Lee Johnson

Swimmers report:

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What inspired me to do the swim?

 

I attempted this swim in 2023, unfortunately Mother Nature got the better of me on the day and the swim was aborted after over 23h of swimming due to a F5/6 wind creating a 2m swell and us getting stuck in front of a sand bank 3 miles out from Porthcawl. We took a chance on the weather that day and it didn’t quite work out, however I took comfort from knowing the swim was pulled by the pilot and crew rather than me giving up.

 

To say this made it personal is an understatement, I knew I could complete the swim with the weather on my side.

 

 

How I planned for the swim.

 

I decided to swim less this year, I have done pace and skills work in the pool but decided that I needed to tick over with my endurance training as I am generally always swim fit, I still completed a few 6 - 10h swims etc but I didn’t do this every week. I had don a few swim camps and generally felt good, I knew the challenge was largely a mental rather than physical test.

 

The weather window on the tide didn’t look good, it was causing logistical problems on getting to the starting point at the correct time, unlike last year this swim started at Glenthorne. 

 

Until the day before the swim I was certain it wasn’t going to happen, I even went out with friends the evening before the call to go and on reflection stayed out a little too late enjoying myself.

 

How did the swim go?

 

We met at Swansea marina at 20.00 on Friday evening after getting to go call at 08.00 that morning. It was a great effort by everyone to even get there. With a swim of this scale you need to support of a great team more than ever and thankfully everyone dropped what they were doing to support the swim. 

We loaded the boat to sail over the Ilfracombe to moor up for the night to be ready to set sail to Glenthorne at 3am Saturday. I slept for an hour or so on the drive down, on the boat whilst sailing across and I booked a hotel in Ilfracombe which I stayed in for literally 3h to try and get some sleep! Pre swim food the night before was a rubbish pizza surrounded by everyone enjoying their Friday night on the town.

We sailed to Glenthorne for a 5am start in the water, after the few short naps I felt fine and was ready for the challenge. The start at Glenthorne is rocky and not ideal, getting out and back into the water for the start is time consuming but I knew I had to take my time. 

The horn sounded and off I went, the first leg of the swim was very routine and straight forward, swimming through the day and landing at the beach at Porthcawl in around 12 and half hours. I felt fine with no issues and was greeting by Tom and Sophie with my training buddy Dan following me onto the beach with some solid food, water and vasoline.

I didn’t want much to eat, just a mouthful of chicken, a boiled potato and a raw carrot. I put some vasoline on, although I wasn’t actually chaffing which was good and I had I mouthful of water. 

Although I had 10mins to start the second leg I just wanted to get on with it, so said my goodbyes and got back in the water for the return leg.

I knew the return leg would be much harder, it was going to be through the night where the air temperature will drop and the wind was forecast to pick up. 

As I swam through the night I struggled to keep track of the boat, with the tide it feels like the boat is always turning and I needed to really concentrate on keeping close to it, as day light broke I knew I was on the home stretch. 

The wind was slowly picking up and for the last few hours it started to bring back memories of the failed swim the year before, I was worried that the swim would be pulled again and even told the crew they would be walking home if they got me out of the water again (we drove down in my van).

The last few hours were hard, the tide was making it difficult to land and the crew told me to completely empty the tanks and kick like hell…………….I did my best.

Thankfully we got there, landing not far from the start point over 27h later, I climbed on another scary rock and held my arms high whilst the horn blew.

I swam back to the boat to be greeted by my amazing team, it’s crazy to think they gave up so much of their time to support the swim.

I had a drink and a bite to eat and coiled up on the boat and fell sleep, this time feeling much better than the year before.