ENGLAND TO FRANCE... Via The Channel

And so we did it!!

We got up late on Thursday and Len rang to say he'd be arriving at 12 to drive us to the Marina and Andy would be picking us up there at 1pm. Frantic last-minute bag-packing and checks ensued; Len and Didge arrived to give us a final and emotional pep talk; we set off for Dover!

It was a perfect day for Channel swimming - apparently one of only three days in the year so far when they'd had such good conditions for a crossing. It was sunny and quite warm, there was only a slight breeze and the water, though having a little swell, wasn't too bad at all. We arrived at the Marina and were greeted by the Munro-Lott parents and Jim Barlow, closely followed by Mum Waller who arrived 5 mins later. After meeting the lovely observer Claire who would be officiating our swim and packing everything onto the Louise Jane, we said our goodbyes with some massive hugs, Andy started up the boat and off we went out of the harbour. The full crew was Andy, Gary (Andy's number 2), Claire, Len, Didge (who was amazing for emotional support), Luce, Me, Nay and Sarah (swimming in that order).

As soon as we left the harbour it got a bit more choppy, but it was still far better than a lot of what we had been used to swimming in. We went right out of the harbour over past Sandfire Hoe; there was a little beach to its right and this was where Lucy would be starting from. So, when she was ready, Gary pulled back the chain on the side of the boat, Lucy jumped in to the sea (not without a little bit of screaming on entry) and swam in to the beach. She had to stand up completely clear of the water on the beach before Andy sounded the horn and then back in she went, and she was off: we were swimming the Channel!

It worked like this: we'd swim alongside the boat, driven alternatively by Andy or Gary. The boat would be going slowly, so we'd catch up with the front of it; on doing so, the boat would accelerate until we were in line with the back of it so then we'd swim to the front again, and so and so forth so that we were always in line with some part of the boat. Communication with the parents who were watching us from Sandfire Hoe and then later up on the White Cliffs told us they could still see us into our 2nd swims but lost sight during our third stints.

Hour 1 (Lucy): Leaping in to the water off the edge of a boat isn't something to look forward to, but i was over the chilliness quick enough on swimming into the beach. After getting out and waving to everyone on the boat, I was off! I thought my first hour went quite slowly, but this wasn't too much of a problem as I was still on a high from the excitement of finally getting to start the swim!

Lucy's first hour was fantastic. We got well away from the cliffs (though they still looked depressingly close for quite a while) and actually managed 2 1/2 miles in that first hour. Then came the first changeover. When Luce had done 45 mins, I (Em) started to get ready: on with the hat, in with the earplugs, Vaseline-d and goggled up and prepared to take over. Claire counted down from 30 seconds and I was asked to sit on the side of the boat, where they had pulled back a little chain covering a gap in the surrounding railings of the boat. When Claire counted down to zero, I jumped in behind Lucy, she swam round to the back of the boat where a big ladder was put down for her to climb out with, and I was told to start. It was quite nippy on first entering, but we had done much worse and I got used to it quite quickly.

Hour 2 (Em): Luce out of the water we quickly got around to preparing her hot drinks and congratulating her on her amazing swim. My first hour went surprisingly quickly; it didn't seem long before Len was saying '10 minutes to go!'. At this point, every time I breathed to the left (towards the boat) I started watching what was going on; I could see Nay getting ready and putting her hat on, off came the tracksuits and then suddenly the chain was back, the ladder was down and she was sitting in the gap waiting to hop in on Claire's queue. Len's whistle went and in she went, I climbed out the ladder (not without difficulty - it's a very steep ladder when you've just been horizontal for an hour) and was able to get a towel, clothes and warm up.

Hour 3(Nay): The thing we noticed about our first swim was how slowly it went by. We all got out of the water complaining how boring it was. It wasn't for how tired we were, but for the lack of human company that we wanted to get out the water. I found this especially true and could not wait to get out the water.

Hour 4(Sarah): Sarah's swim pushed us over a third of the way. We were quickly calculating that we might only have to swim three times each...a classic example of counting chickens before they hatch. Way way before they hatch! During Sarah's hour, unbeknownst to her, she swam within 100m of a giant cruise ship, producing massive swell that had us all clinging on to the boat to dear life!

Hour 5(Lucy): This hour went so much quicker than my first which was quite reassuring. The water felt so warm in the sun and it was a very enjoyable swim!

Exciting news. We were told to wear our glow sticks! Lucy re-Vaselined up and placed the preferred green glow on the top of her head, and two on her hips. Luce's swim coincided with sunset, which was so beautiful! Lucy came out of the water exclaiming that this swim and gone by way faster...good news for our ears!

Hour 6(Em): Complete with glow sticks Em entered the water. Psychologically, we were starting to be worn down. Getting out after our second hour, it dawned on us that next time we got in we'd be doing the most swimming we'd ever done in a contained period of time - in training, we'd only ever done an hour in, an hour out, an hour in. We'd never done the third hour. The idea of getting back in when it was getting so much harder - in fact, pretty impossible - to warm up was not welcoming. The boat was freezing cold and we were getting very tired.

Hour 7(Nay): This time I was prepeared for the boredom. I had selected a wide variety of songs to sing to myself, ranging from Xavier Rudd to Queen, with a bit of Bonnie Tyler thrown in to jazz it up. I was so into my internal singing that I very nearly crashed into the boat twice, and my flow was interrupted with Andy or Gary yelling! Sorry...

Hour 8(Sarah): It was now very dark and so entertainment from people on the boat was very limited...however I found that without the play by play from everyone on the boat the time went so much faster. The water also seemed much warmer as the air temperature was now about 10 degrees colder than the water!! I decided I would need to remember this feeling as motivation for getting in again late at night. I also got beeped at twice for swimming away from the boat shortly after taking the mick of Nay for her inability to swim in a straight line :)

Hour 9(Lucy): Lucy kept up a good pace throughout her hour especially considering all the pressure that was suddenly on to get out of the shipping lanes as fast as possible. However, fatigue was definitely starting to set in. She did all she could in the hour and managed to keep a steady rythym until the hour finally ticked by, though this was probably her most physically and emotionally draining hour.

