Beaten by the weather !

Tim Cheesman was unable to complete the return journey of his swim due to very bad weather conditions. He departed from Shamphire Hoe, Dover to swim towards Cap Gris Nez, near Calais in France at 13.06 pm on Thursday 11 August 2005.

Arriving in France at 05.20 am on Friday 12 August 2005 he was allowed, under the rules of a World Record Attempt, no more than three minutes on the beach. (Before Tim left he said that he would not be taking the full three minutes since if he stopped swimming that long he may not want to swim back to England!)

The timing of his swim was obviously dependent upon the forecasts of both weather conditions and tidal currents and he was prepared to swim for more than 36 hours if necessary.

Tim swam for nearly five hours of the return journey but was beaten by the bad weather. Despite the worsening conditions where his support boat was unable to keep alongside him with the wind blowing at 4 - 5 and gusting at 6 he battled for some hours, ploughing through wafts of waves many over 6 feet high crashing around him.

At 10.00 am he had no option but to be taken into the support boat and back to Dover where he landed safely around 12 noon.

His single channel swim was timed at 16 hours and 14 minutes and due to the worsening conditions as he neared France it was a longer crossing than last years when he completed a single crossing in 15 hours 21 minutes.

A double channel swim is the equivalent of running eight marathons in a row! It’s a 42-mile swim with the cold water sucking the heat out of his body.

Tim decided to attempt this World Record, as the oldest person to successfully undertake the double, with the objective of raising funds St Catherine’s Hospice in memory of his father, Peter. Peter died in 2001 having received outstanding care from St Catherine’s Hospice in his fight with cancer. If you would like to sponsor Tim for his valiant effort please visit www.justgiving.com/doubleswim

Tim's website, www.timsdoubleswim.co.uk, set up especially for the event received over 5,000 visitors in its first 24 hours and they were able to track his progress across the channel thanks to Ed Sexton, Tim's cousin, who was texting the co-ordinates back to Rohan Sherrard the IT expert in East Grinstead who set up and ran the web site.

"A valiant attempt" was how Tim's wife Karen described the adventure. Friend Ray Green was also on the support boat and commented "Tim is an intrepid character and did all he could have been expected to do in very bad and worsening conditions".

An obviously disappointed, but still enthusiastic man, Tim commented "I had a fantastic support team around me and I would like to pay tribute to the help they gave me. It was my ambition to achieve the World Record whilst raising funds for St Catherine's Hospice as my way of repaying the outstanding care and support they gave my Father, Peter, with his fight with cancer. I do hope all those who have donated, assuming I would achieve the double, will still pass their sponsorship to the Hospice who provide their specialist care and support free at time of need."

Tim