Finished!

Well folks, it was emotional but we did it. In a little over 2 hours we came in to the beach at Southsea, a little sore, a little tired and more than a little worried about what kinds of gastro-intestinal diseases we had contracted from swallowing too much Solent water. So if you want to know how it went take a look at the below:



So just a quick role call of honour and thanks:

Mark & Will - our 2 safety boat drivers who did a wonderful job of making the whole thing feasible - especially Mark who stepped in at the last minute unbelievably generously and salvaged our chances of success. A materclass in Safety for anybody who happened to be in the Solent that day...

Anna, Ness, Kathy, Mrs. P, Christopher, Ricos, Emma & countless others - our support crew, welcoming committee and providers of the finest bacon & egg sandwiches washed down by Champagne that i have ever had the pleasure of eating

And to the countless others who helped volunteer route information (albeit my aunts & uncles telling me it would take 4 hours rather than 2 on the Friday night wasn't that much appreciate :), safety boat driving and loan and just general support for the effort

And finally to everyone who has givn so generously to our venture. We are at a fantastic £5.5k and are incredibly grateful to everyone - massive thanks.

I promise that will be it on stupid challenges from me for the moment. Got to concentrate on being a dad which i think will be enough of a challenge for the forseeable future...

Congratulations from a suitably proud wifelet

So, cut to Sat 13 June, 8.50am, and to 2 svelt wet suit clad, slightly nervous figures doing their final stretches on Ryde sand whilst Mrs G does her best to say how close the other side looks (!?) and how great the conditions are. One of these 2 is a lie...
5 minutes later, the boys were off, and Mrs G was left to nervously watch from the shore as they and the two support RIBs (thank you so much Will, Ness, Anna, Mark and Mrs P) headed off to sunny Southsea...
Two hours, one hovercraft speedy zip for Mrs G, about 20,000 strokes from the swimmers, a fair dose of cramp and a welcome lack of cargo ships later, we were on the other side, cheering the boys home.
What an effort.
Si, Dom - I am totally impressed and so proud of you - it was a long long way to go.
Shame the post-swim beer guzzling was less impressive. Next time, more drinking, less snoozing.
Great work. What a morning. Please don't do it again.