Hour 10(Em): With Em safely in the water attention turned to helping Lucy out of the water. She looked shattered, bent in half she sat down on the bench in the boat with a very heavy. Slipped, and fell onto the bottom of the boat hitting her head on the side. It suddenly became very serious, it wasn't a bad fall and her head was fine, but the impact of fatigue was playing a big part in how we coped. Soup and hot chocolate was quickly sent for (all courtesy of Gary's cooking) and Lucy was huddled into the warmth to recover from her fantastic stint.

This hour was potentially the most dramatic. Em had overheard Andy tell Gary that we had missed a tidal window and were now having to work against several knots of tide. Em was told to really push this hour. "Every time I breathed left I started to search the boat for any signs that Nay was getting ready, my eyes scouring the boat for the bright green glow sticks which meant that she was preparing to take over. This was a mistake and I tried to think about other things as I knew that it would just make the whole thing go slower but I couldn't help willing her to appear on the side, ready to jump in! My spirits were low and all but crushed when Len called to me from the side of the boat asking me to 'Go faster', as we really needed to make more progress and get out of the shipping lane. This was definitely my low point: being asked to go faster when I was so so tired was like a slap in the face. Of course, Len had no choice as Andy was getting so worried about our position in the shipping lane and, as I found out later on, was beginning to threaten to turn us round and cancel the swim - if we didn't start making progress, he said, we'd stop and go back." - For Em to carry on after this was just amazing. She did so well! Her last 30 mins made a real difference to our pace and distance. Em later said that when Len yelled at her to go faster it was one of the worst moments of her life, but for her to just carry on and push herself was such an inspiration!

Hour 11(Nay): I entered the water with the entire pressure of the swim on my shoulders. If I didn't swim hard enough we would have to abandon the swim, and that guilt was not something I was prepared to live with. I threw myself into the first 20 mins, pumping my arms through the water. It was the hardest swim of my life! I called out to Didge half way through in a pathetic voice that I was 'so tired'.

Sitting in the cabin, I (Em) heard Andy announce to Gary that an hour ago we'd been 1/4 mile off of Cap Griz Nez (where we were aiming to land) and now we were 1 1/2 miles off. We were going backwards! This was not what anyone wanted to hear. In extreme distress I made the ridiculous mistake of sharing the information with Nay when she asked how we were doing on finishing her third hour - needless to say, she burst into tears just as I'd done on finishing my third hour. (I had in fact swum 500 ft in an hour!)

Hour 12(Sarah): I (Nay) had a lot of confidence in Sarah's swimming strength, and was not disappointed! Sarah managed to swim us out of the tide into a calmer and weaker current! I think Sarah was the most positive throughout the whole swim, she was the only one who was not in total despair as she finished her third hour! I listened to her upbeat voice as I huddled in my sleeping bag (often mistaken for just a pile of bags) desperately tying to find some energy reserves in me.

What was really significant about the whole process was how much of a team we really became in the time we were on the boat. Obviously, we'd been a team before, but we'd never quite been as supportive of each other as we were in the actual swim. As soon as the last swimmer would get out and the new take over, the two waiting on the boat would be ready with towels, offering hot drinks, doing whatever they needed to make sure the swimmer that had just finished their stint was alright. One of the most important factors was that you knew someone was watching and encouraging you whilst you swam. We owe a huge debt of thanks to Didge who sat faithfully by the side of the boat, watching our every stroke. This was such a comfort....so thank you!

Hour 13(Lucy): As Lucy got in for her fourth hour and spirits hit rock bottom.We needed to get out of the shipping lane as quickly as possible as the tide was starting to push us sideways up it: something pretty dangerous to be doing in any shipping lane, let alone the busiest in the world. Andy was getting tetchy - travelling sideways up the Channel is not something you're allowed to do in a crossing. You need to be in and out ASAP.

Hour 14(Em):We started having to force ourselves to keep eating; the motion of the boat combined with exhaustion and extreme cold was definitely taking its toll on our psychical and mental states. It took a few motivational words from the rest of the team to get me back in the water for my fourth hour. Andy told me to stay as close to the boat as possible - he 'wouldn't let it hit me' but it would provide me with a bit of protection. However, he took his eye off me and when I got in line with the front of the boat didn't accelerate - I was suddenly in front of the boat. Since I breathe bilaterally I had time to veer a little bit left (probably due to being very tired) before I looked at the boat again on breathing left, and was so confused - I was suddenly on the other side of the boat! I had gone right in fron of the bow and swapped sides. There was panic and stress on the boat while I disappeared and reappeared and was asked to swim round the back to the other side. On asking Len how much time I had left in my hour and hearing 25 minutes, I was feeling RUBBISH. I later learned that Andy was insisting I get out of the water and we cancel the swim - he said sudden change of direction was a sign of exhaustion - but Len battled my case and I stayed in. The good news was that we were out of the tide and finally making reasonable progress again.

Hour 15(N): I would not have been able to get back in unless I had seen Gary change into his wetsuit ready to launch the dinghy (he had to take the dinghy in with the final swimmer, since it was too shallow for the big boat). This was the biggest motivation possible, he told me that it would either be Sarah or I landing! We were going to finish!!! This had come totally out of the blue as Andy has previously been saying that we would having to swim a couple more times each.

In went Nay for her fourth, and suddenly we had passed Cap Griz Nez. We had missed the appropriate window to land on the point - the tides had pushed us past - and so now had to swim in to a beach in a cove past the point.

