We Did It.....Almost.
Heroes Just For One Day..!!
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Big Ricks 2 Way English Channel Swimming Team 2012
Doug,Gary,Rob, Darran, Richard, Paul & Richard
on the 26/27th June 2012...in a time 22hrs 36mins..!! ""Unofficially ""
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" Can Ricks Be Heroes Just For One Day..............??"
Ricks Leaving Folketone harbour around 2am on the 26th june.
9 months of training , 9 months of fun and games and we are ready to do this...!
( simpley click on the arrow in the picture above to hear and almost smell the diesel)
9 months of training , 9 months of fun and games and we are ready to do this...!
( simpley click on the arrow in the picture above to hear and almost smell the diesel)
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| Big Ricks Basher all smiles as Ricks Leave Folkestone harbour aboard Masterpiece at 1.45 am on Tuesday morning ..Paul is already informing Ricks Friends via twitter and Facebook that we are on way to Samphire Hoe beach to start our 2 way swim. We were amazed and humbled just how many people took time to followed us over the day and night, so many took time to send us so many good luck messages..even very busy swimmers Keri-Anne Payne and Sharon Davis wished us best of luck.. We Thank you all, the messages really did helped so much... |
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Big Ricks Basher Bates ( aka Paul ) diving into the Darkness to start Ricks 2 way and 2.15 am tuesday 26th june 2012 Swimming .
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After taking our channel swim in 2011 a little too competitive and seriously, Ricks were determined not be fooled again in 2012...to have fun was our only plan for this swim.....!!! So when Ricks Rocked up in Folkestone harbour shortly after 1 am on chilly and very dark Tuesday morning we were full of joys of summer cracking jokes with our pilot and taking the Michael out of one another everything felt right, little did we all know or expect that the next 24hrs would be the most amazing and unforgettable of our lives... sure we would have fun. Sure we had a few thrills..But we did not expect the many scary moments. A true Epic adventure.....
This Is it...!!! In the words of Rick Captain Cash "" Its Time To Rock N Roll People..!!!" If you ever wondered what its like to start a channel swim at 3am in the morning ...then this is your chance to see Raw......Trust us you nerves and emotions and excitement is amazing..well is for the guy jumping in...for the rest of the team is the feeling oh sh*t this is real ( Click on the arrow in the Picture above to see how Basher starts the 2-way)..
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| Darran ""Super God ""Dyke Darren jumping into a chilly looking channel (very chilly ) for the 3rd hr of Ricks swim |
 We started the swim around 2.15am with basher bates starting us of....weather was set good. Water was not to choppy, the water temp was 13 degrees all was set....Paul jumped in and swam into the darkness to the start our swim from Samphire hoe beach in Dover...the torch was shined through the darkness onto the beach, and after a few minutes we saw emerge from the sea and walk onto the beach, he quickly turned, waved and shouted at the boat and re enter the sea...This is it shouted Captain Cash shouted from the boat.....  |
Big Ricks Captain..Rob "Chunky" Cash running to start the 6th hour of the swim.
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| Darran...checking out Rob Stroke ..!!! thinking thank god i don`t swim like that...;-)) |
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| Big Doug doing the 8hr of swim...France is now clearly in View...!! it could not be going better.....!! |
We reached 3 miles of France in the 9th hour and for a moment we thought we would be to France well under 10 hrs but once more we were almost fooled into thinking we had one over the channel, but we knew the last few miles into France are always the toughest as Ricks found out again..It took ricks 2 ½ hrs to fight our way though the current and swells to try and land on Cap Gris Nez...first Darran and then a great swim by Gary put us in position to finally swim into France and then it was Richard turn... could the “The Meat” land us in France...???
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| The Mighty Edge..!! Gary starting the 9th hour of the swim, Edge produced a great swim in the toughest of hrs. due strong current and swell of the French Coast Cap Gris Nez. 
This is it, it might not look much to some but to every channel swimmer relay or solo...it’s what dreams are made off....the sun is shining as you swim towards the rocks at Cap Gris Nez in France....10hrs after Leaving Dover Big Ricks Richard was the one who got to land in France...followed in the escort boat by Rob and harry from masterpiece
Big Ricks ""Le Meat"" Swims in to France (1 way done...!)1O hrs. after leaving Dover...we reach Cap Gris Nez in France Big Richard aka the Meat powering his way into shore , and then back in again to start the our return swim to England..Think some of the team on the boat were getting just a little bit excited
( Click on the arrow if you wish to see us land in France)
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| Cometh the hour cometh The Meat... Richard arriving at Cap Gris Nez in France.. Ricks one way 10hrs 56 minutes |
A short video was done after we reached France and started part 2, the 22 miles back to England...listen at the end..as Paul says the truest words he will ever say...Now The Fun Really begins...How right he was ( Simply click on the arrow to see the video )
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| No Pain No Gain..!! Richard showing his Channel wounds he gained as he tried to scramble onto the rocks in France, the cuts on his legs were even worse...if anyone thinks channel swimming is easy think again ..!!! Richard said once he got board onto Masterpiece now lets stop messing about and lets get back to England before the pubs closed..;-) |
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| Rob waits in the escort boat with Harry waiting for Richard to swim past after leaving the France..Rob would jump in a few minutes later to start our return trip to England.... |
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| Paul can not wait to take over from Rob for his 3rd hour of trip , the 13th hour of the swim . He knew he had to try and make the most the Tidal push we were still getting from France...he went on to swim over 3 miles.. |
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| Darran flying along on the 15th hour of the swim... the boat could not keep up..4.5kph for super Darren`s hour.. |
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| Richard on the 17th hour of the swim...it was to be the last hour when condition were good.!! little did we know the next 6 hrs would be the most scary of lives |
The video was shot just after rob started the 18th hour of our double crossing and as you can see the sunshine has disappeared and it’s been replaced a threatening looking storm...which within the hour would be right on top us....! (Please click on the arrow on the picture above to see Rob struggling to swim as the waves and the wind and the fog start to get worse...!)
