Seaford swimmers raise £1,000 for hospice in spite of series of challenges

Eight Seaford Mermaids styled themselves the Merpeeps when they initially pledged to complete 33 kilometres – the Channel at its narrowest – during the month of May. However, such was the enthusiasm with which Andy Cook – who swam with her waterproof camera to record the challenge – Mary Coplestone, Andrea Hargreaves, Dave Hayes, Kasha Jenkinson, Emmeline Ravilious, Therese Saunders and Kirstin Scriven hit the water that they had achieved this distance in 10 days and almost attained the original £300 target.

So in the spirit of making the Seaford Sea Swim Challenge that bit harder, and aware that high waves could curtail their efforts at any time, they agreed to swim ‘back’ again and then to go on to attempt 100k.

At this point the offshore wind picked up and drifts became unpredictable due largely to the low depth of the river at Newhaven. With swimmers literally redoubling their efforts, distances were increased with some toughies completing a couple of kilometres a day by crawling and breaststroking out to one buoy, swimming across to the next two and then back to the beach at 6.45am and again in late afternoon.

Increasingly strong drifts and winds led to some of the group swimming just within their own safety limits and once Kirstin straddled the buoy rope that normally hangs vertically – not a comfortable experience. On another, Kasha suffered a mild but frightening asthma attack on the return to the beach.

“I was so glad that Mary was aware of me,” she said. “I floated on my back to calm myself, then Mary gave me her tow float and propelled me back to the beach. As a group we never swim alone and recognise the importance of tow floats. Not only are they colourful so can be spotted easily, but they can act as a buoyancy aid too.”

Earlier on that swim Kasha had relieved Andrea of her tow float when the current and waves caused it to impede her right arm, Kasha pushing it and swimming legs only until Emmeline, an exceptionally strong swimmer, took it from her, its waist strap having by then been lost to the sea.

‘We got to the buoy fine but it was obvious it was not a safe place to linger as the wind had picked up considerably, so it was a fairly hard swim back to shore,’ said Andrea.

Emmeline, a new RNLI volunteer, and Mary had water safety much on their minds having the previous day witnessed the rescue by the Newhaven lifeboat assisted by a Coastguard helicopter of two people in an inflatable dinghy who had been swept by the gusty offshore wind way beyond the buoys.

Andrea commented: “It takes an incident like that to make you realise how safety aware everyone must be, and to assess each swim for its suitability for varying abilities. We were not in danger but had the wind been blowing a few knots more we might well have been.”

By this time the challenge had been renamed 100K in May and it was finished on Bank Holiday Monday with two days in hand and a magnificent £1,010 raised.

Distances, along the shore for safety as well as out to the buoys, were calculated with the help of a Strava app.

Emmeline, who with Andy had dreamt up the ever-expanding challenge, said: “Our success was all down to team spirit and a willingness to swim as hard as we could for such a deserving cause. And a few hairy moments aside we enjoyed some sublime swims.”

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