Sarah went in. Andy started to shine his searchlight on the cliffs, looking for the beach. Excitement rose and spirits too. For the first time, we knew we were going to make it. Every now and then we caught a glimpse of the cliffs, getting ever closer. After half an hour, Sarah approached the beach. Her green glow sticks became dimmer and dimmer to us on the boat as she got further and further away and then - with a little shout of 'She's out, I think she's out' from Len, we heard a yell carry across from the beach - Sarah was standing on France, shouting for joy and, 15 hours and 35 minutes after leaving Dover, we had done it!!!

On the boat texts were sent, calls were made (though it was 5.30am) and group hugs took place. We yelled and shouted and then bombarded Sarah with hugs when she arrived back on the Louise Jane 10 minutes later. A hint of the sun was visible behind the cliffs of France - it was Friday morning, and we had just swum the Channel!

We packed up quickly, put our bags in the storage seats and wrapped up warm. Andy took the weight he'd been towing to slow down the boat off the back, and we went flying off back towards England. Sitting huddled together on the seat in the middle of the boat on the way back, watching France getting further and further away again, we saw the sun rise slowly and talked and celebrated (with party poppers courtesy of Didge!). Len produced a book of songs and we sang for a while as we made our way back and then the noise dissolved into complete quiet as we watched the sunrise in wonder of what we'd just done!

On our approach into the harbour we got out our Cornish flag, put it on a flagpole, and held it above our heads, standing on the seat in the boat, as we entered the harbour walls and saw our parents watching from the inner harbour, yelling and applauding our entry. Lots of hugs ensued and champagne was produced; BBC Radio Cornwall called at 7.50 on the dot and interviewed us live in the harbour. Then it was off to the Premier Inn for full English breakfast and showers!

We parted ways at the Premier Inn; Len and Didge were the first to leave followed by the rest of us. It was a truly amazing morning; we were all so so so tired but so so so happy that we'd finally made it, having overcome so many problems. It was a true team effort - everyone was fantastic - and we can't thank Len and Didge enough for all the help and countless time they've put in to make sure we made it. We definitely wouldn't have without them.

So, for now, it's over... we did it. Donations are still coming in which is amazing; if you'd like to make one you know the website by now... but just in case... http://justgiving.com/trurogirls !

Au revoir...

Luce, Em, Nay and Sarah: L.E.N.S. Team :) xxx

THE SWIM WEEK - Canterbury and Dover

So. Kent. Dover. Channel swimming.

We all met up in Canterbury on Sunday, Lucy and Sarah having come up with Len (in his very exciting rented 1.9 turbo Mondeo... or 'the limousine' as he called it...haha) and Nay and I having made our various ways: I came up on Saturday to see Coldplay at Wembley (amazing) and Nay came up for her grandad's 80th, so we met up and (eventually) found our way to Kent College, Canterbury, where we were staying with the Chaplain and his wife, Paul and Janet Glass. They were both completely lovely and made us feel very relaxed - couldn't really have asked for better hosts.

Monday was spent with a swim and little trip to the white cliffs to survey the challenge. Having all agreed 'it doesn't look too far', we had a mini photoshoot in our new matching L.E.N.S. Team tracksuits which had been awaiting us at the chaplain's house, courtesy of Campus Clothing. The weather was lovely and sunny and we were all in pretty good spirits.

So things were going well, the swim was on for Tuesday... and then suddenly the chaos began. Len got a call from Andy the boat pilot and announced to us, there and then on the White Cliffs of Dover, that he wanted us to come down to the marina for a chat - there was a possibility we could swim THAT afternoon. Needless to say we all made the mistake of getting ridiculously hopeful. We were all happy and excited and would have loved the chance to get the swim out of the way. However, on driving down to Dover Marina and climbing aboard Louise Jane (Andy's boat), the weather forecast was updated : there were strong winds coming in and suddenly the possibility of going that afternoon was off. However, this wasn't the only problem. The winds were going to last through the next day too - scrapping our plans for a Tuesday swim.

The emotional rollercoaster had begun! We went from excited to nervous to annoyed to angry to hugely dissapointed in the space of an hour. Andy told us that it was looking most likely that we'd do a Thursday 2am swim instead - something which none of us had accounted for. Chaos broke loose; parents had to reshuffle work and frantically organise plans - plus, my mum had to drive all the way back to Cornwall to do work cover to try and make it possible to come back up for Thursday.

So it was off to Sainsbury's to stock up on supplies for the swim and prezzies for our lovely hosts and then to Folkestone for a quick acclimatisation dip in the sea. This was an interesting experience. The water wasn't abnormally cold but the waves were very different; much closer together and sharper and just generally more annoying to swim in. We were only in for about 15 minutes to get used to the general feel of it before hopping out and driving back to Canterbury, where we had boarders' tea in Kent College and then off to bed nice and early after watching a few re-runs on the Glass' TV.

Tuesday was something else. I think we were all starting to feel the pressure of the ups and downs. This wasn't suprising considering a call from Len to Andy resulted in the pretty soul-destroying news that Thursday's weather was looking bad and Friday was now more likely. We could all see our swim being pushed further and further back by the day and though we started to joke with the Glasses about still being in their home in a month's time, we were all definitely feeling the strain. After lunch and a walk round Canterbury with a bit of shopping, we met up with Jim (Sarah's dad) and were off to Hythe for another swim. This one will definitely always be remembered for 'the tantrum', i.e. Nay standing on the beach, arms folded, refusing to get in and holding that 'it wasn't going to make the slightest bit of difference'. This pretty much summarised how the whole team felt... vibes were not good.

However, as always, things brightened up a bit post-swim and, with a slightly rosier outlook, we returned to Kent College for tea followed by many news-relaying phone calls and a viewing of The Little Mermaid (we'd all forgotten its amazingness!) followed by the latest episode of Ugly Betty which, happily, the Chaplain also followed (as well as Nay and I).

