El Sharko's English Channel Crossing

Chris Blakeslee, September 4th, 2004

David, someone told me there are no sharks in the English Channel…and David replied, "But there was one today, September 4th, 2004." ………….You were there, and you did it, Sharko! And so I did, with the support of a lot of people and sharks everywhere!!!!!!!! For 14 hours and 44 minutes I was carried by your support, and in return I gave my heart to you.

One week after my swim, I was back at the South End Club, after a Crissie Field Club Swim, my Dover Strait swim chart stretched out, trying to explain all of the zigging and zagging on the nautical chart when one of our members said "Why did you do it!"….. and I believe I said, aahhhh that is the question isn't it!.....There is something very big about this swim…some deeper meaning….I met Carol Sing at Chapels in Dover after my swim and she looked into my eyes and said, as closely as I can remember, "The large feelings you now have from your swim will last a long while"…..Why is that?

I don't think the swim is a totally selfish endeavor; however, it does take long term focused training to accomplish the swim……..during this swim I recalled all of us who have suffered, and are suffering……….and I decided to dedicate the swim to all of them and us….some with cancer, many dealing with issues of life that appear to be too large to handle…We all need help…

Final preparations for the swim began at 7:30 pm when Reg Brickell confirmed the swim was on…"Meet me at the Folkstone Harbor at 2:30 am," he said…(I didn't think I was that nervous, but I probably only slept an hour or two)….I calculated that I would need to get up at 1 am to get feeding supplies and warm clothes together, do some stretching and breathing, get the closest shave of my life and carry all of the gear out to the taxi driver.

My wife, Mary, who flew in the night before was there to encourage and feed me, with no real sleep for her in 24 hours or so…At about 3 am we motored north in the darkness, with only boat lights leading the way, to Shakespeare Beach. On the way Mary coated me with sunscreen and greased my shoulders, armpits and between my legs….I continued to breathe…using the alternate nose breathing technique I had been using to help saturate my muscles with oxygen and to stretch….a light stick was attached to the back of my cap and one pinned to the back of my speedo…

At about 3:20 we began to back up to the beach and at 3:25 Reg said to swim to the beach…. I jumped over the stern of the Viking Princess into the dark and cool English Channel water and stroked easily to the beach….I felt good…the time had finally come…I told myself to relax and swim easily for the first hour until my first feeding…..Reg had his boat lights and a beamed flash light pointed to the pebbly beach…I touched bottom and walked to above the water line….I guess a horn was blown, but I didn't hear it due to the tight silicon earplugs….the lights were flashed and I dove back into the cool and dark Channel waters….

I guess I swam for about 3 hours in the dark…I started feeding at 1 hour and every 30 minutes after….The feedings were very quick as I had my liquefied food in large mouth plastic containers that were tossed over in front of me. The containers had one twist screw caps…and with a quick twist to the mouth and throwing my head back down went the Cytomax and 16 oz of water…10 seconds maybe 15…. A second bottle contained liquefied GU and Cytomax if I needed it. At 4 hours I was to receive Cytomax and a whey protein mix.

After three hours it was a welcome sight to see the beginning of light and some pink in the clouds….What had I been thinking about all of this time!...(I get that question all of the time by non-swimmers….What do you think about? ….don't you get bored? Sometimes it's such a relief to have no other distractions than my own rhythmic stroking and breathing…but, I guess if you are not a marathon swimmer you wouldn't know what I am talking about…As it got lighter and the sun came up I realized I would need to change my clear goggles for a pair of tinted ones…..I was a little worried that a new pair might leak….but I wasn't about to stare into the sun for the next 10 hours….The switch was made with a pole with a cup on the end….The new pair sealed in a minute or two and the glare was gone….I began to see large passenger and container ships stream by…."there is a lot of boat traffic in the Channel". At this point between 4 and 6 hours into the swim my stroke was strong and consistent at about 54 strokes per minute…. And I was stretching and rotating well…….at 6 ½ hours Reg indicated that I was at the half way point and shortly after I could see the coast of France…..Feeding from 6 ½ hours to 10 hours was with Cytomax and whey or Cytomax only with an occasional Cytomax and GU mix…..I wanted to be hydrated but not saturated with sugar….I was taking 200 mg of ibuprofen every two hours to keep muscle inflammation down….Somewhere between 10 and 12 hours my speed began dropping…my stroke rate was still over 50 but my right shoulder had lost power…fortunately my left shoulder was still in good shape and was compensating…but my back was starting to seize up because the natural rolling of my body had been disrupted by my shoulder….I was watching the Cape Gris-Nez light house drift by…How much further, Reg?…3-4 hours, says Reg…Oh Shit! I said….The period from 12 hours to 14 hours and 44 minutes became the mental struggle to overcome the fatigue of the body and persevere mentally..to push on beyond what I thought I could…

This time, then, became the swim…this, then, is what I came here to find out about myself…..and I did persevere and felt the sand under my feet, and I stood up..my leg cramped, and I fell down and crawled over a small reef cutting my hands and snatching some French beach pebbles, then finally up onto a beautiful sandy beach near Wissant France at 6:10 in the evening….It was a hell of a good day and the culmination and release of something of grand proportion….There was a Shark in the English Channel today!!!!