Top tips for other Channel Swim relay teams, courtesy of the Are You Having A LAFF??! Channel Swim Team, July 31st 2009

We thought you might appreciate a list of top tips from our channel swim, whilst it is still fresh in our minds, and whilst you’re preparing for yours. It was an amazing experience, you’ll love and hate every moment of it if it was anything like ours. Something we’ll never forget, and well worth every second of training, fundraising, hard graft and pain. We miss it!

So here’s our tips before we forget all the useful stuff. Below is a list of useful hints from each of my channel swim team…

1. In the coming weeks, the whole team agrees that training in Dover as much as possible would help you no end. No training as good as sea training! Drink coke after swimming at Dover to avoid stomach infections from petrol water though.
2. Meet your boat crew and see your boat well before the swim so you know what you have/don’t have in terms of toilet/hot water facilities/shelter on board.
3. Get your own support crew for the day – boat ‘mum’ and driver. You need help to get back from Dover after a long stint swimming, or at least have a room booked for post-swim in Dover, you’re too tired to drive. You need someone on board who is not swimming to help change you, grease you up, make sure you have eaten, rub your back when you’ve been sick, etc. Little by little you get more tired as a swimmer and supporting everyone else after a few hours in the water becomes more hard.
4. Get a system going for who is cheering/dressing/watching the swimmer/preparing the next swimmer. There is a LOT happening on board, as at any one time there is always one swimmer in the water (needing support/cheering/watching), one swimmer about to go in, and one swimmer just come out (freezing/needing fed/looked after). It takes 1-2 hours to recover from the swim, so a bit of a rotation system works well, so you know that everyone is looked after at any one time. As long as you remember you’re a team, and you have an extra pair of hands to help you out too, you’re fine.
5. Despite the amount of salt in the sea, you DO actually still need salty stuff to eat (crisp cravings!!) – we didn’t plan to have anything salty unfortunately. Pot noodles work – they’ve been recommended by other teams we spoke to. Or crisps.
6. Ginger biscuits, cooked chicken (massive amounts of protein helped us through), energy gels, lucozade, red bull, water, water, water, cream cheese sandwiches, porridge, bananas, energy tablets(dextrose ones), tinned fruit, jelly – all great to have.
7. We took a sound system, some motivational music on tape andloads of batteries. We took tapes because CDs might jump on rocky water. This music was EXCELLENT – we turned it around so that the swimmer in the water could hear and it stops you getting bored after 40 minutes in the water. We ran out of batteries though, so not all swimmers benefited and we saw the difference in how long before people started asking how long they’d been in. Take note!
8. Stretching before and after each swim would have been good.We didn’t. We are in pain now.
9. Sleeping bags, pillows, roll mats and blankets in abundance were essential – for keeping warm and sleeping after each stint of swimming!!!
10. Foldaway chairs were useful.
11. Take golf umbrellas as if it rains there’s not much shelter on board!
12. You will be sick and that’s unavoidable, swimmers swim so slowly that the boat is literally just bobbing along to France. Sea sickness tablets helped a bit, looking at the horizon helped a lot, lying down and sleeping helped most of all. You still need to get energy into you for swimming, so high calory, low volume foods/drinks are best.
13. Take spare goggles!
14. Try not to get run down and ill in the weeks before the swim – better to be healthy than to push yourself for that extra 10 minutes in cold water – two of our team got ill in the run up to the swim – one with chest and lung infection (me!) and one with swine flu – both of us were touch and go as to whether we could swim. Steady training on the run-up is sufficient – don’t run yourself down.
15. Try and get some sleep the night before if possible.
16. This sounds gay, but we did a spreadsheet to make sure we split the buying of things we needed, and didn’t forget vital items. You need the following stuff, apart from food – most of this is on the spreadsheet: light sticks for those swimming in dark, sun cream (high factor – we wore factor 50 and all still got burnt!) flasks for hot water, stereo and music, waterproof camera, clothes – it’s all about warmth as its cold on the boat too! Old joggers, t-shirts & hoodies, woolly hat, gloves, socks and trainers, sun hat. - remember the grease will ruin them; Swimming Costumes - 1 for each stint. Not too tight because they will rub! Swimming hat & spare, swimming goggles & spare, Ear Plugs, Enough dry towels, Grease doesn't really seem to keep you warm but prevents rubbing! we used vaseline, pharmacy stuff: Sea sickness tablets, Painkillers, Antihistamines, Sting cream, Vaseline, Face wipes, Wet wipes, Hydration sachets.
17. Most of all, GOOD LUCK AND ENJOY!!!!! You’ll be amazing.