I think Wednesday was the day when the tides turned (pun intended). After a morning swim at Hythe where Len grew up and learned to swim, we visited Canterbury Cathedral, ran round Canterbury looking for a spare swimming hat, and then received the best news of the week and probably the last few months: Andy was taking the solo swimmer (who had the window preceding ours) out that afternoon at 2pm and so, IF THE WEATHER HELD, we'd be swimming the Channel on Thursday... at 2pm.

So, with an almost concrete date, we trooped off back to the Glass' and had time to watch The Lion King 1 1/2 (hmmmm) before having tea and getting ready for bed. The plan was to stay up til around midnight, which would make us sleep late and so hopefully give us enough energy to last through til the early hours of Friday, as required for the crossing. Our means of staying up late was a music game courtesy of Sarah's laptop, at which I caned, thank you very much.

And so, The Swim... to be continued.

Em xxx

Training at night!

Hello!

So since our swim has been delayed so much (aargh) we've had to keep up this training, and as it's being delayed later into the winter, the nights are rolling in faster. Therefore we're going to be swimming in the dark for longer than expected. So, using the extra time, we decided to practice our swimming in the dark. The place: Swanpool. The time: 8 (ish).

It was a pretty swift entry: we arrvied, glowsticks were attached, Len dissapeared into the darkness of the sea, and the four of us were faced with entering through some big waves... in the dark. The accompanying boat this time was Len's little dinghy. Faced with the waves, we all thought that we'd end up doing a spot of lifesaving on him. Miraculously he made it out and with his flash light on his head guided our way like a star. We set off towards him.

Our aim was to swim towards Pendennis Castle, without getting caught up on the reef near the cliffs. Everything was going swimmingly (haha) until I realised I (Nay) couldn't actually see the others any more. Like the others I was heading for Pendennis, but at a slightly different angle... obviously. After a couple of cries of "Len...guys...um...where are you?" we re-grouped. This continued to happen throughout the swim. Much to Len and Sarah's dread, as we were coming back into Swanpool Lucy, Em and I seemed to be heading right to the rocks at the bottom of the cliff. We all knew where we were going but Sarah, not realising this, felt the need perform a baywatch-type run down the beach to rescue us!

Swimming at night is so different. It's just so weird. You have no concept of how fast you're going, where you are in relation to anything else, and the most frustrating thing is not knowing whether your goggles have fogged up or it's just a bit cloudy. It really does take a lot of concentration.

Len was very pleased with this swim though. We were all amazing haha! Well Done guys. The news now is that we're to set sail for Dover (not literally!) on Sunday to be swimming on Tuesday. So please cross all your fingers for us that it goes to plan!

Lots of Love
Nay (on behalf of LENS Team) xxx

Donations, Swims and Wind

Three bits of news here!

First of all, sponsorship is still coming in which is awesome. We're pretty much on track for around £8000 which is amazing considering all the complications we've hit. So thanks so much to everyone for that.

Secondly, we're still training (of course) - been travelling round the coast getting in swims in Falmouth and all around really. All going well with that even though the sea does seem to be getting a tad colder...

Thirdly, WIND. SO ANNOYING. There's a strong easterly wind up in Dover which means that, when we were meant to be leaving this Sunday for a swim on Tuesday, we are now probably gonna be leaving on Wednesday - maybe for a swim on Friday. We'll see though and keep you posted.

Goes without saying that we all want to get it over with now, it's been dragging on way too long... though we still WANT to do it of course, but it's pretty hard to have a life/ do A Levels when we've got a Channel swimming looming and constantly being pushed back! Organisation is taking a serious hit...

More soon

Em xxx

Good and Bad News...

This has been a really, really emotional week!

The chaos began on the way back from Porstmouth, when Len received a call from Richie saying that we had encountered a problem and that the French coastguards might block our swim as we were an 'unorthodox crossing' (doing it with the Navy and not with the CSPF or CSA - the two Channel swimming federations. Some of you will know that we've already had a fairly nasty experience with the former of these two which ended in us going back to an early suggestion of crossing with the Navy - the HMS Trumpeter and its Captain, Richie Gray.). However, Richie was on the case and working his socks off to sort it out for us. What followed was the most painful wait of our lives which stretched on for two days, with news trickling in so slowly that we were becoming more and more worried.

Finally, Friday brought a text from Len asking us to assemble at the pool for a chat. None of us were prepared to hear that the HMS Trumpeter could no longer accompany us across the Channel. The government is in the process of passing legislation to block all future Channel crossings as they are 'too dangerous' and the coastguards feel they have lost control of the numbers attempting the crossing, which means that the Navy cannot do any Channel crossings as this would be going against the government's future plans. We are hugely indebted to Richie who worked for 2 days flat to try and turn the tables on this one, but to no avail.

However, WE ARE STILL GOING TO SWIM THE CHANNEL. Len got in touch with a pilot from the CSA who was extremely helpful and said he could take us across (for no small fee) and has given us the window of the 15TH-24TH SEPTEMBER. This is a bit later than our original crossing of 11th-16th September and has caused chaos logistics (and school-)-wise, but we are going ahead with it since we all feel we absolutely cannot go with the alternative options. These were either to swim next year with the CSA, to do a different swimming challenge (Richie would help us with this) or not to swim at all. The first would mean a whole other year of training to get in the way of A-Levels when we have already sacrificed a year so far; the second would just not be same as the Channel; the third would just be ridiculous considering how much we want to do this and how much support, in sponsorship or otherwise, we've already been given. Swimming with the CSA means a lot less of the comfort that the Navy would have provided, including no actual meals during the crossing (only snacks) and the fact that we now have to follow the strict CSA rules including that if one of us gets really tired / feels ill etc we cannot get out and change the swimmer / change the order of swimmers for any reason or our swim will not count as an official crossing.

