British swimmer died during EC attempt

MandaiMandai Charter Member
edited October 2013 in General Discussion
According to this German website 34 yr old British swimmer Susan Taylor passed away... real sad news.

http://www.n-tv.de/panorama/Britin-stirbt-bei-Aermelkanal-Durchquerung-article10991096.html
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Comments

  • KarenTKarenT Charter Member
    Heartbreaking news. Susan was a friend and training companion here in the West Midlands, well known to the swimmers at Bosworth and Swan Pool - via her FB pages, her family have asked for privacy while they come to terms with this awful tragedy. They have also invited those who wish to pay their respects make a donation to her chosen charities.

    http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fundraiser-web/fundraiser/showFundraiserProfilePage.action?userUrl=createaripple
  • oxooxo Guest
    edited July 2013
    Tragic. I think few aspirants are aware of the true magnitude of this risk on an EC swim, which would make this all the more tragic. Condolences to friends and family.
  • IronMikeIronMike Northern VirginiaCharter Member
    RIP Susan.

    We're all just carbon, water, starlight, oxygen and dreams

  • MikeHMikeH Member
    So very sad...condolences to everyone involved.
  • heartheart San Francisco, CACharter Member
    My heart aches for Susan's family and friends.
  • molly1205molly1205 Lincoln, NebraskaSenior Member
    Absolutely tragic. I don't know Susan personally but I believe she swam in a Swimtrek camp with fellow Marathon Swimmer Forum participant, @never2late. I'm so very sad for her family and am sending a contribution to one of her charities.

    Molly Nance, Lincoln, Nebraska

  • This is so very sad. I flew over the Channel today and the weather was so clear and sunny as it was yesterday, that it is hard to imagine that such tragedy struck. I wish her family, friends, and those she was close to my condolences. It must be terrible for her pilot too. I understand she was a very accomplished swimmer. It is really heart breaking.

    Sisu: a Finnish term meaning strength of will, determination, perseverance, and acting rationally in the face of adversity.

  • loneswimmerloneswimmer IrelandCharter Member
    I'd like to thank everyone for the respectful manner of this discussion. Though I heard the news from David in Varne early yesterday morning, it wasn't until I was talking with a friend and forum member last night that I realised that Susan crewed last summer for forum member @chloemaccardel's two-way English Channel swim and that I spent a very happy day of celebration and chat in Dover in Collins Yard and later in Dino's with Susan, Chloe, Paul and a couple of other Channel friends.

    Susan was also staying in Varne Ridge, which is awful for David & Evelyn, who have gone though this terrible event twice now.

    Our world, the marathon and Channel world is so small and so interconnected. I doubt any of us are more than two degrees separated from each other.

    Next Sunday is the one-year anniversary of our tragically lost friend Paraic Casey in the Channel. We don't need to know someone to feel these losses deeply, these people who are us, who did what we do, we do what they did.

    UK swimmer John Tierney wrote some words last year after the loss of Paraic, whom he didn't know, that are once again now tragically apt, something I'm sure John would not have expected:
    If you are an open water swimmer no introduction is necessary, friendship is a given...you could have been one of any of us swimmers and this is why we know you...We shared your dreams and aspirations. We experienced similar training efforts over the years, pain, illness, fatigue on the negative side. And the many many positives including the pleasant feelings of being in swimming pools or open water, meeting challenges, cutting through waters so cold, and waters quite balmy. And the friendships forged. The warm camaraderie of swimmers based on as little as a two minute chat or reading about [your] swimming club or any other swimming location. And now we mourn your sudden loss.

    loneswimmer.com

  • Leonard_JansenLeonard_Jansen Charter Member
    A true tragedy like this leaves a void that spreads out like ripples on a pond and that we all can feel, even if we didn't know her.

    I really hope that her poor brother, who the article said was blaming himself, can find some peace with this.

    At times like this I always think of the quote from the poet George Gordon, Lord Byron: "A man's reach must exceed his grasp, else what are the heavens for?"

    Rest in Peace.

    -LBJ

    “Moderation is a fatal thing. Nothing succeeds like excess.” - Oscar Wilde

  • ForeverSwimForeverSwim Pittsburgh, PennsylvaniaCharter Member
    May God bless and keep your family and friends at this time.

    A lot of thoughts race through my mind when I read about this story - no different than when we hear of endurance athletes in other sports who tragically pass during their challenge. Times like these we are made aware of the serious nature of our sport and what can become of our grand adventures into the unknown. I don't believe there is one of us who doesn't understand the risks we undertake, however we never believe it could happen to us.

    We will swim with you again one day in paradise. Rest well Susan.

    www.darren-miller.com
    Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania U.S.A.

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