As one would expect Duncan swam his heart out until he was beaten by protracted delays and finally that terrible English weather.

Climatic conditions didn't deter his sponsors and supporters and a magnificent total of $10,735 was raised; all of which will be used to fund medical research aimed a finding a cure for spinal cord injury.

Duncan and Jeanette Adams have been buoyed by the experience, particularly the selfless generosity of their friends.

From Jeanette: Here are a few snapshots and details of our 10 days away.

We arrived in Folkstone (5 miles from Dover) on Fri 17th Aug – actually had clear skies (for at least ½ an hour anyway!!) Here is the view from the place we stayed and the vast expanse of water that is the Channel! I’m sure France is over there somewhere?

It's only when you stand there and stare that you realise the enormous challenge that it is ...

AND
THEN
ENGLAND
DOES
WHAT
SHE
DOES
BEST ...

... PUTS ON GREAT WEATHER !

Here is beautiful Dover Harbour and Duncs training. We came every day and met swimmers from Russia, USA, Spain, UK, Mexico and India.

Don’t ya just love the blue skies, white sandy beaches and clear water?

Duncan could not even see his hand in the water when swimming ... And this is what they call SUMMER !
(ps: Balmoral it’s not!!!!)

Here is Duncan and Penny Palfrey.
She is from Townsville and was the fastest female across last year in 9 hrs-16 mins.

She was to swim the day after Duncan and hopefully improve her time – we do not yet know her how she went.

Note the shivering following their training swim!

And here is beautiful Folkstone harbour and Duncan’s support boat.

It’s the blue one in the middle named ‘Pathfinder’

– you can see the impact of the tides in the area ...

One swimmer missed the tides on the way back in and had to walk through the mud to get back to the shore !

So, after waiting a week watching the rain and gale force winds we were finally given the go-ahead for Friday morning ...
the weather was supposed to be clearing but wasn’t that great with seas still quite rough.

Here is a bit of advertising for the Balmoral Beach Club.
Duncan had to have two night-sticks taped to his swimmers for when darkness sets in – and you can see I greased him up well!

So – he set off in a good pace – however about ½ way across the mental strain became too much.
With the choppy seas and swallowing quite a bit of water –
coupled with the diesel boat fumes he started to wonder
‘why am I doing this?’ and ‘do I actually want to spend another 8-hrs in the water?’…

We got him going about another 5 times but each stop came over a shorter distance - finally we got him back on the boat
– we were always told the mind gives out before the body !

So – unfortunately the swim didn’t go to plan but we would like to thank each and everyone of you for your kind generosity and wonderful support.

... I think we will stick to sunny, flat Balmoral – although there is talk of perhaps a ‘family relay’ in a couple of years time! Stay tuned.

Kind regards,
Jeanette & Duncan Adams