We are all gutted that we can't be making this crossing with Richie and his crew considering how immensely helpful and lovely they've been and how amazingly hard they've worked to try and make it happen. However, we're still swimming and that's the important thing, even if the cost is hefty and inhibits the total we're raising for charity; we are still already beating our target of £6000, so hopefully with one last push before next Sunday we can undo some of the damage.

This has been a painful learning curve for all involved but we are still swimming and that's the most important thing; we now just need to keep training for another week and do it!

Love
Em on behalf of L.E.N.S. Team xxx

hi, training has been going really well.The night swim with glow sticks was very festive, everyone with different colours i think the team was colour coded but i could'nt work it out, but it was very pretty.

Trip to Bournemouth/Portsmouth, September 1st-2nd

Heey everyone :)

This was a really good trip - 'interesting' in parts but good all the same.

We left Cornwall at 6pm and drove up to Bournemouth where we had the pleasure of staying in the Bonnington Beach Hotel - a hotel somewhat apprehensively booked by Len where we had a slightly strange but actually very funny night.

The next day, bright and early and following bacon sandwiches for all (we've had better), Len, Didge and Rose dropped us in the centre of Bournemouth for a spot of shopping while they dissapeared to look at a boat they were considering buying. After hitting the sales and exploring Bournemouth Pier (up to a point - they charged 50p to go on the actual pier) we hopped back in the bus and were off to Portsmouth. 1 and a half hours later we were at the Navy Dockyard which was SO EXCITING! There were loadssss of massive ships and sailors wandering around in their special caps and everything. We were guided to the HMS Trumpeter - see photos below - which was an awesome ship, just the right size and with a very lovely Captain (Richie Gray). We were shown round the boat by Richie and had lunch with him and the crew; following this was a little session of questions from both sides as we sorted out the particulars of the swim (ONE WEEK AWAY!).

We now know that we will probably be going up to Dover on the 9th or 10th and staying in a school in Kent while we wait for the best time to swim. Richie and the guys on the HMS Trumpeter are going to have a special ladder (!) made for us to easily get in and out - there's even a stretcher we can use if we need it! We also sorted all things dietary and any other little issues we'd been wondering about.

Following this it was back on the roads, heading home to Cornwall for school - we had our first day back today which is why we are writing this now (we = Luce and Em) in our first free period of the Upper Sixth Form! Studying hard already you see.

Will update over the next few days with any news. Also, just a quick thank you to all those people still donating - sponsorship seems to be flooding in at the moment which is amazingly helpful in the build-up to the swim - we are all sooooooooo excited!

Love
Luce and Em on behalf of L.E.N.S. Team xxx

Photos from visit to HMS Trumpeter.

Porstmouth photos- from top: Luce, Sarah, Richie, Em and Nay; the HMS Trumpeter; lunch in the Crew's Mess; up on top; and three photos of us playing with the gadgets!

Photos from the Xen Fundraiser - Well done girls!!!

These are some photos from our meal at Xen on the bank holiday. From top: Drawing the raffle tickets; the 'teacher table'; the chocolates from Trenance Chocolate we served with coffee; the tables.

Off to Portsmouth...

Hey everyone.

Following last night's amazingly successful meal, the 4 of us plus Len and Didge are leaving for Portsmouth (where the ship is currently docked) this afternoon to meet the captain of the HMS Trumpeter and discuss plans for the BIG SWIM. We will be having lunch on the ship and everything... so posh! Will update you all with news of this on our return in 2 days' time!

Love
Em of L.E.N.S. Team xxx

Xen Meal - 31st August.

Dear Everyone.

Wow! Well- this meal was amazing. It went so well.

After many negotiations with Mr. Chris Lau (owner of Xen) including a battle of him versus our Mums, we had succeeded in getting a table and meals for 85 lucky people. We had to plan the menu, the raffle, tickets...all without breaking apart L.E.N.S team in the process.

The menu was finalised within a week...almost. The first "secret" fight occurred when Nay and Em had a disagreement over whether the Roast Duck had noodles or rice. We settled on rice...much to the despair of Nay who had just printed and cut out 50 menus. Haha. So the invites went out, the cheques came in slowly and focus was shifted towards making the raffle decent.

We ran round Truro one afternoon in the hope of getting some fantastic raffle prizes, and in the end we did. Letters went out to hotels and companies for freebies :)
The second round of battle between L.E.N.S team occurred over the price of the raffle tickets. Everyone had different ideas but thankfully this was during the M&S bag-pack so we weren't able to discuss this all day as we were on our own tills. This was eventually settled and suddenly it was the 31st August and we had to put everything together that evening!!!

Frantic phone calls between Em and Nay broke up the day. Whilst Nay put the final raffle list together, then again and finally got it printed off, the last "disagreement" between Em and Nay over what they should put in the speech came about. Everything was settled, until we entered Xen and complete chaos hit. I don't think anyone could have prepared poor Mr. Lau for what was going to happen haha.

A very generous last-minute raffle prize threw us, but thankfully Roger Borton (father of friend/auctioneer) stepped up and was able to auction this off! Final cancellations kept Nay and Em on their toes, whilst Mr. Lau finally admitted that the reason he panicked over having so many coffee orders was that he only had 30 coffee cups! However, this tantrum did not take away the magic of the evening. The restaurant was packed and after everyone had sat down we realised we had the entire restaurant to ourselves! This made things slightly easier when it came to our speech; legs shaking and with a couple of prompts from each other this went quite well. There was mass cheering for Len and family which we all joined in with willingly.

I think the sale of the raffle tickets was the most impressive point of the night. I managed to go through one book on one table, and within a hour all four of our ticket books had been cleared out! This was fantastic news and with that Em and I were finally able to sit down and enjoy our meal.

The raffle was a huge success- in fact the whole evening was a total success! We all got a bit delirious with it by the end of the evening. With the auction added in, we realised we had raised over £1000!!!

