So must of you have probably heard about Jackie Cobell’s speed English Channel speed record by now. It’s been heavily covered on UK news.

The Sky News coverage was crap, I thought, “how do you take tablets while swimming? was one question”.

For those of you that haven’t, no, she’s not the fastest, but the slowest time for a single relay, twenty-eight hours and forty-four minutes, which previous record has stood for eighty years.

Here is perfectly illustrated the difference between pool swimmers and sea swimmers.

For many pool swimmers slow is not deserving of respect. But Jackie can go anywhere in the world and she will be accorded immense respect from OW swimmers.

Here’s something really interesting: her chart.

Looking at the chart you’ll see went south from a Dover start first. She had five tide changes and came in up the coast from Calais, a long way from where we aim for.
Sounds from TV like her pilot was Tanya Streeter who obviously knew she would be slow and planned accordingly including the southward start.

You can see from the video how her shoulders have gone.