Sink Or Swim? A bystanders view.

Over this summer there has been a new series that is reaching our television screens. I knew it was happening ahead of time due to the fact that I am involved in a very small way in the Channel swimming world. and one of my clients is the Post production house produsing this series.The basic outline of the challenge was to take 12 non-swimming celebrities and in 12 weeks, get them to a point where they, as a team, can swim the English Channel. They have two goals. Swim to France as a team and raise money for cancer charity. When I first heard about it I had my concerns.

Before we go any further. Please be aware that what you are about to read is a personal opinion of a challenge that is close to my heart. I have swum the English Channel and at many of the places where they trained and also know quite a few of the coaches and trainers and wider team.

There is a difference between a hero and a celebrity, of which I am neither, but I know quite a few of both due to my work and being involved in ulradistance swimming.

So let’s all be nice about this post if you read it and decide to comment.

When the series hit the screens, I was unable to watch it first hand but my social media accounts went mad. This little challenge that had been dreamed up was fast becoming the swimming world’s Brexit. Posts on social media started flying around and comments were flooding in. As is the case with social media (and I have recently been at the sharp end of it), sometimes your posts are not always positive in everyone’s eyes and often, the comments can be quite cutting. As the poster, you can certainly receive a lot of vitriol from people who have no idea on what they are commenting on.

Extremely competent long distance swimmers who have swum the Channel multiple times were being pilloried by the comments on their posts whilst others were receiving great praise on theirs. When the programmme first aired, you had Channel swimmers literally standing up and shouting at their televisions; “This is madness!” “Great! Lets make a mockery of our sport!” “They never going to do it!” For those that have not had the honour of knowing a Channel swimmer, they were all of a sudden mesmerised by the challenge. For those that either are, or know people that have swum the Channel, we also became mesmerised – for me, mainly out of curiosity. I do not generally follow anything that is fronted by celebrities. However I have now watched all the episodes so far.

My initial reaction was as follows

• There is no way they will be able to do this. Had the producers taken into account possible failure?
• It is not under Channel swimming rules as wetsuits were allowed, so why call it a Channel swim?
• This is making a mockery of a sport where people spend years training, for a Solo attempt or a relay. So 12 weeks was a tall order.
• I would rather see a documentary about real people rather than celebrities. However I do understand the pull they have when it comes to raising much needed funds for Cancer Charities.
• However, I was glad to see such diversity of people covering both colour, gender and ability. We Always need more diversity.
• It certainly shines a spotlight on open water swimming.
• They were in very good hands from a coaching perspective and safety was always in place.
• Raising money for a great cause is always a good thing and have well known names helps this cause. Honestly, I had only ever heard of 4 of the “celebrities” I had never heard of the rest.

So I broke my pact of NEVER watching a celebrity-orientated programme. I thought, this could be interesting. The night the first programme aired, I remember the posts and comments heating up all night. Meanwhile, while the programme was on, there was a true hero in the channel, someone who had fought for 4 long years to get her opportunity to take it on. In that 4 years, she had suffered the devastating news that she had cancer. She had fought it, beat it and also had many other challenges and family bereavements along the way. On that night she fought hard for over 18 hours to gain her right to be called a Channel swimmer. This coincided with the first episode of Sink Or Swim so feelings on the night were super emotionally charged. And here we sat, watching a bunch of celebrities taking on a challenge they had no idea about, and simultaneously tracking a lady who knew exactly what a Channel swim challenge meant. I was slightly annoyed that this hero of the sport could not get the publicity that the celebrities could.

When I finally watched the first spisode, it became very clear that no matter how much the team of celebrites had been told about how tough a challenge they were about to embark on, none of them had a clue about its magnitude. They seemed to approach it with a very happy-go-lucky attitude, the same attitude that I experienced when I decided to take on the real solo Channel swim. I was totally clueless and knew it. I was terrified about this challenge that would push my body and my mind way beyond my wildest dreams. I tended to cover it up with jokes, wit and comedy when I talked about it. My most common response to the reason why I was doing it was, “I cannot afford a ferry ticket.” A bit like one of the celebrities on the show, I started to see similarities between their first tentative steps and mine. I could also see why there had been quite a few people shouting at the TV the night before. The first episode was about the coaches and the celebrities realising what they had to deal with and it was not looking pretty for either side.

The one thing that was very different between the team’s challenge and nearly every other person who takes on this stretch of water is the financial implications. Battling the emotional rollercoaster of the challenge whilst figuring out how to afford it is one of the huge tolls that every Channel swimmer encounters. We do not have the expertise and the support that this team would have.