Lots of love, Sarah and the ‘Are you having a LAFF??! ’ swim team. Completed in 13 hours, 17 minutes and 10 seconds. Hurrah!

We did it! 13 hours, 17 minutes and 10 seconds...channel swim success!

Hi All

So we did it!!!

In the early hours of Friday 31st July a motley crew set off from London with a minibus full of sleeping bags, energy bars and sea sickness tablets, for an epic journey.

At 4.30am the same crew hit the icy waters of Dover and with a backdrop of white cliffs, Emma took the first plunge of the day.

In the hours that followed, there were jelly fish the size of Alice, breast-stroke related groin injuries, and plentiful bouts of sea sickness to contend with.

But the weather was kind and the oil slicks minimal and some 13 hours, 17 minutes, and 10 seconds later, to the delight of some gallic beach strollers we finally hit the French shore – in amazing time for a group expecting to be the slowest channel swimmers on record!!! Hurrah!

We’re thrilled to bits to have made it all the way to France – especially since we’ve been dealing with chest infections, swine flu, and dissertations over the past few weeks, not to mention that one of the team only learnt front crawl this year.

Thank you to anyone who has donated so far - to date we’ve raised close to £8,000 for street kids in Peru which is fantastic! These donations and your kind words of support helped us keep going through the darkest hours, and we’re all exceptionally touched and grateful. We're taking this money over to our projects in Peru in a matter of weeks now, so we'll be able to report back on how your money has helped street kids very soon.

If you do still want to sponsor the madness then it's not too late to do so... You can visit our website, for other ways to donate or

www.justgiving.com/latinamericanfoundationforthefuturechannelswim

Now we’ve reached British soil again, we’d love you to join us this weekend on Sat 8th August for a good old celebratory knees up in Battersea Park café. Come along between 3pm – 8pm for music, food and general post swim merriment.

See you there!

Sarah Oakes, Hannah Barrett, Tom Parr, Alice, Louise and Emma Shepheard-Walwyn

6 days to go till The Big Splash!

6 days to go!

This is the boat that will make sure we get safely to French soil...

This is the man in the boat that will make sure we get safely to French soil...

This is the map, that the man in the boat will use to make sure we get safely to French soil...

It's all a bit real now! There's a lot of frantic last minute training happening, at Dover, in the Thames and in Tooting Bec lido, along with a few emergency doctor trips to deal with swine flu, stomach infections from swallowing too much petrol water and otherwise!

But it is all coming together now - thanks for all the support you're all giving us - we've now raised over 80% of our target for fundraising which is fantastic news for street kids in Peru - hurrah!

If you'd like to sponsor us and still haven't had chance you can do so on www.justgiving.com/latinamericanfoundationforthefuturechannelswim

Watch this space to see how we get on on the swim itself and for post swim photos....and don't forget to join us at the post swim party in Battersea Park on the 8th August to laugh at the effects alcohol has after a month of sobriety!

Signing off

Are you having a LAFF Channel Swim team. Officially papping it.

Sink...or swim?? Trip to The Thames

Swim training has upped a gear with only 6 weeks to go until 'Are you having a LAFF?!' swim team hits the open waters in their attempt to swim to France.

Unfortunately we're a man down, with Barry suffering from a shoulder injury, but battling on!
In the past few weeks we've made it to Brighton for our first group sea swim of the year (happily also on the hottest day of the year!), started training in the freezing cold waters of Tooting Bec and Brockwell lidos and last weekend, for a group dip in the Thames.

As we waited on the banks early on Saturday morning, wondering what lay beneath those murky waters, we all would have easily chosen treacherous open waters over the petrol and shopping bag filled Thames...but in the name of training and charity, in we went!







And it was COLD!!!! and we SCREAMED LIKE GIRLS!!! and we disturbed lots of breakfasting tourists at the Monkey Island Hotel and dodged canal boats galore, but we did manage to stay in and swim for just over an hour, our longest time yet in cold open water. Hurrah!






And now, for your amusement, here we have a selection of photos taken after the hour of cold water was up - the proof we are actually going to do this swim...!!























Don't forget you can sponsor us today on www.justgiving.com/latinamericanfoundationforthefuturechannelswim and help street kids in Peru.