We owe a huge debt of thanks to Xen in Truro for putting up with us and all our coffee orders! For such fantastic raffle prizes we'd like to thank Budock Vean Hotel and St. Micheal's Hotel and Spa. To Martin Wilson for his two amazing prizes, Rodda's, Trenance Chocolate, Seasalt, Lush, Westcountry Watersports, Merlin Golf Club, The Beauty Room and Freeriders. Also to Roger Borton for being a wonderful auctioneer - thanks for a hilarious end to an amazing evening. But I think our final word of thanks should go out to everyone who attended our meal, it was such a success and I hope everyone thoroughly enjoyed their evening...I know we did.

So, on behalf of L.E.N.S team thank you and....1 1/2 WEEKS TO GO!!!
Love
Nay xxxx

Bag packing at M&S!!! Saturday 29th August

Hiya!

We've just got back from our 5 hours bag packing for Precious Lives at Truro M&S and here's a little post to announce that the grand total for the day's fundraising is £480.10!!! Awesome amount and very happy with that since we never expected that much.

Lots of thanks to all the people who shop at M&S, and of course M&S for letting us take over their tills. Haha. Also special mention to Gordon and Charlie H who helped the 4 of us for the afternoon!

Em xxx

Day & NIGHT Swim! Monday, 24th August

Here's a nice long post to update you on how our 2nd 'complete team' swim AND our first ever night swim went...very exciting.

We all rocked up at Swanpool around 6.30 for our first hour of swimming. I have never felt more part of a team! We set off from the beach in a line and stayed in perfect line formation and matching pace alllll the way out to sea, before turning round after 35 mins-ish and swimming back in. This formation may have involved a bit too much banging together of arms and legs (and was extremely squished at times for those in the middle of the line of four) but our matching pace made the swim feel incredibly easy and relaxed; it really hit me that we were all in this completely together (alas, to quote High School Musical).

Those of us wondering what had happened to Miss Bunt's pace (that is, all of us) and why she wasn't streaking off ahead as per usual were put at rest when we turned back for the second half hour - Luce decided she was done with being in the water and off she went at a zillion miles per hour, leaving us 3 to come back into the beach in a few minutes later!

Then it was onto the beach for a lovely bbq with Len, Didge and an Australian member of the Hatcher family. While the veggies previously mentioned munched on veggie kababs, the 4 Channel girls had a lovely meal of burgers and sausages and a bit of salad, followed by toasted marshmallows (complete with melted Galaxy smeared all over them!)! I can safely say that was one of the best bbqs I've had in ages.

Suddenly it was 9.30 and we were still sitting on the beach, a bit behind schedule for our night swim debut (and having eaten a few too many marshmallows). My mum arrived and we got changed back into our (unpleasantly wet) swimming cozzies, hats, gogs and earplugs and prepared for the night swim. An exciting addition to the usual kit was GLOWSTICKS which I had ordered online which we needed so that Len could see us from the boat. I dished out the different colour sticks to the swimmers and we each attached one to our hat and tied one round our waist so they showed up on our backs. After watching a random display of a few people juggling flaming sticks in the car park (I don't think anyone in the car park at that point was sane), we trooped into Len's boat (accompanied by my mum, who came along for the ride) and Len rowed us (sheave style) out to sea a few hundred metres.

We hopped into the pitch black sea from the boat in L.E.N.S. Team order, Lucy first and then me, and so on. This was a little scary but ended up being SO cool. The water wasn't too cold and we all got in quickly and fairly calmly (with the exception of Sarah, who had a mini panic attack after lowering herself in, but soon calmed down -haha). Once we were all in, we were off; our glowsticks glowing on the water the only visible part of us to Len, surveying us from the boat alongside. In the water, things were very exciting and you could see all the zillions of phosphorescent algae - basically, loads of little bright green glowing specks! I became strangely aware of not wanting to swallow any of these little glowing things, but apart from that I think we were all unexpectedly at ease, with the exception of a few screams when we first felt seaweed underneath us, and a group scream when we very suddenly arrived at the beach and had swum so far in without realising it that we actually swam onto the sand - bit of a shock to suddenly feel sand underneath you!

So, this was a pretty cool experience for all of us. We were luckily fairly undaunted by the dark once we'd gotten used to it; the glowsticks amused us to the point that our excitement at having our own individual sticks outstripped our nerves at swimming in water where you have no idea what's around or under you! So we can fortunately fairly decidedly confirm that the dark won't be an issue in the Channel - though the waves and cold still might!!

Em on behalf of L.E.N.S. Team xxx

Team Swim and NIGHT(!) Swim, 24th August

Hey everyone.

Training is still going well with the Actual Swim getting terrifyingly (and very excitingly) close - only 2 weeks now before we're off to Dover!

This past week has seen frantic organising of all things Channel. The bank holiday fundraising dinner is looming and so the past few days have consisted of chaotic scramblings to attain raffle prizes / make the tickets / get cheques / sort out everyone's MAIN MEAL CHOICES (this really is my pet hate at the moment) and everything else which comes with trying to organise 85 people. Luckily things SEEM to be coming together finally and we have actually secured some pretty fantastic

18th August - First Actual Team Swim...

It took us this long - 11th months - to ALL be present at a team sea swim. Great organisation.

We braved the waters at Portscatho which I (Em) am still convinced are the coldest by faaaar but Nay thinks 'Falmouth is still colder'. Whatever.

This actually turned out to be a pretty successful sea swim, despite me forgetting my hat, having leaky goggles and Sarah having to get out on the way back due to the re-emergence of her not-yet-vanquished cold meaning she couldn't breathe (not helped by petrol fumes from Len's trusty boat). We had a good pace throughout the swim with Sarah and Lucy caning it at the front. Our aim was to reach the 'Mystery Boat' which has been lurking just off of Portscatho for about 2 months now and I still haven't worked out what it's up to. To be fair I haven't done too much research. (Our theory, by the way, is that it is IN FACT the missing ship that got hijacked by pirates and was on the news! The 'Arctic Sea' or whatever it was called. I'm sure we are right.)

