Finally We made It..
Heroes for One Day.!
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Pip`s 2 Way English Channel Swimming Team 2013
Paul & Richard, Rob, Darran, Stuart & Gard
on the 15th July 2013...
in a time 20hrs 40mins..!!
""officially ""
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| it sounds simply but its Great advice for all channel swimmer ... just.. "Keep Calm and Carry On Swimming .! " It Works..
BIG RICK`S SWIM TEAM
Presents.... Pip`S Double Channel Team 2013
The Channel Impossible III
The Re Match (Nothing Great Is Easy..!) No days to go....
This is it.......
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| our Ride for the next 24hrs..!! " Masterpiece.." its 12.30 am on Monday morning in folkestone harbour waiting for the tide to come in so we can get a board to start the swim..... |
( short Video to meet the guys ..
we are finally leaving folkestone
to make the 20 minute trip to Samphire Hoe beach )
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| 1st in...As always Paul "Basher" Bates its 2.20am we are approaching our starting point Samphire Hoe beach Dover .. Paul is doing normal routine.. Neon Lights attached to goggles and trunks .?,check,Sickness bands on.? Check. Vaseline applied.? Check..Channel lucky trunks on.? Check. watch on.?check video and cameras at the ready.? check..the boy does like his picture taken.;-) |
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| its 2.30 am...15th july..monday morning.. our Pilot Fred Mardel , shouts get a move on..check Paul's Last minute plea to see if anyone else whats to go 1st..? Check.... Paul Swears many times , when engine stops and then smiles..check. okay Paul shouts lets do this Boys.....Check... and with that jumps in, a few more swear words , and swims off into the darkness towards the beach to start our third channel adventure..... |
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| Next in Big Stu... the will be Stuart`s last channel experience , once its over win lose or draw... he will retire to become a house husband... |
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| Stuart looking in great shape.. ..The 1st 2 guys put in great swims to get us to a super start both doing well over 2 miles each... |
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| Next in "The Special One" Bob Cash.. the big man was a bit nervous ,he normal swims at 6 , but as he owed us 2 hours from previous swims and the fact he had been training great guns over the last 6 months he was moved into position 3 ahead of Supa Daz .. (Bob pictured here with our observer for the trip the lovely Peter Mitchell ) |
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| Rob Looking in great shape... there is no better hour to swim in the channel than at around 4.30 am  |
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| as the sun raises it really is a spectacular sight to witness |
Rob 3rd man just in ....sun is coming , sea is like glass
and we are already 5 miles from Dover after just 2hrs.....all was good with the
world , even at 4.30am on a Monday morning;-)))...the view from the boat at
this time of morning is simple breath taking on any channel swim, but as
conditions were so perfect ...its the best view of the sun coming up we have
ever witnessed ...make sure u enjoy guys when its your channel swim.
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| 4TH HOUR...cumeth the hour cometh the "The Don" Ricks Big Bad John..Richard Browjohn.. the big man could not wait get in , so keen was he , that he was changed and ready and warming for 45 minutes before his hour slot.. |
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| Richard, powering his way through his hour, he may be the oldest in the team , at 50 something..!! but the big shows no signs of slowing down any time soon..stoking at 64 strokes per minute |
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| well, anyone who is anyone that does a channel swim needs their picture taking along the ferries heading to France and Calais harbour , big rich looking in shape as he comes to the end of 4th of swimming , around 6.30 am. |
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| 5th hour , 5th man in...but this is no mormal man this is Supa Daz.. Hmmmm...is this the new channel cat walk , or should that boat deck look we wonder.??? Darran is wearing...some nice sandals with matching Blueseventy rubber socks , under those are some Ski socks for extra warmth for his super caves ..!!..the man is open water swimming fashion leader.;-) |
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| Supa Daz ready to fly..!! |
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| Darran looking in great shape..and fast.. 66 stroke per min |
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| the 6th hr and 6th man in ,..Big Edge.. Gary , checking out Darran`s form before he gets in, whilst at the same time doing his best Mary Poppins impression |
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| The Might Edge takes to the sea in Style... Gary , taking over from Darran for the 6th hour of the swim, we now well over half way to France,everyone was in good spirits, making jokes, and best of all swimming well ..
Paul taking over from Gary
start off the 7th hour.!
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| Stuart , taking over Paul , 7 hrs done.. France is now clearly in site |
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| The boys having a well earn`t cup of tea and a Bacon butty cooked the Pilot Freddy.. well we are now almost 8 hrs in and its only 10am on a Monday morning .  the Meat boys fired up their own stoves and made there own full English Breakfast at the back of boat , and off course never shared a drop of it..!.. |
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| Rob & Fred take moment to check out the passing Traffic...!! Fred commenting , quick Rob jump in now and ride the bow wave from the tanker into France |
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| and Rob did just that...! sadly instead on riding the wave it swamped poor Rob..;-)) 9th hour..
