Bericht van nieuwbakken Kanaalzwemmer Milko van Gool

Bericht van Milko van Gool, ook op zijn blog gepubliceerd.

Beste vrienden,

Het is nu officieel: ik ben Kanaalzwemmer! Mijn tijd vandaag was 10 uur, 29 minuten en 45 seconden, sneller dan ik durfde te hopen. Watertemperatur was 16-17 graden Celsius, zee ruwer dan ik verwachtte, maar wel gunstige rugwind.

Heel erg bedankt voor alle steunbetuigingen tijdens de overtocht: ik kreeg ze steeds doorgegeven via Asha tijdens de voedingen en dat hielp enorm tijdens de moeilijke momenten, die er zeker waren!

Morgen hoop ik meer details en foto's te kunnen geven, ik moet nu mijn bed in!

Milko


Dear friends,

It is now official: I am a Channel Swimmer. I swam the Channel today in 10 hours, 29 minutes, 45 seconds, faster than I could have hoped for. Water temp was 16-17 degrees Celsius, sea a bit rougher than expected, but a favourable wind in the back. Let me add that I have now a much better understanding and even more respect for the achievements of the legendary Bangladeshi swimmer Brojen Das, who crossed the Channel 6 times!

Thanks so much for your messages of support: Asha transmitted them all to me during feeds, and they very much helped me through some of the difficult moments.

Will try to give more details and pictures tomorrow, I really need some sleep now.

Milko


Some pictures

We are on our way out of the hotel, so no time to write, but here are some pictures. Click on the phots to enlarge.

In the shipping lanes, in the middle of the swim, still many hours away from France.

 

Proof that made it: having clambered over some big and slippery rocks, I am the tiny figure celebrating in the middle of the picture.

 

Having swum back to th boat I am getting out of the water, face swollen after more than 10 hours in the water

 

Let's not forget what this swim was about. You can still contribute: see the buttons on top of the page! :-)

 

I couldn't have done it without my crew. From left to right: Marcel van der Togt (my coach and also successful Channel swimmer, me, my wife Asha, captain Paul Foreman, and deck hand Ray. The CS&PF observer is not in the picture, as he was taking it.