Anyway, Lucy and Sarah got pretty close to the boat before we turned around and headed back in to complete our hour - actually technically an hour and a half.

It was then off to The Boathouse restaurant for flapjack and coke (who can drink coke when they are so cold?!!?! Nay and Sarah can) and lots of team discussion on the fast approaching ACTUAL CHANNEL SWIM...

Nay has been in contact with Richie the Lieutenant Commander (Captain of the HMS Trumpeter, which will be accompanying us across La Manche) and we are going to make a pilgrimage up to Portsmouth NEXT WEEK to meet Richie and see the boat- sorry- SHIP (amateur mistake to call it a boat) and discuss our arrangements for going up to Dover the following week. We will keep you posted on any more exciting travel plans as they come through!

Following The Boathouse was meant to be a second swim, but this never really came together... general cosiness in the restaurant combined with Sarah's illness and my stomach cramps meant we never got back in. Don't worry though, Len and Didge weren't upset - Nay, Luce and I went back to my house and made them customised gingerbread men!!!

Love Em, on behalf of L.E.N.S. Team xxx

Photos from Tuesday's swim

PHOTOS!... from top - getting ready to swim; in we go...; Em kicking Nay in the face (her fault for swimming on my feet!); just off Maenporth; Len enjoying the sun!

Photos from Tuesday's Swim

Swanpool to Maenporth, 11th August

It was still a task to get in the water! Em, Nay and I (Lucy) swam a two mile jaunt from Swanpool beach, round a couple headlands to Maenporth beach....Em and Nay had previously already swan Maenporth to Swanpool before my late arrival....

It was very successful! All of us started in good direction, towards the headland, only to later find each of us spread over a good 100m or so! Whilst all this was happening, Len and Didge were happily rowing beside us in the boat having a relaxing drink! But once we reached the first headland we had a good pace going and were booming along. The coldness didn't hit so bad (especially after I'd been in Cyprus for a few weeks) as we thought either. Coming around the second and final headland, Maenporth beach was in sight- and we were swimming towards all the tiny looking people. Still keeping up the pace, Len looked out for us and helped us with direction on occasion! Although the zig-zagging has definitely decreased.

Upon reaching the beach we were pretty tired but all pleased with our swim! Although Em and Nay had done twice what I had just done!
Some chafing means more application of Vaseline next time!
Less then a month now....
Love Lucy, on behalf of L.E.N.S. Team. Xxxx

P.S. Sarah was ill this week but hopefully will make her reappearance at next week's swim!

EXACTLY ONE MONTH TO GO!!!

Just thought I'd point that out. It's pretty scary. But also really reeeally exciting! All is going as planned; someone will update shortly with news of our latest team swim...

Em xxx

The first swim of August! Harlyn Bay- 4th Aug

Hi y'all.

This was a pretty good swim, if we don't say so ourselves. The weather called for staying inland, so Nay, Sarah and I (Em) headed into the water at the far end of Harlyn (after a little jog) and did 6 sets of smaller swims across the length of the beach, with Len wandering back and forth across the sand with his GPS, quite aware that all the people on the beach thought he was just a madman in a big yellow coat staring out to sea.

Things were going well in the water, though Len was panicking back on the beach that we seemed to be going futher and further out to sea (his fears being fuelled by the knowledge of a pretty strong rip tide). I think this was probably one of the quickest gettings-in of our sea swims so far; though it was fairly cold we were all straight in, heads down and we were off. It helps soooo much to have sorted ourselves out with swimming hats now - the brainfreezes we got from having nothing on our heads beforehand were HORRIBLE. Nay is white-hatted, Sarah green and I bright yellow. I am currently winning on the visibility front (and blatantly the style front) but am going to start doing some research into us possibly getting some sponsorship in the form of 4 matching bright pink hats!

We kept up a good pace and did a generally very good swim, despite a LOT of zig-zagging by all present - constant changing of direction and swimming out to sea was not helpful when trying to keep together in a group and look out for each other. The visibility of all 3 hats was thoroughly tested! The swim concluded with a nice traditional bodysurf in, almost ending in disaster when Nay and I (not so wise as Sarah who had chosen a more left-sided exit) veered off the right and almost swam straight across a random man's fishing line who was meanwhile telling Len all about the different types of shark that they get in the bay. Joy.

Exciting exciting news is that Lucy is back this weekend! Team LENS reunited! So we will be seriously getting down to it these next few weeks - I am in charge (since I live closest) of getting Lucy accustomed to the cold water and taking her out for a few sea swims on the south coast. She's going to be getting a bit of a shock following Cyprus where it's pretty boiling - but hopefully we'll get past that quickly. We are all safe in the knowledge that she is uber-fit as she joined the Cypriot gym!

Only 5 weeks to go...

Love
Em - on behalf of LENS Team. x

Falmouth - 28th July

This swim was at Maenporth, swimming out to the tankers and back in. The weather was pretty awful; grey, raining, cold but with Len in his boat alongside to guide us, all should be fine.

After a slightly tense and scary drive by Nay to Maenporth, and finding Sarah asleep in her car we got going. You always forget how cold it is, especially in Falmouth. It's easier when the waves are washing over you as you have no choice but to get wet. However at Maenporth we could have walked waist deep half way out of the bay which made it all the more difficult.

We set off at a fast pace of 2 miles an hour haha. Well, we laugh...but it is actually quite a fast pace, and perfect for what we need. We came out of the bay and the water became much choppier. The swell picked up and direction didn't really seem to matter so much. Em and Sarah were perfectly matched in pace whilst I popped my head up to see the way off to my left or right; I seemed to be zig-zagging my way out. We passed the second buoy and headed out towards the tanker for the last ten minutes before we turned back.