Episode two saw the celebrities taking on bigger challenges, some achieving them and others not. The magnitude was starting to sink in with every shortcoming that was encountered. The reality of what they were up against was now weighing heavily on them. With some being sidelined due to injury, and others battling the inevitable mind games, the sheer emotional turmoil was becoming visible. This is made worse when you are in a team, as the overiding sense of not wanting to let the side down can overwhelm you. You also started to see the euphoria that all Channel swimmers experience when they break through barriers that they never really dreamed of surpassing. For the celebrities it began with their first swims in open water, then the first time they managed to swim without the safety of the walls and the floor, and so on. For me, this directly equated to the first time I managed to swim 5km, my first open water swim, my first swim in the ocean, my first 2 hour, then 6 hour and 8 hour swim. As the goals were reached and surpassed, each was accompanied by the same emotional outpouring that they were going through. There were many tears of joy and tears of despondancy and inadequacy. Exactly what I and many other Swimmers/Athletes had experienced over the years.

In this second episode, you could begin to see where the team were and who might get to the start, and who might not. The cracks were beginning to appear. The coaches now realised where their stronger team members might come from and which ones might not make it to the start. Again, the weight of not wanting to let the team down was ever present. From a viewer’s perspective, again I could see close similarities to the team and my own journey. One celebrity in particular portrayed my own demeanour extremely well and I could relate to what they were going through.It was like they had me on the team. Who can guess whom I think I am most like in the team?

With the airing of episode three, huge similarities started to appear, doubts being the main one but with each challenge, the field was thinning out. In this episode, they swam in rivers – to mimic tide??? Don’t reallly know why that was but for all that finished, it was the first 5km swim they had ever done. For those that did not make it, the disappointment and embarassment was tough to take. Then it was their first sea swim, possibly one of the bigger obstacles for many of the team to overcome, but overcome it they did. A pecking order began to establish itself, into the definite stronger swimmers and the definite slower swimmers. At this point, the coaches had to let the team know that they could be swimming for three days because of their slow speeds – they were instantly shocked into stunned silence. Another blow came when one of the stonger swimmers removed themself from the team due to injury. Morale was at an all time low. The remaining group of swimmers had been relying on that persons speed to get them through and now he Might not be there!!!

Injury featured heavily now as did emotional breakdowns and huge doubts – all very much what most Channel swimmers experience. This team were lucky to have doctors, hypnotherapists and physiotherapists on call, something not many can have. What did make me laugh was when a physiotherapist told one of the team they had to rest. I just laughed. How many swimmers, Channel or other, have been told exactly that just before one of their biggest challenges in their life? When I got told that, I just said sorry, that is not an option. What was an option for me was to focus on my mental training more and more, and less on the physical side. In my opinion, My mind is my most powerful tool in a challenge like this. If Ican keep that from breaking, My body will get through it.

Next stop for the team was Shepperton lake, my local haunt for a night swim. This event seperated out the team even further, but, if they were going to be swimming for possibly three days, a night time swim would be inevitable. More emotional highs and lows and sucesses and failures. It was surprising as a viewer to see who was starting to stand out and who was really struggling with the challenge in their head. Those that were successful now had the ability to swim but at night, with dark goggles for some! Interesting approach, but not that it makes much of a difference. I often swim with my eyes closed to remove all visual stimuli and force my mind to focus on the task at hand.

Finally, it was time for a 2 hour qualifying swim, this time at a favorite spot for me, Loch Lomond. As far as a challenge goes, this was going to be huge. Having spent an entire night and, more recently some daytime hours both in and on the loch, I can vouch that it is COLD, and black with visibility down to a minimum. To see one of them swim it in skins would be a big ask. This was now the final test before the final team would be chosen; two hours in the loch, not being allowed to touch the boat – if you did, you were out. This is about where the similarity to the real thing was most noticable. Again there were surprises as to who did and who did not make it. For those still in it, you could see their confidence in the water growing and with it their reliance on the other teams mates reducing. It was now 2 weeks away from their challenge.

So, can you take 12 non swimming celebrities and turn them into a team that can possibly make it across to France? I have an inkling of the outcome already but you will have to wait and see. Bear in mind that this team has had the best coaches, the best expertise at their disposal to get them over even the toughest obstacles and still some have fallen. There are not many swimmers out there who have this at their disposal and most have to navigate those obstacles on their own.

Having been an endurance swimmer for 11 years now, I take on, what some might regard as mamoth challenges, knowing I have done them before and I am a confident, some might even say competent swimmer. To face up to, and overcome, fears and phobias of any kind is a mamoth task and cannot be understimated. Luckily I share none of the phobias that this team has and have never had to face them. I hope I never have too.

Has it been realistically portrayed?

On that front, I can say that all the emotions, all the highs and lows and all the doubts that creep into every Channel swimmer’s head are realistically portrayed. I have experienced all of them and have had a few giggles with my chief support crew, the Slimhippo who knows full well what it’s like to watch mental blowouts and have to deal with them! During the final swim, there will be noone but themselves to deal with that niggling injury, that feeling of helplessness, that feeling of overwhelming doubt, that sheer sense of boredom, that overwhelming desire to just throw in the towel. Noone to get them through their mental meltdown – which I believe will be inevitable. Nothing but themselves to rely on and nothing but themselves to blame or reward for the outcome. One challenge they have not tackled and can be a real mind bender is the getting in and getting out that will always be the case in a relay.

I wish them all the best of Luck both in the challenge and also in the Charity drive.

https://www.standuptocancer.org.uk/donate