Sunday 5 September 2010

Wayne's wishlist of swimming conditions... - Bernice Soutter, 4 September 2010 13:01

Wayne had a little wish list of conditions he would ideally have in place for a swim across the channel. These included, in order of importance:
1) A sunny day
2) Warm water (HA!)
3) Calm seas, i.e. very calm wind conditions, preferably a Westerly wind.
4) Good, warm, calm conditions in the lead up to his swim.
5) Ideally finishing in daylight
Looking at these, today has really been a good start. For one, the outlook for Dover indicates that he will have sunny conditions for the majority of his day. This was a HUGE wish list item for him. When the sun shines, it instantly warms his back, and amazingly, the top layer of the water as well. He says it makes a massive difference! According to his boat captain, the water is 17 degrees today - which is a major bonus and a tick for item 2.
As for the wind conditions, the wind is blowing 12 knots, not too rough, but it is blowing in an Easterly direction - which means head on - the water is literally smacking Wayne in the face all the time. One of his biggest challenges is not swallowing too much sea water - this makes him VERY queasy - not ideal. This could be one of his biggest challenges.
The weather has been ideal over the last week, so item number 4 has been ticked off.
For some reason the captain has decided to only launch at 6 this morning, which means Wayne will land in France at night - this could be his other biggest challenge. Hopefully Wayne will have some reserves later tonight when the current will be dragging him along the coast of France and he has to navigate the last bit in the dark...
Overall, I think he will be very happy with the way his checklist worked out. Now we just wait to see how the missing items affect him.

No comments:

Post a Comment