Fuelled by Nutella butties and Cocktail Sausages

Fuelled by Nutella butties and Cocktail Sausages

By Karen Smith

September 4, 2018

Rick was "bricking it," in his words, when he met us at the start of his swim. With his ambitions of swimming the English Channel, this Windermere solo would test him mentally and physically. At the start, he handed over a box of food which included white Nutella muffins and cocktail sausages. Perfect party food! It was a strange combination, but as we say, feeding is very individual.

This was also the first time Rick had swum supported by a boat. After the initial start, we had to ask him to change sides because he was pulling sharply away from the boat; he would have clocked up unnecessary extra miles continuing like that. Once he moved to our right, he could no longer pull away, staying close to the side.

Rick was in great spirits, loving the attention from passing lake cruisers and the many training jets passing overhead during his swim. He hit the halfway marker at 4 hours, but it was here that Rick started to feel uncomfortable and his shoulders began to ache. He continued, but grew quieter and quieter during feeds. Eventually, with one mile to go, his humor returned as he shouted "Are we there yet?"—though with a more colorful choice of words.

After a tough 8 hours and 30 minutes, Rick completed his biggest swim to date. He was met by his lovely partner, who had been tracking his progress from the comfort of a hot tub!