We had to hang on for dear life and couldn't think how we'd manage hours of this....... as you can see from my worried face - I was honestly thinking to myself (and I can admit this now that I succeeded the next day!) - 'I didn't prepare for this'. I started to cry at the realisation that this might end in a failure. 
The waves were horrific, but according to the Neil, 'there have been worse conditions'... WHAT I thought! Anyway, you can't be picky, so I tried to be positive and prepare for the enormous challenge ahead. Neil said we'd try swim for two 2hrs and see if the weather improved. He was not going to 'log' this as an attempt until we knew whether the weather was getting better or worse. After only 30mins into the swim, he motioned me towards the boat and asked how I was feeling. In my heart, I was terrified. But I didn't say this and I was half prepared to carry on. I could see from the faces of my crew, namely Mark, Mum, Danielle & Jason... that this was going to be a rough ride. He asked if I wanted to carry on and make it my attempt, or whether I wanted it to be logged as a training session. I was in a huge dilema.... if I gave this up, there may not be a better day and with the conditions that have been thrown at this seasons attempts, this might actually not be that bad. FORTUNATELY Neil had the honesty to tell me that 2 boats had already turned back. Only five boats with swimmers had gone out that morning with an idea of a swim. This made my mind up... I called it a day and said we would have to hold out for better weather. After looking back at that weather, it was similar to the weather at the end of my actual swim, and I did 4.5hrs in that. I honestly can't see myself having managed much more than about 6hrs. The hard thing was returning to our accommodation, everything had been perfect, Sue and John (Mark's parents) had come all the way down from Chester to watch the children... Danielle & Jason had come from Bedford to crew for me. My half brother, Dean, had come all the way down from London, leaving at 3am, to surprise me and wave me off from the beach........ and of course Mum had flown all the way from Zimbabwe to be on the boat and crew for me.
Now, this may all fall apart if I didn't manage to get out there within my 'slot'. There was one positive thought in my mind and that was that all five boats turned back that day and nobody attempted to swim the Channel. I hadn't turned out to be the only fool to attempt it!
Neil said to be prepared for a Saturday night swim, which wasa hard thing to deal with, a night swim etc. We then got another message from Neil saying that the weather was still not good enough for the Saturday night but to meet him back at the boat at 5am on Sunday morning, to have another 'look'! We didn't hold out hopes as the forecast didn't look good but as we came over the hill that morning and saw a calm sea (no white horses at all) we realised it was all go. The two unfortunate things on this day were that Jason couldn't be on the boat because of work committments he had on the Monday (however, he kindly watched the boys until Sue & John got back from Canterbury where they had spent the Saturday night) - the other thing was of course that Dean couldn't see me off from the beach as he had had to head back up to London the previous day.
I was in much better spirits though. The boat ride to Shakespeare beach was smooth enough for everyone to 'grease' me up this time...!
I was actually excited today and in hind sight the previous days rough weather gave me confidence that anything must be better than that!!! So I jumped in the water, swam to the beach and waited for the fog horn to blast out! On hearing that, I ran straight into the water..... and started this very exciting journey!
The first 2hrs were probably 2 of the hardest. Mentally knowing you have so many more to come, trying to get into a rhythm, trying to warm up, and of course no feeds for the first two hours, so it's lonely. The next 2hrs were tough too, but they were getting easier as I was now feeding every 30mins. A cup full (250ml) of maxim energy drink dosed up 4 x the recommended amount!
I could see Danielle suffering badly from sea sickness and I felt so sorry for her for trying to hide it from me - when I saw her dissapear from the deck, I slowed down slightly to see her throwing up off the back of boat!!! The good thing for the crew was that the sun was shining, but when they all took their jumpers off that irritated me a bit - they must be WARM - not fair!!!
Between 4 and 8hrs were really good. I got into such a nice rhythm and I was counting my strokes between feeds. About 1300 - so I knew if the crew were late with my feed! I was in really good spirits, making jokes about seaweed for lunch and very very positive mentally.
