Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.  I will be swimming the North Sea Channel from Donaghadee, near Belfast, to Portpatrick in Scotland as part of a relay team, raising money for the NSPCC.

The NSPCC works directly with children and families across the country to help keep children safe from abuse and neglect.  The money donated can help rebuild the lives of those who have suffered abuse.  Thank you for your support. 

Facts about the swim:

The total distance of the swim is 21.1miles/34km (tidal dependent) and we are hoping to complete the swim in 16 hours.  I will likely be swimming 2 or 3 x 1hr long swims and hopefully covering around 5-6km distance, and dependent on the current and tide.

The Irish Channel swim is renowned for being the pinnacle of open water, long distance swimming due to the contrary currents, unpredictable weather, jellyfish and coldness of the water.

Average sea temperature in July is 13.6 degrees Celsius.

The quickest relay team to swim the strait was in 1993 and it took 10hours and 39minutes.

Quotes from previous swimmers:

'I was however being stung repeatedly every few seconds and it was like swimming through jellyfish soup'.

'The great Colm O'Neill in his Irish record setting swim in 2004 was stung so badly that his goggles were raised up off his eyes by the swelling'.

'I saw a shark swimming below me; about 2.5m below me.  The great blue elegant beast was about 8 to 10 feet long ... I wondered was he checking me out; would I taste like chicken'.

Donating

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