Swimming to Antarctica_ Tales of a Long-Distance Swimmer - Lynne Cox [31]
He went into another room for a moment and came back with a chart. Unfurling it on the table and anchoring it with teacups, he explained the process of a swim from start to finish. The day for a swim is first selected based on the tide. Back then, English Channel swims were always done on a neap tide. Neap tides last for four to five days. They happen when the moon is half full, as well as two days before and two days after the half moon. They are the tides when there is the least movement between high and low water. Spring tides are those that occur when the moon is full. During this time there is a great deal of water movement through the Channel, meaning that the currents are much stronger.
For a very fast swimmer, these currents could be an advantage: if they are caught at just the right time, they could help push a swimmer across faster. Brickell said that because I was such a fast swimmer, he would think about having me on a spring tide, but he wasn’t sure if he wanted to take that risk. If our timing was off, I might wind up too far off course to complete the swim. He would consider it, but he favored the tried-and-true neaps.
Brickell used a Loran navigational system, which today has been outdated by GPS (global positioning system) systems. He used the Loran to plot latitude and longitude navigational points that would get us within a half mile of our target (today a GPS would get a swimmer within a few meters of the desired course and finishing point). Brickell also used radar, as well as a compass, and he navigated by dead reckoning and by sight. As a fisherman, as well as the son of a fisherman, Brickell knew the English Channel intimately. He’d spent more of his life on the water than he had on shore. From being out at sea every day he’d developed an ability to read the currents and tides, and could also read a forecast and predict which direction the wind would blow and how strong it would become. The ocean has a certain rhythm to it and follows certain patterns, much like a human being. He could look at a stretch of water, see a slight change in color from light to dark, and know that the wind was increasing and which direction it was moving.
Weather played as significant a role in selecting a day for a Channel crossing as the tide did. The wind must be light and variable or less for an attempt to occur. Anything above that, Brickell said, and the ocean would be covered with white horses—whitecaps. Once that happened, he explained, conditions in the Channel would deteriorate before they improved.
“Which direction would you like to swim?” he asked.
“Either from England to France, or France to England. Does it make any real difference?” I asked.
“Yes, it does make quite a bit of difference,” he said, and picked up a pen to use as a pointer. “The straight-line distance from England to France, or vice versa, is twenty-one miles. Because of the tidal changes in and out of the Channel, you will swim an inverted-S course. The tide will carry you north this way, toward the North Sea, or this way, south toward the Atlantic Ocean. It will also push you backward and forward. Sometimes you will even find yourself swimming right in place. How much you move depends on current strength and, somewhat, on wind speed. The more current, the bigger the S, the more distance you swim.” He looked up at my mother and me to make sure we understood what he was saying.
He continued, “You can swim in either direction. There are pluses and minuses for both. If you swim from England to France, you don’t have to travel to France a day ahead of the day you may be swimming and wait it out over there if you don’t go due to poor weather. If you leave from England, you know that you are starting the swim. There is quite a disadvantage, swimming from England to France, however. See how Cape Gris-Nez projects into the Channel? It’s a peninsula, and there are very strong currents off the point. There have been many swimmers, perhaps thirty, who have gotten within a mile or even half a mile of shore but couldn’t break