Out To Sea, The 2012 Out To Swim open water swimming team reached France at 14:28 local time on Thursday the 5th July 2012, 11 hours and 2 minutes after they set off on their adventure from Dover Harbour. The sun came out as team member Roberto swam the final leg of the relay to arrive in France on a small rocky beach, roughly 35km from their starting point. The six swimmers took turns to swim for an hour each in the 15C waters, having trained for 6 months previously to be able to withstand the cold and keep on swimming.
Beginning at 2.23 a.m. the first few swimmers set out in the dark with small lights attached to their swim caps and speedo’s to ensure that they were not lost in the darkness. The team dodged oil tankers and cross channel ferries in the busiest international seaway in the world, to raise money for the Samaritans of Central London. So far they have raised £1894. If you feel inspired to support the team’s fundraising efforts then you can donate through their jusgiving page here: http://www.justgiving.com/outtosea
Read more about their swim through the OTS Open Water blog here.
This isn’t the first time Out To Swim has sent swimmers across the channel. Two teams made successful crossings in 2009 raising £10,000 for the food Chain in the process. You can read about their crossings on the Out To Swim website. The first crossing report can be found here and the second team report is here. These crossings were the inspiration for the introduction of the open water swimming training offer as part of the main OTS program and if you are interested in taking a dip out in the open then find out more about the clubs training and competiting offer here.
