Jon Straw - TNT shore-to-shore we can Challenge
Blog 6 - 14th September 2010
The day after the swim
I'm glad it's all over. It was the hardest thing I've ever had to physically do in my life. The swims were tiring to the point of exhaustion and very confidence testing - more demanding than I would ever have believed possible.
And after the devastation and disappointment of having to abandon the swim just four miles shy of the French coast we had the journey from hell back to Engl
and.
We experienced the worst sea conditions I have ever had the misfortune to encounter and, considering I am ex-Royal Navy believe me that is saying something!
The boat trip cost me my passport, a works phone, my personal blackberry and a digital camera, not forgetting the 3.5 hours at the hospital yesterday to have my elbow x-rayed. It turns out my elbow's chipped and heavily bruised - the 'perfect end' to one of the most devastating events in my life, yet memorable just the same.
I cannot - and will not - try and outline the vast array of emotions that both I, and the TNT team went through during those 13 hours of swim time and then came the insufferable torture of the boat trip back to what should have been Folkestone but ended up being Dover!
It was all so surreal. We swam 29 miles - France is only 23-miles away and we still didn't manage to actually touch French soil, or should that be sand?
Notwithstanding we didn't actually reach our destination, I still feel it was a great success and an amazing achievement. I witnessed grit and determination and heroic deeds during those fateful 13 hours and it's a day that I and my team mates will never ever forget.
Jon Straw, 14th September 2010
Blog 5 - September 2010
I've been away with the wife and dogs for a few days but despite the holiday, I still needed to keep my training up. We were stay
ing close to Anderby Creek near Skegness and I have to say that the weather and conditions made the sea look very inviting.
It wasn't until I actually dived in that the waves started to pick up and I felt like an old corked bottle being battered about in the sea. It didn't take long before my swimming partner, my nine-year-old black labrador Mollie, took the sensible option to leave me to swim on my own.
I didn't have that luxury because the swim is only a week away and I needed to keep prepared. That said, I think this swim was the most intense 45 minutes of all my training. The water was bitterly cold and the undercurrent was the strongest I've encountered so far. I got dragged about in every direction possible but still covered a decent distance.
I decided that it was time to get out of the waves when I realised that my hands had changed colour from pink to a dark purple and blue and it had started to spread up my arms. Once I was on dry land I found that my entire body had changed colour and I looked more like a Smurf than a swimmer! Four hours on, and even a hot shower hadn't changed the fact that I was still shaking like a leaf! I can't wait for the real swim now as I feel even more prepared than before.
Jon Straw, September 2010
Blog 4 - 20th August 2010
Well, just two more nights at home before I join up with my team mates in an eight-man room where we will all be hoping for a good night's sleep before the sun rises on a very special day.
At 6.15am Monday we will be meeting Olympic swimming silver medallist, Sharron Davies, who is supporting our bid. We'll have a few photos and a bit of a press call and then it'll be off to Shakespeare Beach in Folkestone where we'll take on the biggest challenge of
any of our lives.
I make no bones that I am nervous, but in a healthy way - if that makes sense. Its adrenalin and it's coursing through my body with anticipation.
I keep reading my team mate's blogs on the internet and tracking down swim stories from the past and taking in the experiences, the trials and tribulations of other endurance swimmers. I don't know if I'm going paranoid, but every account I read seems to throw up new obstacles in my mind, highlighting reasons why we might not succeed.
It's obviously nerves and the fear of failure, but, as we've said time and time again, failure is not an option.
I had an amazing feeling of doing something very right today with so many people
shaking my hand wishing me well - 'best of luck mate', 'you can do it' and 'just go get it done'.
Every time I get a positive comment or a bit of encouragement it made me realise the enormity of the task that lies immediately ahead. It's really coming home now that we - through our sheer ability in the water and our mental strength - can have such a positive impact on the lives of the kids we're working so hard to help.
When this idea first hit me, I thought swimming the Channel would be a piece of cake - how very wrong could I be? It has been the most time consuming, mind scrambling and wotsit aching experience of my life!
It's not just the training but it's all the logistics of the operation, the administrative side and the organising. I have had tremendous support from those closely associated with the swim and, as I write, we're over halfway towards our fundraising total.
It was always ambitious - £30,000 - but it could and who knows, perhaps still could be achievable. I just want people to understand what we have all put ourselves through these past few months and just cough up a few quid. It's not about self glorification or ego - we just want to do the very best we can for the disadvantaged children of Britain.
Back in February I needed to get a team together that could do the job. I had little or no idea as to what that team would look like, but now I look into the faces of my team mates - these fearless souls - and realise that they will accept nothing but a successful outcome.
At this late stage I want to put on record my sincere thanks to all my team mates for volunteering to join me in what has grown into an awesome challenge.
It's show time now and we have to deliver the performance of our lives!