8 hours in...its about 10.40 on Monday morning (15/7/13)...,
we are about 5 miles from France and as always we are stuck in the slack water
of the coast nowhere fast.....;-))
but then Bob Gets In and we start to break the strong current and things are looking better for us possibly break our best time for a one way 10hrs 56....
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| Big Bad John is in for the 10th hour Richard worked his boots of,!! Jelly fish , slack water everything in this hr.. we are within 3 miles of France,. |
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| after Richard had almost broke the strong currents of the French coast , it was left to Darran , to power through the final few miles to take us on to French soil for the 3 rd year running, |
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| We was not sure if Darran would make to France in under 11 hrs , or would have to pass the swim into France over Gary for his , so Gary joined Harry in the escort boat to chase after Darran who now was half a mile away |
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| we need to Worry , Darran did a great swim , and did the last 2 miles in 39 minutes to take the team in France and land on Cap Gris Nez Beach 10 hours 39 minutes after leaving Dover , after a short stretch ,(Daz got cramp as he stood up.!!) he was back in to start our return swim to dover |
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| Peter Mitchell , our 2 way swim Observer for Channel Swimming association gave us the good news, the our official time from England to France was 10 hours 39 minutes .!!! |
Susan's song played at her funeral
Angels by Robbie Williams
Please take moment before carry on with the blog to listen only for a few minutes .and just
think to yourself , maybe smile maybe shed
a tear, to remember and to never forget a lovely lady who gave everything to
help others x
There are no words that can describe the feelings on the
boat when we were told about Susan ,We don`t want to go into details about what was said between
us..we all knew Susan well...she was one us...someone who was doing the channel
for all the rights reasons ..because it was her dream ..!..we will always think
and miss her deeply ..she was a one off....a shining star in this world ..we
all said as one we would get back to Dover to finish this swim no matter what...as we
knew Susan would have been so disappointed in us all , if for even second we thought about giving
up...x
( Ricks Blog to Susan http://bigrickchannelswimteam.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/susan-taylor.html)
( Ricks Blog to Susan http://bigrickchannelswimteam.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/susan-taylor.html)
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| BIG EDGE.. Gary did not have the ideal prep for his hour..having to firstly escort Darran into France just in case the time overran and he would have to get in, so he didn`t have to in the end , so he had to come the back to boat , get back on board ,which is no easy task on moving boat from a rubber dingy , to then he help lift the out board motor back in board before eventually jumping in to start the 11th hour of the swim now heading back to Dover .. and did he moan once he got out ...!! oh yes..;-))) |
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| Basher.. Paul on the 13th hour..., and looking good..we are now well on the way back to Dover, everything was looking in good shape, but for some reason the water was starting to feel very fresh, not sure if it was because of a sudden drop in water temp as we entered the NE shipping lane or maybe as weather was so hot , we were getting so warm on the boat that when we got in it was making the water feel colder than it was , but for what ever reason when Paul got out from this hour,said it felt the coldest swim i,ve done this year, and he has done some cold ones.!! he was shaking big time for the next hour or so.. |
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| Stuart after finishing the 14th hour ,( his 3rd hour) also got very cold as you can see.. did not take him long to wrap up warm and go to sleep , you have to remember that this is a Monday afternoon and the temp must have been in the high 20,`s ..so to be fully dressed in freezer suits on to keep warm shows just how cold it was getting ...i know we are wimps..;-)) |
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| Bob after finishing the 15th hour of the swim... he was so cold his body had no colour and his hat had turned red..!..;- t)) but honestly Rob being the hard core open water swimmer that he is felt the water was fine..he did a great swim and got us well into separation zone ..nice work cashy |
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| Big Richard swimming the 16th hour... water seems to be warming which is good, however the dreaded jelly fish are back.. Rich got stung a few times on the arms and legs but nothing to bad for him to stop just powered his way through them , fast approaching the SW shipping lane |
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| finally made it in the SW shipping lane , which means we are now well on the way to back Dover..!! |
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| Darran and Fred share a joke before starting the 17th hour of the swim, its now getting on for around 6.30 in the evening , its turning into a beautiful evening, sun is still out,no wind to speak off , the water cold issues had passed , only a few jellies left floating about as Darran took over from Richard |
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| The Final channel Curtain Call for Supa .. Darran Redman Dyke.. Darran wasn`t to know it at the time , but this would be he last ever swim in the channel and with Ricks...;-(( ,because as like Stuart after giving 4 yrs to channel swimming he is to hang up his trunks and become a house husband.. we will miss Supa.. |
