How long?

bobswims

How long does it take before you stop thinking about returning to Dover to give the EC another shot? I don't dare share these thoughts with my wife, so I sit in the dark, despondent & lonely with only my demented mind for company.

AnthonyMcCarley

You will not stop thinking about it until it is done. Seriously. Sorry.

ssthomas

Anthony is right. It won't go away until you touch France.

KatieBun

If you wanted it so much in the first place, why would you want to give it up, Bob? I told my (patient and wonderful) other half that if I didn't make it, he'd have to accept me having another go. There's no hiding it. You can pretend to yourself, but the fact that you even asked the question shows it's still on your mind. Please go again!

suziedods

You do however , need to speak to your other half... that might make it more real as well.

phodgeszoho

Dude. I feel your pain.

I recently discussed this very topic with my wife. “What happens if I am unsuccessful?”. She genuinely surprised me by suggesting that it would probably need another go but then we both agreed that two attempts would be the limit.

I wouldn’t want to test it though… Fingers crossed I will not have to :-/

loneswimmer

Students of English Channel history will recall the famous swimmer & coach Jabez Wolffe, whom, IIRC made 20 unsuccessful attempts before conceding defeat. Indeed Captain Webb himself only succeeded on his second attempt.

The long 36 year gap between Captain Webb and Thomas Burgess included 71 unsuccessful attempts. What is often overlooked is that Burgess made 19 previous attempts before succeeding. Burgess is held in great esteem amongst many Channels swimmers, as he replicated what was said to be impossible, but not without extraordinary courage that most of us would lack.

Former CSA President Cyril Freyberg made five attempts and most famously on his last attempt was 200 yards from Kent when his wife who was on the boat gave him a brandy, after which he promptly "fell asleep" and was pulled.

On a more positive note, two of my own swimming friends and personal heroes are:

1. Rob Bohane of Sandycove, whose cumulative EC time is about 37 hours. Two unsuccessful attempts, the first of which left him hospitalised with severe cold water pulmonary edema. But on his third and successful swim, he set the new Sandycove EC club record.

2. Thomas The Gladiator Noblett. Thomas took four attempts, of which two were in the 20 hour range.

In short, there is no universal answer, just as there is, from a swimmer's point of view, no single English Channel. Every swimmer, every day, every attempt, each makes the Channel anew.

dpm50

Sounds like you still want to go for it, so why not! You invested so much of yourself and trained so hard, that my feeling is you deserve another chance at it. Me? It's so far in the pipe dream part of my mind that I can barely fantasize about it. But you've been there and once the English Channel has you in its (mental) tidal pull, I suspect it has you. Ask yourself this: will you regret more trying again--or not trying again?

bobswims

Immediately after my first failed attempt in 2013 (a CSA swim) I called my wife and she immediately told me I had to stay and give it another shot. We had never discussed this before so I was surprised (and elated). She knew little about the tides, and the challenges it presented. (I swam my second attempt with a 7 meter tide and the day before that attempt I went down to the Dover harbor to get in a brief swim only to find that after walking half way to the outside sea wall, I was just going to have to settle for waist deep water.) She also didn't say anything about the money.

After an amazing outpouring of support and help by many, many people and the CSPF leadership, all of whom I am eternally grateful to, I made my second attempt. (I apologize to each and every one of them for not naming them individually for fear of leaving someone out.) It was my best ever marathon swim, and swam until I got cold and ran out of gas. But I told myself and my wife that was my last attempt.

However, in a conversation with my wife today I happened to mention that I will probably return to marathon swimming if I can't return to mountaineering because of knee problems. Since I had constantly complained about training for marathon swims in a hot 25 yd pool, she was definitely surprised. So now, the first brick has been laid and only time will tell.

Thanks for all the encouragement.

SteveWalker

I have a similar although different challenge. My first EC attempt was successful (1996), and my wife was on the boat. It was before we had kids, and my wife made me promise, "No more crazy swims." I later added the caveat, "until the kids are done with high school."

In the following 15 years, I gained 50 pounds and developed insulin resistance. I ended up giving up candy (and almost all sugar and starches), and eventually getting back to a reasonable weight and getting back in the pool. I started getting faster, and was tempted back into the Bay, and joined the South End Club about a year ago. My youngest is still only 12 (I'm 47 now), but I've decided that it is time for me to be back into marathon swimming. So far this year, I've done an 8-hour swim (57 deg), Gibraltar, a 4 mile 48 deg swim, and a bunch of little 10k-20k swims in the 53-58 degree range.

I've done most of the training swims while she's sleeping and events on work days (I have more vacation than she does, and Gibraltar got tacked onto a business trip), but at the same time, when I do big swims it impacts her, and I can tell that she doesn't like it when I do things without her.

The problem is that I'm thinking of doing a lot more swims--bigger stuff (toying with the North crossing and the other Ocean's 7 swims, Magellan, a few other ideas for fun swims).

I haven't really told her yet. I think she's starting to get the idea that I really need to be back in the water, but I haven't talked about the big swims part yet.

I think I'm safe spilling my guts on this page, but I need to talk to her. I am waiting to find something that she wants (bigger than just me putting the seat down). I wish I could just tell her my plans, and negotiate a big swim or two a year, and have her pick my poison (a season of going to the ballet in SF, or me doing the evening car pool for a season of kids water polo), but I'm thinking that complete honesty (my 5 year training and event plan) might not be the best idea here.

I'd ask for advice, but I already know, no advice will help.

I only write this to empathize with Bobswims. Two things--you should do it--the feeling won't go away, and if you're like me, the draw back to marathon cold water swims will only get stronger over time, not weaker.

KarenT

Whatever happened to sharing ambitions and hopes with a partner, taking seriously their reservations and cautions and finding a compromise that works for both?