On July 10, 2007 I successfully swam the English Channel in 13 Hours and 52 Minutes. I returned to The Channel in August 2007 as a support swimmer for Loraine Verghese who supported me, and then I will be embarking on another Major swim to try and reach my fundraising target of £50,000 for CLIC Sargent and St Nicholas' Hospice.



Above: Paul and support swimmer Loraine Verghese swim with the P&O Dover to Calais ferry. 

Unfortunately, I have filled up my allocation of 'blog space' on this site, so have had to put my next blog on a different site.  To get to the next site, please click on the link below:-

Above: Casper pulling me ashore at Felixstowe - April 22, 2007

Having just watched one of my favourite films “Trains, Planes and Automobiles…” again recently, a name for my latest channel swim blog came to mind “Hypothermia, Seagulls and Labradors…” .

Hypothermia

Having swum with Super Tankers on Easter Monday (see below), I wondered what could possibly beat that the following Sunday, April 15^th. Well read on! I decided to try a double Fludyers Arms swim on this particular day. i.e. from Felixstowe Pier to the Fludyers Arms beach, then back again, a distance of two miles as the crow flies (or seagulls in this case). The temperature was still 8 degrees centigrade but I think I am becoming immune to it now (either that or I am losing all of my senses – no comments please!). Anyway, entering the simply body numbing water, I swum to the Fludyers Arms beach and back again, in about 50 minutes then got out. All was great. The wife met me on the beach. The people who had sat on the beach with their mouths wide open when I left, were still sitting there with their mouths wide open and a cold chip still hovering near their mouths when I returned. It was like time had stood still.

Anyway, I walked up to the promenade, chatted to the wife then walked casually to the sports centre to get changed. When I got into the changing room, I started to shake uncontrollably. My teeth were chattering and I could barely get my key in the locker, because my hands were shaking. I realised that my core body temperature was still dropping, even though I had been out of the water for the best part of 15 minutes. I panicked slightly and ran into the hot shower standing under it for about 20 minutes, feeling dizzy, and sick until I eventually warmed up. I felt sick for the remainder of the day.

Any potential channel swimmers reading this blog – DON’T EVER DO WHAT I HAVE JUST EXPLAINED. EVER, EVER, EVER. NO. NO. NO. On the Monday, I e-mailed the channel swimmers forum, and had e-mails from Southern California, Western Australia and Dorset to name but a few. In a nutshell, I could have fainted in the shower or worse still, died. I have now learnt that you must leave the water and put on a woolly hat, shirt, tracksuit etc., take a hot drink and by no means should you even consider taking a hot shower until the body has warmed up naturally. Well, who said this hasn’t been a learning experience.

Seagulls and Labradors

Last Sunday, April 22^nd, I did the same swim, however this time at 11 degrees centigrade. Excellent! It is getting warmer at long last. However, half way back to the pier, I noticed a very observant seagull looking directly at my butt, and I don’t like that sort of thing! I turned over from doing front crawl, and did three strokes on my back while saying “Go away please Seagull” (that was not my exact words, but you get the idea). 3 minutes later he was back on butt watch. I rolled over again and really shouted “Will you go away please seagull”. It was amazing. He understood me this time, and he disappeared for good.

Eventually I got to the beach at the Pier (those people were still sitting there in the same position. I wonder if they were statues?) My wife, son and Casper the barking Labrador (barking as in ‘woof’ as opposed to being mad) were there to greet me and wrap me up in clothes (not getting that hypothermia malarkey again, got that sussed). Anyway, feeling left out he jumped in and joined me for a swim, and I grabbed his tail while he guided me to shore (this is not a landing technique recognised by the Channel Swimming Association).

I am now starting to enjoy the sea swimming, and am finding it easier than the swimming pool which I am starting to find is simply too hot (31 degrees Centigrade at Culford this morning!). I have now clocked up 178.1 KM (110.7 Miles) in training since last August, have raised £2,291.93, which has gone directly to CLIC Sargent and St. Nicholas’s Hospice, and have enough money to pay for the boat from the corporate sponsors (£1,800.00).

I am now looking forward to the channel. Please log onto the web site and sponsor me to help me reach the target of £50,000. Thank you.

Hoffy.

Web: www.HoffysChannelSwim.org.uk

e-mail: paul@HoffysChannelSwim.org.uk

Above: Hoffy (the ripple in the foreground) training with the sailing boats and super tankers at Felixstowe - Easter Monday, April 09, 2007.

On Easter Monday we set of for what will be our first of many trips to Felixstowe over the next three months, to get some cold water training in. It is fine going up and down a swimming pool getting the lengths in to gain fitness, but if I'm going to get across the channel, then I have to aclimatise to the cold water, and to swimming in the sea.

