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Salisbury Tri members swim across English Channel
Brian Elliott, 54, of Salisbury and Ali Baylis, 26, of Odstock swam the Channel on Sunday, June 11 after eight months of training and acclimatisation to the cold.
The Channel Swimming & Piloting Federation (CS&PF) does not allow the wearing of wetsuits during cross channel swims, meaning swimmers must condition themselves for cold water temperatures before attempting the feat.
Ali said: “When you’re training you need to practice swimming in cold water, ideally in the sea or in fresh cold water in a swimming costume.
“It will help your cold intolerance. So a lot of us started swimming in the winter months, so in the lakes and in the docks and things where it was 10 degrees and you start to get your body used to cold water that way- lots of cold showers, as well.”
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Swimming the channel poses unique hazards such as currents, tides, jellyfish and oil tankers.
Brian and Ali swam in two-hour shifts, alternating four times during the relay and each swimming approximately 19 miles (30km) each.
Ali said: “The channel is 21 miles in a straight line between Dover and Calais, but actually you never swim in a straight line. You almost swim in kind of an S-shaped curve because of the tides and the currents, so we both ended up swimming this time about 30km (19 miles) each.”
Brian and Ali both swam the channel in a six-person relay in 2022 to benefit the non-profit organisation SwimTayka, which teaches children who live near bodies of water in developing countries how to swim to prevent drowning.
Brian is gearing up for a single crossing in 2025. The two-person relay this year was originally going to be his solo crossing, but conditions were unfavourable.
Brian said: “It’s on my plan to do it solo and I booked a slot to do it solo this year but realised that because of the UK water temperatures, I wouldn’t be able to get enough swim time in the UK for training.”
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Before his solo crossing in 2025, Brian will be swimming across the Bristol Channel later this summer and from Jersey to France in 2024, while Ali’s next challenge will be swimming the lengths of Coniston Water, Ullswater and Windermere for the Chillswim Triple Crown achievement.
Ali said the channel-crossing relay was more than double any other swimming event she has participated in.
She said: “I did a 14km (9-mile) continuous swim but this is the furthest and most challenging swim I’ve done both physically and mentally, because a lot of it is also your psychology behind keeping going.”
