Queen of Hideous Swims #3

Who are they?

Vicki’s earliest sporting memory is being banned from ballet as a small child. It’s not clear what she did to deserve such harsh treatment, but she remembers it as though it was yesterday! Fortunately, she progressed to things she liked and was good at – finally to swimming at which she excelled. She worked tirelessly as Co-Chair of Out For Sport to bring sporting opportunities to all LBGT+ people in and around London. Her podcast, SwimOut, brings all things open water swimming to an audience across the world. Basically, she loves nothing better than a huge challenge, for herself and for others.

Looking back at the swim

You would think that swimming the English Channel would be a classic “Hideous swim” but actually, I would say it was not hideous at all! The day itself was lovely and despite a few jellyfish stings and some moments of uncertainty, as the boat got between me and France and I felt lost, I was getting on with the job in hand and that is always good for the soul!

The training though, the getting up mega early on Saturday AND Sunday, the hanging out in hotels and eating out always, even when you just want toast, that was truly hideous. Swimming round and round, and then more and more round and round and then repeat it all the next day. Getting chafing when you forget the Vaseline, getting burnt when you forget the sunscreen, goggle malfunctions, ear plug malfunction, costumes so full of Vaseline, that they slide wherever they feel like it, revealing all sorts! Hurt, cut feet from the nasty stones on Dover beach. Wet clothes because it rained, worry about the stuff on the beach, worry that I didn’t lock the car. Saying no to all social invitations for the whole summer, not really drinking alcohol at all to maintain cold tolerance. Lots of worry about the big day and did I have all the stuff I needed? Would the crew come through? Would the Pilot be nice? Would I get to go at all – the English Channel is such a fickle thing. Concern about shoulders giving up or getting a nasty bug. That was Hideous, although on the upside, I was very fit and had a truly enviable tan. 

I had been trying to do this swim for more than 11 years and so completing it gave me a massive sense of achievement. I actually feel like I became a slightly different person, one who had swum the English Channel and conquered a very big goal. I am very proud that I did it.