Thank you for your support!

Are you having a LAFF swim team. Currently on track for 24 hours swimming in cold water to get to France. Bring it on.

Two weeks on and “Are you having a LAFF??!” are braving the ocean

Alice:

Since I last wrote two members of the LAFF swimming team, myself and Curly, tackled the freezing cold waters of the Atlantic over the May Bank Holiday in a bid to learn to surf – cleverly disguised as a training exercise.


Wet suits were borrowed and booties rented for the first sea dip of the year and as we hit the water for the first time I could have sworn my eyeballs almost popped out of my head!


Yes, I know it seems like we ARE still on land, but we did in fact hit the water. Promise!



Now one of the main rules that the Channel Swimming Association strictly imposes is that swim attire worn by all must consist only of swimming costumes (girls) or little Speedo numbers (boys) – not forgetting our very orange swim caps which I am sure will do nothing towards keeping the heat in.

- yep that's us right there. Hot stuff.

Fashionable Baywatch/burkhini attire - strictly disallowed:

Now having dipped my toes in the sea, I can tell you how inappropriate a thin veil of swim suit is at 12 degrees. We’re all going to turn to ices blocks before we hit the shipping lanes! Argh!

Desperate times, desperate measures - we now only have two options to make sure we reach France alive. Either:
1. Each put on 10 Kilos
2. Get our bodies used to the cold by getting into the freezing cold sea time and time again.

With two May dates in the diary for sea swims, I am overly optimistic that we’ll manage to keep hyperthermia at bay.

Obviously second on the training agenda is the fine tuning of our strokes. Although breaststroke has been a perfect starting point for our indoor training it's now looking like breast stroke could mean that we spend 18 hours bobbing up and down in Dover - less than ideal. So you'll be pleased to hear we are now starting to tackle crawl head on and France is beginning to look a little bit closer.

Come along to our Pub Quiz!

In the meantime if you fancy testing your general knowledge and bingo skills, whilst supporting our merry crew then please come and join us at our charity pub quiz on Thursday 4th June @ Victoria Pub, Queenstown Road, Battersea, SW8 3QH.

More details are on our website: http://www.laffcharity.org.uk/

Thanks for your continued support: I promise that we’ll change the minds of those sceptics out there – if not, the team will eat their swimming caps!

Signing off…Alice, on behalf of “Are you having a LAFF??!” – the swim team that could well take the longest time on record to cross the English Channel.

www.justgiving.com/latinamericanfoundationforthefuturechannelswim

Testing the waters....

Three months to go till we swim the channel for LAFF and this is where the serious training is meant to begin. No more leisurely trips to the gym, bike rides to work or swimming in heated indoor pools. The fear has sufficiently begun to hit and the salt water, waves and the cold temperatures of the English Channel have begun to pull. So, training schedules are being written up, eating habits analysed and the first group sea swim is in the diary and come rain or shine we’ll be giving it a go. No location I’m afraid – the spectacle is to remain with the team only!!!

On that note, our team, as unlikely as it may seem to those of you that know us well, rocks! Let me introduce you to this canny bunch:

Sarah Oakes aka Curly.
Andrew Wheater aka Barry
Hannah Barrett aka Brain Train
Thomas Parr aka Baldrick
Louise Shepheard-Walwyn aka Shep
Emma Shepheard-Walwyn aka Little Shep
Alice Shepheard-Walwyn aka Big Shep

We’ll introduce you in full after we have donned our very orange “Channel Swimming Association” swimming caps for a team photo, with the obligatory llama backdrop.

Make sure that you watch this space to hear about our trials, tribulations and discoveries over the next few months; I can safely say now that there’ll be a few. The most recent was realisation that the goose fat, which we always thought was meant to help keep the heat in, does nothing of the sort. Its sole purpose in the channel swim is in fact to prevent jellyfish stings. Jelly Fish!!! I must confess now that I have an innate fear of the creatures.

This is going to be a feat to be proud of. All are tackling fears of jellyfish, the cold and the sea - and some of us are still learning the front crawl!

Stay in touch and watch our progress as we head towards our goal, raising money for LAFF. For those that would like to support this mini adventure please visit our just giving site www.justgiving.com/latinamericanfoundationforthefuturechannelswim

Signing off….

“Are You Having a LAFF??” – The swim team that could well take the longest time on record to cross the English Channel.