Released by CS&PF Secretary (& King of the Channel) Kevin Murphy on email (I didn’t see that one first). There were swimmers out only two days ago on the last unbookable tide.
Here’s the figures:
Total swims: 124
Successful 87
Unsuccessful 37
Percentage of swims (solo and relay) that were successful = 70%
Total solos: 68
Successful 42
Unsuccessful 26
Percentage of swims (solo) that were successful = 62%
Total relays: 56
Successful 45
Unsuccessful 11
Percentage of swims (relays) that were successful = 80%
45% of CS&PF swims were relays, 55% were solos.
Congrats to all. Welcome to the Club to the soloists, you’re now one of the famous few, commiserations to those who failed or got weathered out. You’ve heard one of the Channel aphorisms by now, the Channel will still be there.
I’ll assume these are all still subject to Official CS&PF committee ratification next month.
EDIT: According to the President, these swims ARE ratified.
LoneSwimmer 
hey donal! water today was a bit below 48F but sunny skies and breezeless.
i was thinking about Des Renford’s stats. 19 crossings out 19 attempts (in his book “Nothing Great is Easy”). Incredible. Given the end-of-season solo data above, 62% success rate, I was wondering about another. Suppose a swimmer has one successful xing under their belt, what are their chances on a subsequent swim?
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Good questin Mike. I imagine Mike O. or Kevin Murphy would have an answer, but I don’t. You’d have to imagine it’s higher though, with a better understanding of what’s in store and therefore better able to handle the mental problems of the swim (frustration, loneliness, uncertainty) especially the most difficult last few hours..
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