeare beach, where the greatest swimmers of all time, had stood before me. The sea temperature was 7.7°C and it felt bitterly cold. Fear, adrenalin, excitement were a few thoughts racing through my mind.

Our team became the strongest unit and together we became the Power of One!!

It was after Michelle [Lane] had completed her second rotation, that we found out that our engines had ceased.

Nichola [Murch] entered the sea and through pure grit and determination, she was treading water for her one hour rotation, and we all followed in order. Laura treading water for 50 minutes and we were off again! I was in next and completed 10 minutes, before the inevitable happened!

Michael Oram, Diver Dan, and Mike Ball attempted everything in their power to get us going again, and I cannot thank you enough.

We begged you not to give up on us and knowing that you believed in our ability, is all that matters.

Tony Ball (our observer), Nikki McCracken (crew) and Nichola’s sister, Cat cared for us, supported us and made sure we were looked after at all times…you were phenomenal, thank you!

So with achievements, there’s failures. This DNF is the proudest moment, in swimming, to date. There is a reason why we were making history standing on that start line…because it was brutal….but brilliant!

Ger Kennedy, once again, you led this with honor, integrity, and I’m so proud that the Men’s Relay made it across that icy channel and landed safely! Your leadership skills throughout the past 2 years gave us all the confidence to believe that we could!

You are the icy vikings of this story, whilst the shield maidens stood down! Congratulations guys…you are all phenomenal!

I’m proud to represent the para community in this sport. I will continue to hopefully inspire anyone with chronic ill health, to believe in themselves.

Editor’s Note: Aborting a swim is not a criticism of the courage or abilities of a swimmer. Aborting a swim can be due to marine life (sharks or jellyfish), lightning, tides, currents, boat problems, sickness or injuries of the swimmer or crew member, safety concerns, or a number of issues out of the control or decision of the swimmers.

Charity

The charity was powerofone.org.uk.

For more information on the relay, visit here.

History of the Winter Relay of the English Channel

The Winter Relay of the English Channel was the original vision of Debbie Hazeltine of West Mulling, England. She served as the Ladies’ Team Captain and envisioned the venture for the Winter Relay back in February 2022. She wanted to raise fund for an animal charity that is close to her heart. Later, it became a joint venture with Ger Kennedy and the charity, Power of One, became the designated charity of choice.

 For more information, visit  www.powerofone.org.uk.

Taupo x 3 Relay

The Winter Relay of the English Channel reminded us of the Taupo x 3 Relay that was held in 2009 where two boats, organized by renowned channel swimmer Philip Rush, raced an unprecedented 126 km three-way crossing of Lake Taupo, the largest lake in New Zealand.

Dr. Julie Bradshaw, MBE (England), Michelle Macy (USA), Barbara Pellick (Australia), Penny Palfrey (Australia), Lucy Roper (England), and Heather Osborn (New Zealand) raced against Steve Junk (Australia), Mark Cockroft (New Zealand), Dougal Hunt (Australia), Chris Palfrey (Australia), and Stephen Spence (Australia) with New Zealand legend Philip Rush as the escort pilot. The men’s team finished the three-way crossing in 33 hours 31 minutes 15 seconds with the women’s team very close behind in 33 hours 33 minutes 45 seconds – in a swim that Dr. Bradshaw said was – originally at least – not meant to be a race.

Chris Palfrey talked about the Taupo x 3 relay, “By any standards, Lake Taupo is big. Located in the centre of the north island of New Zealand, the lake was formed by a massive volcanic explosion which made an enormous divot in the landscape, eventually filling with fresh water. Roughly 40 km long, and almost as wide, our boat skippers said with some pride, that the lake covered the same area as Singapore. The idea to do a relay swim across the lake came about back in 2007. Because Philip Rush had told us previously that there had been a small number of solo and relay crossings of the lake, I said, ‘How about a triple crossing of the lake?’ And the wheels were set in motion.

Philip took care of the boats and inflatable boats for guiding swimmers at close quarters, one for each team.