THEN the weather changed! I thought a boat must have passed but soon realised the wind had picked up....... and this wasn't going to drop! The waves were 5ft/6ft and were absolutely relentless. I have no idea how the crew managed to fix up every single feed, perfectly on time without any hassle - or none that I could see. Out of what must have been 25 feeds we only had one where I had to pass it back because it had got salt water in. They had pain killers & sea sickness tablets ready each time I needed them. Amazing. Honestly, it sounds easy but they had to heat my 'feed' up on a gas stove in a cabin that you could hardly stand in if you let go with one had. The weather was 'shit'! I think they could sit down for about 5/7mins between having to go down and start the process again! Danielle's sea sickness seemed to have subsided which was good because although she wasn't showing it, I know she wouldn't have been enjoying the 'ride'!
The last couple of miles into France were endless, the tide was against me and it took me about 1hr15 to do 1.2miles instead of the usual 25/30mins. No wonder they call the French shore the 'oasis' - oh my, it just did not get closer. I had to swim quite a way from the boat as my crew were shouting at me that I was going to be crushed. I could see the dop deck of the boat when it swayed and rocked over the enormous waves. Occassionally the boat hit a wave at an angle and it totally threw me - goggles smashed off and totally dis-orientated.... these were shortly followed by Neil opening his door and shouting 'soooorry'! A nice considerate pilot.
As I said at the beginning of this write up, what an amazing journey and what a tough ride, but I couldn't be more pleased and proud and I am just so glad to have finished. Not for one single minute did I think of giving up. There was a job to be done that day, and that job had to be finished!
England getting further & further away.....
In the middle somewhere!....
France getting nearer & nearer.....
The journey back was pretty bad! It was still really rough and going fast was worse. We had to stay in the cabin where we had to lock our feet against walls and grab our hands onto anything we could to avoid being thrown from one end to the other....Danielle and I had to pass a bucket between us whilst mum and Mark managed to pass a cider between them!!!! The worst worry was letting go of the sick bucket!!!!!! I had imagined a trip back on the top deck watching the sunset and sipping a beer! NOT! I had totally emptied my stomach of 6litres of energy drink and was now having stomach cramps while I was wretching into the bucket. It was easier to just pass out - which is what I did! not long after hearing Mark say 'is she breathing'!!! Only just.
Totally finished!!!
In 1875 Captain Matthew Webb became the first person to swim across the English Channel. The statistics of my swim, since then, are as follows:
I am the 1st ever Zimbabwean female to swim the English Channel
I am the 564th fastest swimmer to cross the English Channel
I am the 1025th swimmer who has successfully swum the English Channel
My training has involved:
473.1 miles of swimming
262 miles of running
132 miles of cycling
along with 9700 sit-ups and many gym sessions!
Celebrating with champagne the night after....
Here are some pictures of my crew, who were absolutely amazing throughout, thank you again. Also a picture of my very loving and patient boys, whom I hope I have made proud.
Wow, so that is done now. I have DONE my part! Now I am asking, only one LAST time for everyone / anyone who has not done so already to please spare ANY money you can. One pound will go miles in Zimbabwe... I am not asking for a fortune, just a small donation. To date I have raised (offline & online!) £4,511.27. Not far at all from my target of £5,000.00. Please help me achieve this by visiting:
http://www.justgiving.com/jacquismithschannelswim/
Thank you thank you once again to absolutely everyone for their support. I am going to have some time with the family now and get back to normal.... but, I shall be trying to keep up the charity work with an up and coming art auction to be held in London. The children at Tichakunda school have already been working hard on their pieces.....
Have a close look at their innocent faces... these lovely children deserve happiness and a good education, you can make a difference with just a few pounds....
So, I can only say it once more - THANK YOU.
& goodbye
Love Jacqui