This was cold. This was very cold. When I first put my toe in, then my foot then entered up to my waist, I couldn't get my breath. I remembered thinking how strange that was. "It seems colder than Boxing day" I thought to myself. "Come on. Pull yourself together". I looked back at the wife with Labrador in tow barking his head off because he wanted to come in. I got out, told her how cold it was, she looked at me, I turned round then went back in for a second go. It hadn't got any warmer. I covered myself with handfuls of water trying to get my body used to it. The air temperature was 17 Degrees Centigrade. The sun was out. People were sitting on the beach in T shirts, shorts and eating Ice creams. "Come on boy what's wrong with you? Get in there!". This time I hadn't put any Channel Grease on. Edward Williams (see below) had told me not to use it until I swum the channel. This way, my body would get used to the cold, and so when I swum the channel I wouldn't feel it so much because I would be wearing the grease for the first time. I took the plunge and entered up to my neck.

My chest felt as though a herd of stampeding wildebeest were running majestically across it. I could not get my breath. I started to swim breaststroke, then rolled onto my back to do some backstroke. It was easier but I was still struggling to get my breath. It definitely felt colder than the Boxing day swim, but how could it be? It was April 9^th, the midday sun was beating down on me, how could it be? I rolled over onto my front and started to swim.

To my right, a large fully laden super tanker with the words “Yang Ming” on the side appeared along with a small sailing boat. At least I was not alone out here. My God it looked huge. It was huge. Here I was out at sea, on my own swimming close to a fully laden Super Tanker! I started to increase my stroke rate and just wanted to swim the 1 mile from the pier to the Fludyers Arms Hotel beach and get out. I breathed to the left this time and saw the wife in the distance running along the promenade with the dog pulling her towards the Fludyers Arms. I felt safer in the knowledge that I could see her, even though she could do nothing if I got into difficulty.

After about 15 minutes, the old familiar feeling of my hands, arms, legs and feet going totally numb returned. It was just like Boxing Day all over again. This time I tried to resist it. I kicked my feet hard, and swum faster in a futile attempt to get warm. It failed, but I did get some very slight feeling in my hands and feet. I got into a rhythm and started to feel good. Cold, but good. Eventually, the Fludyers Arms beach came into view, and the wife and dog were on the beach, ready to greet me as I came ashore. This time, I managed to walk out as opposed to crawl out. Two people were eating ice creams and sat there with their mouths wide open as I emerged from the sea and said “Morning. Lovely day for it”. A crew of a local sea rescue service sat there with their boat collecting money. “Come far?” one of them said. “Just from the pier” I replied. “Rather you than me” he said. “It’s 8 Degrees Centigrade in there!”.



Above: getting out at The Fludyers Arms Beach after my 1 mile swim

I knew it! It was 1 Degree Centigrade colder on a sunny April day than it was on bleak cold day in December! It had been 9 Degrees then and 8 today. I can honestly say that I am now getting acclimatised to this cold water swimming malarkey, even though I must be totally mad to even want to!
 
We’ll all be back again next week for another go. This time, to double the distance.

Hoffy.

Web: www.HoffysChannelSwim.org.uk
e-mail: paul@HoffysChannelSwim.org.uk 

VIRTUAL: Paul Hopfensperger with Don Neate and Michael Read (Bury Free Press photograph ref. 0703-207-3)

A KING OF CROSS-Channel swimming has dived into a fund-raising challenge to support CLIC Sargent and St. Nichoals’ Hospice, in Bury St Edmunds.

Michael Read, 66, who has swum the English Channel a record 33 times, appealed for teams to take part in a virtual Channel swim on Sunday, May 27, at Culford School.

Mr Read, along with Cllr Paul Hopfensperger and Don Neate, president of the West Suffolk Swimming Club, has organised the 21-mile challenge for swimmers of all ages and abilities.

He said: “It is a mind blowing experience pounding up and down the lanes and raising money for charity is an added incentive.”

Five teams of six swimmers will take part in a non-stop challenge, swimming one hour each until 1,344 lengths of a 25-metre pool have been completed. Half the money raised will go to charity and the other half to their club.

Members of the public will also get the chance to support the cause by completing the distance in their own time in any number of swimming sessions.

Cllr Hopfensperger, who is training for his real-life cross Channel swim, is also behind the campaign. He said “I would encourage anyone who wants to participate to get a team together.”

Paul won gold and silver medals at the 2007 Cold Water Swimming Championships on Saturday, representing West Suffolk Swimming Club.

For more information about taking part in the virtual swim, visit www.virtualchannelswim.info or email entries@virtualchannelswim.info

Article reproduced by kind permission of Barry Peters at the Bury Free Press (March 30, 2007). Article and photo copyright Bury Free Press 2007.