Unfortunately, I think I may have pulled a muscle in my left side. Every time I pulled my arm down it felt worse. I set off back towards the bay but realised that I was going at a ridiculous pace, already Em and Sarah were way ahead, and if I wanted to swim again this week or next this would juts make matters worse. So in the most inelegant way possible I heaved myself into Len's boat, gaining a huge bruise on my shin in the process haha.

Watching Em and Sarah swim back into the bay was very depressing, however also motivational. Seeing them swim where we all should have been is not something I want to repeat, so early nights and stretches for Nay from now on :)

Sarah and Em did a fantastic job, what with the temperature, waves and weather it was a hard swim. Good job haha!

Love Nay
(On behalf of LENS team)

A massive thank you...

Just a little post to say thank you SO MUCH to everyone who has sponsored us so far and those who continue to do so! It's an amazing feeling that we still have money coming in and we hope to do so all the way up to the swim in.... 1 month and a bit (gulp) and afterwards too.

Thank you all big time. xxx

Harlyn Bay, 11th July and Portscatho, 21st

A nice long post to enlighten you guys on what Len brushed over down there...

Our second swim was at Harlyn and this time was just Luce, Sarah and Em, as Nay was in the Scillies (we forgive her because the water there is FREEZING). Lucy and Em christened their waterproof earplugs on this swim to try and get rid of the horrible horrible earache you get from freezing cold sea water churning around your ears!! Luckily, the whole afternoon went much better than the week before.

It's much easier to swim along a beach than across the open water like we had done in Falmouth the previous week, because it's warmer (the sun heats up the sand, which heats the water) and once you get out past the breakers it's a lot less choppy, but the team did well nonetheless! We were in, swimming back and forth across the bay, for about half an hour before getting out to have a run down the length of the beach and back and then back in the water for another half hour. The run actually really tired us out for our second leg of swimming but it did help to warm us up quite a lot before getting back in the freeezing water. Luckily, the verdict on this swim was much more positive from Len as he's already said, with a good pace etc.

Our next swim was another big improvement. We swam from Portscatho Harbour round the headland and towards Carne and Pendower Beaches before the tides changed and the water got ridiculously choppy, so we turned round and swam back the way we'd come. Might I mention it was probably in the top 3 of the coldest I've ever been in my life. Absolutely freezing to the point that I totally couldn't feel my legs which is VERY annoying when you're trying to kick to get yourself back to Portscatho as fast as possible. The difference you feel on coming into the bay and out of the open sea is incredible - suddenly no more winds and waves, and you can actually take a proper breath without having to swallow a mouthful of water! Nay especially had a horrible time with the whole breathing thing and ended up pretty worse for wear after swallowing a few gallons of sea water. The fact that we were in the freezing cold water for an hour and a half meant that we completely went past the phase of being in pain from the cold and went partially, or completely, numb. The shivering didn't stop for ages, even while trying to warm up in the local restaurant with chips afterwards!

We were all really glad we'd managed to spend such a long time in the water though, and the feeling was suddenly a lot more positive. It's obvious how important it is to regularly train together in this way, since the constant need to be looking out for each other (our spacial awareness isn't great yet and within 30 seconds you can suddenly be 40 metres away from everyone else, swimming out to sea... Sarah is particularly good at that) creates a real feeling of being a proper team.

Hopefully it's all up from here!!

LENS Team xxxxxx

P.S. And yes Luce has jetted off to Cyprus which means she'll need to do a lot of extra training when she gets back...but she's an amazing swimmer and we have faith that we'll be able to sort it out in time.

Hi, the teams first offshore swim was a bit of a dud as described earlier, but the following session at Harlyn Bay was much more promising. I think the team had been practising more between times. The swim rate was up to 2mph but the swim duration was short of the required hour. Running up and down the beach doesn't count!

The conditions for these two swims was quite poor with rain and strong winds resulting in a high windchill factor.

Last Tuesday's (21st) team swim was much more like it, with Sarah, Naomi and Emily in the water for 1.5 hrs and swimming at over 2mph. Conditions off Porthscatho were quite challenging with an offshore wind gusting to force 5, short choppy waves over a long swell and a 1 knot tide to swim against back to the beach. Life in the boat was quite interesting; my pasty nearly got wet.

Lucy seems to be sunning herself on holiday but promises to do lots of swimming and to take ice baths- who's she kidding? She will have some catching up to do when she returns.

I will keep you posted as to how this weeks team session goes, at this point the weather forecast doesn't look good so I expect we will swim in the shelter of one of the headlands from the prevailing westerly winds, either Porthscatho or Swanpool.

Len

6th July

First swim of the summer! Oh dear...
This was with Lucy, Em and Nay. Didn't go so well. We had to swim from Swanpool to Pendennis point in Falmouth. Flip it was cold! Len was bobbing round in his boat whilst we screamed and swore for around half an hour before we got in. Falmouth is the coldest water to swim in! So we almost got to Pendennis boat before we all started to get too cold. Had trouble breathing, our shoulders and elbows seized up which wasn't so good. We got hauled into Len's boat and spent the next hour tacking to return to exactly the same point haha! It was so ridicuously cold, so we got dropped off at Gylly and ran round to Swanpool.

This was really demoralizing for the beginning of the summer and a bit of a schock to be honest. We hadn't done much training within the past couple of months what with exams, Slovenia and...the sun haha. We really need to get our act together.

L.E.N.S Team xxxx

Intro...

Heya.
So this is our blog. We're going to use it to record all of our training, events...basically all our progress. Its to organise ourselves (haha) and also to show our loyal fans all the hours of hard work we've put in. We're also hoping to upload photos, videos and blogs whilst we're actually swimming and this will be set up somewhere in school...thats the plan anyway :)

So once again you can sponsor us at www.justgiving.com/trurogirls, or just give us money when you see us and we'll put it into our account.

Thanks and enjoy.
Loves and Hugs
Nay, Lucy, Em and Sarah xxxx