Lee-Bow..... Windsurfers...etc (Dons tin hat)

No-ferry gliding is exactly what you wouldn’t do unless you are a masochist. Just work out the bearing and swim at it. Allow the tide to take you west and east (3 or 4 cycles) -a lot less work! I am sure the swimmers have sussed that.

Sam -that’s a pretty comprehensive explanation of how to do it— have you done it?. It is not 150 miles though despite what that journo said.

She did in fact swim much further than the 21 miles, I saw the tracking illustration, it was a truly unbelievable achievement. As a kid I used to accompany my old chap on the Cross Channel swims and many a time the swimmer was effectively stationary over the ground, but swimming for hours on end just to maintain station, until the tide turned.

Finally because it's relevant, forty years ago this month just gone, a windsurfer called Mike Todd and I crossed the Channel on a Tandem windsurfer, 1979 same year as that earlier picture. We set off in slack water, but on the French side of the Varne bank, the tide engaged our, you've guessed it, lee bow and our speed over the water increased and we were able not to fully plane but to at least hook into our harnesses.


Edited by iGRF - 05 Oct 19 at 11:03am

Apparently she was able to maintain a fairly constant speed through the water, something the CSA adjudicator (who had swum the channel several times himself) considered a remarkable achievement. That, inevitably, must have put her out of sync with the tides as to achieve minimum swimming distance though the water you'd ideally want the tide to turn at about your halfway point on a single crossing so that while it carries you several miles off track during the first half when it turns it carries you the same distance back before you land. They will have been able to time the first crossing to gain maximum benefit (or, at least minimum disruption) from the tides on the first crossing but subsequent crossings must begin no more than 10 minutes after landing from the previous crossing (and that time must be spent in the water having re-entered immediately after landing) so no opportunity to optimise the timing on subsequent crossings.

Edited by Sam.Spoons - 05 Oct 19 at 12:15pm

The US 10k pool record is 2 hours 12 mins, or an average speed of 2.84 mph, (and pools are faster than open water 'cos of the kick off at every turn). I'd be surprised if she managed much over 2 mph.