This is the last video taken from Ricks Trip...we are still only 4 miles from Dover...and as you can see the weather is starting to be a worry, no one is talking as they watch Rob finish his hour...Paul was next in for his 4th and the teams 19th hour. . and he was still his normal smiling self getting ready to jump in ( he wasn`t smiling much when he had done his hour..lol ) , no one on board Masterpiece was saying much at this point...everyone knew we had big trouble ahead as it was now 8.15pm and we were swimming in the dark with a perfect channel storm about to hit us full on..!!
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After Paul finish his turn, and was sick the minute he stepped back on board the boat from all the sea water he had swallowed , we all looked at one another and we knew this was going to tough to finish, but no one said word about to stopping , it was almost Dark and the waves were starting to become a real problem as Doug dived in for the 20th hr of the swim, all we could see was a thick fog wall of fog around us as darkness fell , it was 10.15 when Doug finally stepped on the ladder to climb back on board , he didn`t say a word..he was shivering and shaking his head..and then he looked up, beamed that big smile of his.. asked how that was... he replied Shocking , ;-))..we where creeping our way to England bit by bit..now 3 miles away..next up Darran and Gary..
 in Paul`s last hour he had to push himself of the hull as the boat was almost on top of him.... |
Gary Getting himself ready for the hardest hour of his life..!
Darran and Gary put in amazing swims , AND we really do mean amazing ....!!, we were bloody scared just on the boat let alone in the water,...the guys gave everything and we finally arrived at Dover harbour at around midnight (27.6.12) , once there Gary then had to swim along the harbour wall which we could see just by torch light through the fog for another hour or more against the extreme weather (which at this time was getting even worse,) Richard took over from Gary, and continued to swim as best he could, every other stroke he was having to stop as wave after wave smashed into him , until finally the we got final got in position to swim in to where we thought the beach was .. I say though as we could not see nothing because of the fog and pitch Darkness well it was 12.45 on Wednesday morning....
We were 300m away from shore, we all started about thinking about getting changed and maybe swimming in with Richard ( Which seems crazy now ), Then all of sudden our pilot Fred came running out of his cabin shouting STOP THE SWIM....Get Richard out now..!!! Fred said sorry lads, I,m putting an end to the swim on safety grounds, its simply to dangerous for Harry to get in the Escort Dingy in these conditions and escort the swimmer into shore , And so that was it...after 22hrs 36 minutes the swim was stopped..!! Only few minutes from the beach and success..., no one said a word for the hour long trip back to Folkestone Harbour., the Csa observer on Board Keith said...when the swim was stopped . Your last position was less than half mile off Shakespeare Beach, just south of western entrance to Dover harbour. In last 2 hours of swim, I estimated visability at less than 40 m together with 20+ knot SW wind and up to 2 m wave height. Too rough for tender and no way last swimmer could find or land on beach. Fred's decision was right. It was only the weather that beat you, just one of the many elements that make the Channel a real challenge. ...!!
We had given absolutely everything not only for the past 24hrs but for the last 9 months to be ready for this epic 2 way adventure. Between us we Trained in 7 different swimming pools, trained in 5 different countries, then we trained in open water and sea, in every type of weather and freezing cold temperature to be ready for the channel, and after all that the Channel beat us by 300m ...;-))) We can all laugh about it now a week on from the swim, but at time it hurt like hell...., but Fred was so right to do what he did, Big Ricks Swim Team swim to try To Save Lives .!!,and Not to put lives at risk.....!!The channel won this time...but Big Ricks Will be back for another go...and you can be sure it will be fun to watch when it happenes...so channel just watch out...!!
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Big Ricks Swam Between Heaven And Earth .
This Picture was taken at 3.25 am on Tuesday an hour into our epic swim, little did we know then , it would turn into the most incredible and amazing 24 hrs of ours lives......! Big Ricks Swim Team Swam a Double Crossing Of The English Channel on the 26th and 27th of June 2012...why....?? Because we wanted to make a difference to people lives... We Swam To Help Beat Breast Cancer and We Swam To Help Prevent Heart Disease Every £5.00 RASIED will go to help others improve their quality of life... Together We Can Make A Difference... simply click the link below to donate if you think we deserve it Ricks x |
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| Basher,Super Chest,The Meat, Freddie ,Chunky,The Edge and The Gimp.. Big Ricks Double Channel Team 2012....  We Will Be Back For Another Go...!!! in ....201? |