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| as the sun sets on Monday evening Darran swim his heart out to get us closer to dover,despite getting a few jelly stings for his trouble , he got us through the sw shipping lane and to within 5 miles of Dover,just as he was getting out he was getting into the strong current waters on the approach to Dover .!! not good, we know from experience they have been a bugger for us to swim through before and could take us hours to overcome .. ...almost 17 hrs done now...its getting on for 7.30 pm |
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| Gary all smiles as the Sun sets on a Monday evening.. Big Edge knew his hour was going to be tough one,..swimming through strong currents is hard to explain , it can be soil destroying at times, you are swimming as hard as possible ,giving it your all ,but its feels like you are going no where, your team mates are encouraging you on , but for you in the water , it feels almost impossible to keep up with the boat.. Gary did a superb swim, he even had time to shout to Paul as he got in that water was Warm.!!! as he knew Paul was worried as he was next up.. 18hrs done , |
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| Dover in getting closer slowly , but we are getting there , the sun is all but gone, its about 8.40pm on Monday evening , its 19th hour of the swim , and Basher Bates is in ,.. we are 4 miles from Dover.. |
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| Paul , having the same problems as Gary on the previous hour , no matter how hard you swim,the boat always seems out of reach when the current is strong... great picture...he has the whole of the channel to himself..;-) |
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| Finally , Paul gets level with the boat if for just for a moment..!! hehe we shouldn`t` laugh..he worked he boots off for the hour. got up to 70 per strokes a minute, however for a someone who can swim easily to 2 1/2 miles plus in a hour , Paul could only manage 1/2 a mile in the strong tide ... we all looked at one another as he was swimming and thought we would all have to get back in a swim 4 hrs another each if we were to finally reach Dover.. 19th hour done, when paul finished . .its around 9.40pm and we are still 3 miles from dover |
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| Stuart looks up as he gets the normal shout from our CSA Observer Peter ,you have 15 minutes , what was Doug thinking about ..? this is will be his final swim in the English Channel when he takes over from Paul... we know what Doug was thinking.. no way is this channel swim going to end like last years , with us falling just short.. No Way.....  the father and son double act ..Harry & Freddy Mardle... here pictured thinking, Hmmmm these guys used to be fast 3 years ago.. but now we could could swim faster, than this chubby lot....;-) |
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| Doug powering off like bullet, the man swam like his life depended on it , well over 70 strokes per minute, for the 1st half of the 19th hour again , no matter how hard he swam , doug was getting no where , that all of sudden he broke through the tide , ..!!! |
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| for almost 3 hours we had been doing less than 1/2 mile every hour then... within what seemed half an hour Doug was closing in Dover closing in on Shakespeare beach , closing in on finally doing this 2 way swim..!!! |
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| cumeth the hour cometh the "The Special one " it was going to come down to Rob ..to take to glory.. no more hassle with strong currents to swim through , the others guys had to done the hard work for him again..so why is Rob Looking so worried..? it was simple now ,just swim into Dover.. only one small problem this was Rob`s 1st ever time swimming in the Channel in Darkness...!!! Hmmm what a plum.. |
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| 20th hour...and Robs in..!! come on big man...take us home.. we,ve been swimming for over 20 hrs..and finally we do mean finally it was looking very good for Rob to take us into France and complete a 2 way swim of the English channel |
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| Rob...looking good on his way to landing in Dover, he had a little bit of difficulty with directions from his team mates until Harry eventually got in the escort boat to take rob into shore , rob cruised in Dover, well we think he cruised in as it was too dark for us to see anything , but we did hear the bump when rob swam into the rocks..hehe |
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| everyone finally reunited safe and sound on-board the masterpiece our 2 way adventure done.....!! and with that its OVER, ITS spells The End of Big Ricks Channel Team......! well okay... its only the end for this team of 6 chubby boys... we will back...2014 |
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| The 2 way Route |
...Rx
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The Channel Swimming Association Members Pin..!
This pin means nothing to most people,
Most would not even notice you wearing
it,
but to the few that are lucky to have one,
or are striving to get one, its
means everything...
It means you've followed your dreams and succeed ...........
THE END......
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We wish to thank you all for your amazing support with our double swim for Phillipa and for Breakthrough Breast Cancer ...The last 9 months, at times have been hard, at times very emotional , but a lot of time its been Fun.! We know that is the the way Pip would have wanted it to be for us all ..;-)...Thanks to your help and support we have raised in excess of £9000.00 , we know that will go help Breakthrough Breast Cancer in their amazing work ..
Pip`s Double channel Swim Team
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| "Pip." The amazing Phillipa Thomas |
Best wishes and thank you all so much..
Pip`s Double channel Swim Team
We completed our quest to swim the 60 miles from England to France and back again .!, but more importantly with your help and support we have succeed in our quest to help Breakthrough Breast Cancer with their amazing work to save lives .
our fund raising page is open for a few more days should you still wish to give..x |