Our group filtered into the town of Taupo, at the northern end of the lake, between December 31st and January 3rd. And Taupo itself was bustling, being a favourite holiday destination for the Kiwis. There was great camaraderie between the group and a sense of oneness.

On January 4th, Philip gave the final briefing. The water temperature was 18.5°C and the weather forecast was good, so we would swim the following day. We met at the marina at 2.00 am on Monday January 5th, loaded the boats, and started our journey to the southern end of the lake.

The plan was to start at first light from near Tokaanu, at the southernmost point of the lake, heading roughly north east past Motutaiko Island, cutting close to Rangitiri point, before finishing on the beach in front of the Waikato River. The distance by GPS for one lap was 40.2 km. The second lap would retrace our course back to the starting point and the final lap was a repeat of the first. The idea of starting early was to have only one night of swimming, as we thought we might take anything from 36 to 40 hours to complete the journey, depending on weather conditions.

We reached our starting point at 5:00 am. The water was calm, but we did not know how long the good conditions would last. We got underway at 5.33 am.

It was said many times that this was not a race and that we were one group, embarking on a shared challenge. But, beneath the surface, we were athletes with strong competitive natures. Penny and Steve managed 3.9 km in 57 minutes [on the first leg]. Mark and Michelle were next up and even though they had said they didn’t want to go hard, early on in the journey, it was clear that neither swimmer wanted the other to gain an advantage.

Mark established a 20-meter lead on Michelle as they both did 3.9 km for their one-hour rotation. We were changing over at 6.30, 7.30, 8.30, etc to keep it simple. Up next was Dougal and Barb and he managed to give the boys a 100-metre advantage, doing 3.8 km in his hour.

Heather and I were up next. I have had a niggling shoulder injury for a few months so I had resolved to take it steady. I surrendered the lead and handed the girls a 100-meter advantage.

Julie and Stephen were up next. Stephen jumped in [and] it was clear that he was a man on a mission. He did an impressive 4 km in his hour and gave us back a 200-meter lead.

At about this time, it occurred to us blokes, that we actually had a chance of beating the girls, although the swim was never meant to be a race. I thought the men would finish well behind. Anyhow, we now realised that we were going to have some fairly close rivalry, so the boys all lifted the pace considerably. In the first five one hour rotations, we managed 19.1K, and in the second five hours we achieved 20 km. But the girls were never far behind.

The men finished the first leg of 40.2 km in a time of 10 hours 22 minutes; the girls were a mere 6 minutes astern.

In the course of the early afternoon, a light breeze had developed from the south. So we enjoyed a slight push along for the last 1½ hours of the first lap. But as we now started retracing our strokes toward the southern end of the lake, we now had to punch into a light headwind. The wind increased to around 10 knots from a WSW direction until around 3 am.

We [faced] a 2-foot chop. In our first five-hour rotation [on] the second lap, we covered 18 km, compared to 20 km for the latter half of the first lap.

[Between] 6:30 to 7:30 pm, with the breeze and the sun sinking low on the horizon, it was becoming quite cool. After 14 hours of swimming, we were starting to feel tired.

My next shift in the water was [between] 11:30 pm to 12:30 am. It was dark and very choppy. Swimming at night was actually quite enjoyable. There was a ¾ moon which gave some natural light, there was nothing to fear from predators, and time seemed to tick by much faster than during the day.

We still held a slender 150m lead on the girls, which we held until the end of the second lap. We had covered the second lap in 12 hours 15 minutes and the girls finished their second lap a mere 4 minutes behind. Whilst the swim was not a race, the rivalry was as intense as it was fascinating.

By mid morning, the blokes had all done five one-hour rotations at ever increasing amounts of effort, and we were starting to suffer. And the girls were either nipping at our heels or enjoying a slight lead.

When I took over from Dougal, we were abeam of Motutaiko Island, about half way through the last lap. The water was calm and I was swimming just in front of the bow. I could see the girls boat 250 meters to our right and about 30 meters in front. I could even see the splash from Julie’s stroke. When Stephen took over from me, we had a good 200m lead.

