Kevin in Dover

Kevin Cassidy checking in from Dover….via Alby’s page!!!

The mental torture of not knowing when I will start sure is a new experience for me. After three days in Dover, the main thing I have learnt from both Freda Streeter and Mike Oram is that this summer’s weather forecasts have been completely unreliable for a wide range of reasons.

The channel may look calm from Dover but it can be howling out on the French side. Swims are stating between 1:30am and 2am. Some swims due to go two days ago were canceled with just two hours notice as the winds kicked up.

My window opens tomorrow and I am the number two swimmer. The number one swimmer is trying to reclaim his world record [Christov is his name, I think]. As a result, he will only swim if conditions are perfect. This effectively means that I am number one on any less than perfect days which are still quite swimmable.

Mike Oram suggested that I could go tomorrow morning at 2am if I wished but he wasn’t sure if the 23 knot wins would drop!! Basically, he seemed to think that I should wait given that I was going to be around for a while. Friday is quite possible with the weekend expected to rough up a bit. Monday and Tuesday next week are predicted to provide good conditions……however, no one is paying much attention to the already inaccurate forecasts. If Friday is swimmable without being perfect, then I will be hitting the water.

Due to the fact that several September booked swimmers have already swum, Mike has told me that there are no ends to anyone’s windows. This is news I am glad to hear as I am able to stay longer if need be.

I’ve had two 30 minute swims in the harbour as well as checking out the town. We went for a meal at a small Italian restaurant last night where the two waiters made Manuel from Fawlty Towers look competent. Honestly, it was a case of Tweedle Dumb and Tweedle Dumber!!!!

As for the local townsfolk, the obvious preferred hobby appears to be smoking and throwing your butts on the ground!