14/01/2014
LAST TESTIMONY
Four month’s gone now and life is back to normal (although life will never be the same anymore). And then, as a pleasant New Year’s gift, we received Paul Jeary’s ‘Observer Report’; Paul was the official CS&PF representative to join us on our swim. His report clearly demonstrates that he exactly understood the finesse of what team SIXPACK is all about: a lot of tongue-in-cheek with a distinct underlying top-sport-mentality. We are extremely proud of his recording of our swim. Read along !
1 SEPTEMBER: THE SIX-PACK-SIX
With a team name like 'SixPack' one could be forgiven for wondering if this was a serious attempt to swim the Channel, or just a group of mates who, after a few cans of Heineken, thought it might be fun to go for a midnight dip. ln fact it turned out to be a little of both.
With an air of ‘bon enfant’ Peter Van Os strode along the jetty and extended his hand. “You are the observer?" he asked . "I am Peter and we are here to break the record." The record in question was itself questionable, as there are no official records kept for the fastest crossing by a team all over fifty years old. But that didn't dull the enthusiasm of the six members of the team, nor their coach Sacha Honig, nor their cameraman and official recorder Kees Hoogeveen. But in between the banter and the Chinese Lantern launch (of which the less said the better!) there was a serious intent to the way they set about the swim itself.
To the sound of unintelligible shouts from campers on Shakespeare Beach, Peter dived into the water at 05.16 and immediately set the tone for the rest of the attempt by laying down a stroke rate of 68 per mi-nute, and, by the end of his hour, he had overtaken the two other boats that had started not long before us.
So, with the day well and truly risen, it was up to Cees Vervoorn to continue the good work and he didn't disappoint. Whether or not you believe that Cees was an Olympian athlete who managed a 4th place once (as I was told by one of his colleagues), there was no denying that each of the lads wanted to finish in the quickest time possible. The team had given themselves a target of 12 hours to complete the crossing, and there was no reason to doubt it as each swimmer in turn stepped up to the plate.
By the time Marius Ros came out of the water and his replacement, Ron van der Harst was off and swim-ming, it became evident that this was going to be a fast one. With slick change-overs and cheery support, Erwin Metz and Jan van der Elst ploughed on, each with a stroke rate of over 60. By the time the rota had come full circle, the French coast seemed almost within touching distance.
At the same time the sea began to become a little choppy but nothing was going to stop the assault, and although they didn't know it at the time, there was only a couple of hours swimming left, meaning that neither Erwin nor Jan would have to enter the water for a second time.
At 14.50, our pilot, Mike, stopped advancing the boat, Gallivant, leaving Ron the honor of completing the last couple of hundred meters under the admiration and cheers of the crowd that had converged on the heights of Cap Gris Nez, the final destination.
After only 9 hours 44 minutes and 30 seconds the ‘record’ was sealed and the Gallivant set course for home across water that had become so agitated that, had it been like that at the beginning, the attempt would not have gone ahead.
I would like to add my congratulations to the ‘Six-Pack Six’ to those of the Gallivants' crew, Mike and James, and also thank them for the bottle of Dutch ‘refreshment’ that was thrust into my hands at the end of the journey. Cheers and jolly good show.