When Steve and Penny took to the water for their final burst, the blokes enjoyed a 600m lead. One hour later, when Mark and Michelle went into battle, our lead was cut to less than 50 meters.

Steve did an incredible 4.5 km in his hour, on his seventh rotation, and we almost had to drag him out of the water. So that meant Penny must have covered 5 km. In fresh water, after a day and a half, with very little sleep and the accumulated fatigue, that was quite extraordinary.

Mark and Michelle had previously been very evenly matched, and with only around 10 km to go, it couldn’t have been closer. For 30 minutes it was neck and neck, with no change in positions. But then, as we approached Rangatiri point, we started to inch ahead. We were about 100m closer to the point and our skippers wanted to cut as close to the shore as possible [to] pick up any current.

We had a little over 100m lead when Barb and Dougal started their final rotation. We only had 6 km to go, and could see the sailing club building, where we would finish our epic journey.

I was hoping for a lead, as Heather and I would be doing the final 2 km sprint to shore. At the last change, Dougal had given us a 200m lead. Heather had previously been faster than I, so I went as hard as I could. Every few minutes, I snuck a quick peep under my shoulder, but my confidence was growing as I could see their boat wasn’t getting any closer. And then finally, I swam past the channel markers at the river entrance, and could see the bottom. The guys on the boat jumped in and swam the last 200m with me.

Standing and running up the sand was an amazing feeling. We were sunburnt, very sore and physically spent, but almost overwhelmed with our accomplishment. We raised our arms and cheered Rod and Steve (skippers) and Paul (safety officer/observer) back on the boat.

Heather hit the beach a mere 2 minutes 39 seconds behind, and the other girls also swam in with her. There were hugs, kisses and handshakes all round as we huddled together, to the amusement of the local beachgoers.

WE DID IT!!! After 120.6 km, Philip advised our finishing time at 33 hours 31 minutes 15 seconds. The girls did 33 hours 33 minutes 54 seconds. I don’t think it would be possible to find two teams so evenly matched.

The splits were as follows:

• Men: Lap 1 (10:22), Lap 2 (12:15), Lap 3 (10.54)
• Women: Lap 1 (10:28), Lap 2 (12:13), Lap 3 (10:53)

A month before our swim, we became aware that a world record relay lake swim had been set in Florida in September, 2008. In that relay, two teams of 50 swimmers, each doing 2 km, covered 100 km in 37 hours 6 minutes and 41 hours 15 minutes, respectively.

Whilst we were not motivated by the record, we knew that we only had to finish to break it, so we will certainly proceed to have it ratified. And it appears that both teams will create a record.

New Zealand is a scenic and beautiful country. Swimmers are welcome to try to break our relay record, or solo swimmers can attempt the full crossing. Philip Rush is the best contact person for this.

Ka’iwi Channel Swim

The other massive relay undertaking was the 45 km Ka’iwi Channel Swim between the islands of Molokai and Oahu in the state of Hawaii held in August 2013.

“It was a good race. I was still shocked by the closeness,” describes Bill Ireland who was on the winning Veterans team. “The difference [between the 9:53 and 9:56 final times] was incredibly small. I assumed the two teams would have been an hour apart. The difference was about the equivalent of one tenth of a second per 50. It was real tight.”

Co-race director Steve Haumschild saw the teams battle it out all day long, trading the lead like swimmers in a professional 10 km race. “The teams traded the lead so many times, we could barely keep up. This was an incredible showcase of athleticism by both teams in the ultimate open water swimming proving grounds. Towards the end, both teams stepped it up.”

Photo above by Kaia Hedlund shows The Veterans (Karen Schmidt, Amy Dantzler, Brent Blackman, Bill Ireland, Bruce Thomas, and Dianne Gleason) and The Youngsters (Terence Young, Brian King, Mitchell Degeus, Jamison Grove, Brittney Yim, and Erin Yamamoto).

https://youtu.be/XvVULqiRNH0

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