I received my report just before Christmas. I won’t be up putting the entire thing, but here’s the page outlining the feed times, GPS co-ordinates and weather conditions.
Items of note from this page.
1 – At 13:40 my feed time was 10 mins. This is the critical point I’ve often talked of, which came just after I went under the boat for the second time and these 10 minutes of exhaustion caused me to get caught in the tidal flow after the change.
2- At around that period the wind went up to consistent Force 4.
3- The wave height (chop) was going up as a consequence.
4- Just after, when I was still tired, the tide changed again.
5 – Slow feed times generally. I wasn’t ever focused on making these faster, as I should have been, and like Gábor was, and like anyone I ever crew for again will be. Although it’s really only more important in the second half of the swim.
6: Notice by then it was Force 5. (Making me a member of the Force Five Club).
7; While air temperature drops as it gets dark, water temperature raises by almost two degrees from Samphire Hoe to Les Hennes.
8: An extra feed at just over 12 hours. And three extra feeds overall. Classic sign of good experienced crew who know the swimmer,and what they are doing.
9: My stroke rate, apart from being a bit low the first 2 hours, stays at 69/70 almost the entire way.
10: An extra painkiller around the time of the last electrolyte, probably would have eased the significant neck pain in the last few hours quite considerably.