Jon Straw 20 August 2010
Blog 3 - 8th August 2010
Arrived at Anderby for our now familiar swim in the North Sea.
It's a great turnout today with Daniel, Heather, Owen, Steve and me all trekking to the Lincolnshire coast. It typifies the brilliant team spirit that we have created as the Channel challenge draws ever nearer.
The tide's out so it's a brisk walk up to, and then into, the surf. The waves are high today and the current is strong so I do the usual and brace myself for the shocking sensation of the cold water. But hey, it's actually quite warm for a change - either that or I am conditioning myself that it just doesn't feel so cold. Either way it feels good.
After swimming for half-an-hour it's pretty obvious that we've actually gone backwards and somehow contrived to lose Owen in the process! When we eventually finish the session we find him halfway down the beach on his way to Skegness. It's an easy mistake to make - nobody told him which way we were going when we hit the water. Better not have a repeat in the Channel or he might end up in the Thames!
If nothing else today has been another learning curve. We know we can't just expect to beat the Channel with ease, we can't count on swimming ability and stroke style alone, we need to fight every last step of the way - there's plenty have tried and failed - we cannot, simply cannot, fall into that category. It's a test of body and mind and I'm adamant we'll all be up to it.
Pushing on through the waves was a strangely spiritual experience today - I can't explain it. I lost my Dad last November, when he finally succumbed to the devastating symptoms that had blighted his final years, and it was as if he was with me today. A weird feeling, but nonetheless, a warm and comforting sensation.
Dad always told me that nothing is out of reach if you truly believe you can get to it - the Channel swim is just that - a goal that is there to be achieved.
Make no bones about it, the TNT team WILL succeed!
Jon Straw, August 8, 2010
Blog 2 - 4th August 2010
Second outing at Anderby Creek, quite a change from last time, the skies are clouded over, the sea looks dank and miserable, the tide is on its way out and the waves are building for its assault on the beach on the return tide.
Along with Heather and Steve, we cautiously enter the coldest water we've yet felt, the pressure of the waves banging against us is very strong and makes the sea feel very much the enemy. I never ever get complacent in these waters - complacency is a dangerous partner in this environment it could lead to something unthinkable and I must stay fully focused.
After about 10 seconds and a barrage of expletives we finally take the plunge into the wash.
Bad goes to worse in an instant - not content with the freezing temperature ripping the breath clean out of my lungs I compensate for it in a thoroughly repulsive fashion - by taking a mouth full of sea water! God, it's disgusting and I can't control the gag reflex that sees me vomiting for the first time in the sea. Two days on and I swear I still have that vile taste in my mouth. The mind can do funny things!
Despite the inauspicious start to the session, the swim goes really well. My confidence is growing by the day and every time we get in the sea, I wish it was the actual event.
My only regret is our fundraising drive is not rising as quickly as our team spirit, enthusiasm and physical effort. We're through the £10,000 mark but that's just a third of the way to what we want to achieve. £30,000 was always ambitious but there should be enough compassion in the world to make it happen. Let's see what the next fortnight brings in.
Roll on August 23, we're ready now and waiting for our chance to get our names on the Channel Swimming Association's wall of honour. Yes, it's a massive personal challenge but we never lose sight of what it's all about - helping those little kids who so desperately rely on our support.
Jon Straw, August 4 2010
Blog 1 - July 2010
I'm five weeks away from the biggest challenge of my life when I will be playing my part in swimming the English Channel for TNT's 'shore-to-shore we can' Challenge.
Up until now it's been swimming pools and freshwater lake training, but today sees a step up in our preparations as we take the plunge into the Irish Sea. It's going to be cold and uninviting and we'll be questioning our sanity but we've got to conquer the apprehension we all feel, get in and tame the wild waters.
It's a two-hour drive up to Wallasey near Liverpool and, as we draw closer the tension, almost fear, that I feel in my knotted stomach begins to give way to a tingling of excitement and a rush of self confidence.
Blustery isn't the word - the wind is blowing across the sea at a rate of 30 knots and the waves are whipping up to four feet high. I can feel my heart pounding with anticipation and I'm ready to take on Mother Nature - we could face far worse in the Channel and this isn't for the faint-hearted.
Damn! We can't go. The red flags are flying and the word from the lifeguard station is 'unsafe' - no swimming today! We've come all this way and it's a no-go - I feel cheated, deflated and frustrated.
Driving home is surreal - nothing had been achieved in the sea - but inexplicably I had an overwhelming feeling that no matter how high the waves, no matter how strong the current, we will emerge from the Channel onto that French beach, victorious - proud to have succeeded where so many before us have failed.
Better watch myself, I'm beginning to sound like Winston Churchill but you get the drift! Roll on August 22-24 when we go for real. We're ready for the Channel and everything she can throw at us.
Jon Straw, July 2010