???? The boat escorting a swimmer from ENG ➡️ FRA can only go at the channel swimmer’s speed. It must artificially slow down so that it is always parallel to the swimmer. ????

Channel boats are constantly going in and out of low gears. They go into neutral during each feed. This is not great for their engines. It’s just not what boats are designed to do. ????

Sometimes life can feel like being a channel boat, artificially being forced to slow down when you just want to pull ahead. ⚠️

????‍♂️ Sometimes you want to be nimble and move quickly but you are tethered. It can be frustrating, disappointing, disheartening, especially when, with a position high above the waterline, you can see things others cant. ????

Likewise, sometimes in life, you are that swimmer, swimming your heart out ❤, engulfed by the channel ????. And due to your human limitations like low body position, and lack of internal GPS, literally swimming blind. ????

In those moments you are 100% reliant on others????, needing the safety, navigation, regular feeding and motivational support from the boat. You are the one slowing the boat down. 

Some people think of Channel swimming as a very solitary sport… just the swimmer alone fighting the ocean. ????

Rather, nothing can be further from the truth. As a swimmer i can’t navigate or feed myself. I am vulnerable and 100% reliant on others just like a newborn. ????

????‍♀️ Every time i swim to France ???????? I do so with my team on the boat. Just like a channel swim, every year I prepare to go into my Channel Swimming campaign with a small group of supporters working hard behind the scenes. ????

Some rare days in the Channel are calm and it’s more fun and easier than average ????. Other days are stormy, treacherous and we are thrown curveballs. 

The swimmer and boat must learn to find a unique rhythm and working dynamic.  Channel swimming is a dance and so is preparing and executing each channel campaign.????????

No matter the conditions and the curveballs there is only one way to get to France – that’s together. ????

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