On Tuesday, 3rd of August 2010, Don Perrott, 41, successfully completed a solo swim across the English Channel in a time of 12 hours and 16 minutes. He overcame tidal currents, cold water, jelly fish and choppy seas to make the epic 35km swim from Dover to Cap Gris Nez in France.
The Channel swim is regarded as one of the toughest long distance swims in the world. It is mentally and physically a feat of exceptional endurance and determination requiring huge stamina, courage and strength. The rules allow him to wear only a swim cap, goggles and speedo and during the swim he was not allowed to touch the boat or receive any assistance from any person.
Don, who is from Cape Town and a Rondebosch Old Boy, started preparing for the swim more than a year ago. Last year on 28th June he swam in a 3-man relay team across the English Channel and in February this year swam from Robben Island to Three Anchor Bay. Most of his gruelling training, however, took place in the icy waters of Dover Harbour under the watchful eye of Freda Streeter, known as “The General” for her no-nonsense approach to channel training.
The swim started under the white cliffs of Shakespeare Beach at 3:20am – it was cold and dark, but still and the water was inky and smooth. On his channel boat (named Suva and skippered by Neil Streeter) were his support team including his brothers Andrew and Geoff Perrott and two other successful channel swimmers, Rob Drysdale and Andrew Hughes. The support boat followed the little flashing green light attached to his swim cap until dawn broke 2 hours later.
Don kept up a consistently high stroke rate and the English coast began to fade into the distance. Don was looking strong as he crossed the South West Shipping Lane and the Separation Zone, giving his support team no doubts the swim was going to be successful. But then the weather turned nasty as so often happens in the English Channel. The wind picked up, the tide turned and the sea became choppy. Despite deteriorating weather conditions Don upped his work rate and the French coast moved closer with every stroke. All the hours of training was starting to pay dividends.
Don finished strongly, trotting out of the shallows onto the beach to meet his hugely relieved and overjoyed wife, Helen who was there waiting for him with his father, Mike. After the swim Don said “It was tough, but I never thought I wouldn’t make it…it was just a question of how long it would take me as the weather had turned bad. Fellow South African channel swimmers, Kieron Palframan and Ryan Stramrood had given me some great advice which was to take a moment somewhere out there to enjoy what was happening which I forced myself to do….I will never forget that sunrise and the feeling of the French sand under my feet!”
When asked what he thought about during the swim, he replied “Remember what Freda told you Don…just swim from feed to feed…one arm then the next…don’t look forward, don’t look back, head down, bum in the air!”
Don became the 29th South African to successfully swim the Channel since it was first swum in 1875 by Captain Matthew Webb. He also raised nearly R150,000 via his website http://www.justgiving.com/my-trip-to-france for a local charity, the Goedgedacht Trust.