Above: Tooting Bec Lido, London, The UK's Largest Open Air Swimming Pool where Hoffy will compete in the 2007 Cold Water Swimming Championships on Saturday March 24, 2007.

UPDATE - Saturday March 24, 2007 - 19:25 Hrs. - Hoffy takes Gold & Silver at 2007 Championships in 7 Degree Centigrade (45 Degrees Fahrenheit) water! See below...

I was sitting in the Clarice House jacuzzi Wednesday March 14th after my training swim, talking to a lady about a cold water swimming article she had recently read, where swimmers in Finland had hacked out a 25 Metre swimming pool in the ice, then dived into the water at -36 Degrees Centigrade. Having just read Lynne Cox's book, Swimming to Antartica, where she had swum for 1 mile at 0 Degrees Centigrade, which had been a human first, I questioned if this information was correct. On Friday, as we sat in the same jacuzzi (we had been home since - not together of course, but to different homes - doh! where was I) she told me she had left the newspaper cutting at reception for me to read. I thanked her and went home to read the article.

Having read it while sitting at home shivering and noted that it did indeed say these stalwart Finnish people, and a British contingent, had swum at -36 Degrees C (I still can't believe it!) I noticed a little article next to the main article which read as follows:-

FURTHER INFORMATION

This year's UK Cold Water Swimming Championships take place on Saturday 24 March at Tooting Bec, Lido, London SW16. For more information or to register, contact South London Swimming Club (07985 141 532; www.slsc.org.uk).

Reading the article, I thought, Yes! a chance to do some cold water swimming in preparation for the channel. I rang the number and left a message on the mobile and waited for someone to call me back.

On Mothers Day, Beccy and I spent all afternoon preparing the meal for our mums. Just as we sat down to eat on Sunday evening, the phone rang. A lady called Margy was on the other end. Margy explained that she was the one mentioned in the article and was one of the 40 strong British contingent who had travelled to Finland for the afore mentioned swim at -36 Degrees C! We had a good chat, and I am now entered in the over 40 year old "Head Up Breastroke race" and the Over 40 Freestyle Race" which is described as a race "..to appease the more testosterone-fuelled swimmers". 

Further information on both the lido, which looks fantastic, and the swimming championships themselves (including this crazy stroke called "Head Up Breastroke" which I have never swum before) can be found on the folloing web site: www.slsc.org.uk.

All being well, I will give you an update of how I got on next week (after I have thawed out!).

If you would like to sponsor me for my continued, if somewhat mad efforts, please do so by clicking on the link below and select either the CLIC Sargent or the St. Nicholas' Hospice logos to donate securely online.

2007 COLD WATER SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS, TOOTING BEC LIDO, LONDON, 24/03/2003



Getting up at 5.00am on a cold Saturday morning in March, we drove to Tooting Bec in South London to take part in the 2007 Cold Water Swimming Championships. Seeing the maginificently restored Tooting Bec Lido made me reminisce about our old outdoor Bury Pool which alas is no longer there (see www.FromTheStudyWindow.co.uk - 'The times they are a-changin'. Let's hope Broomhill in Ipswich get's re-opened A.S.A.P.).

Anyway, I registered for my two events in the Men's 41-50 years age group of "Head up Breastroke" and "The Freestyle". What I didn't realise when I had won my "Head up Breastroke" heat quite convincingly, was that there was more than one heat for each age group with the fastest three times in all heats being given the 1st, 2nd and 3rd places overall respectively. So when it came the presenting the medals and the announcer said "In second place, representing the West Suffolk Swimming Club - Paul Hophenspherger (note the spelling!)..." my mum ran up shouting "No, he won it, he won it!" Embarrassed and slightly confused myself I stood on the second place block and received my silver medal. Packing my mum off to the burger stall so she could move away from the swimming area and away from the announcer, I learned about how the process worked and ensured I did not make the same mistake in the Freestyle event.



Above: Hoffy (far right) receives the silver medal for the "Head Up Breastroke" event.

Entering the 7 Degree water for the second time, this time in the first heat of 4 (24 swimmers total), the horn went and I legged it faster than you could say "Jolly cold in here isn't it". I breathed to the right and could see someone in the next lane just behind me, but too close for comfort. Breathing left was the same. I upped it a notch and gave 110% which considering the water tempreature was about 20% more than I actually had! I smoked it to the finnish smashing my hand into the wall and winning by a touch! I legged it out of the water immediately in me wet speedos to warm up in the relatively warm 10 degree air temperature.  After all events were complete it came to the medal presentation. The suspense was killing me. "In 3rd place..." came the announcement. It wasn't me. "In 2nd place..." came the announcement. It still wasn't me. Oh well, I'll try again next year I thought. "In first place representing the West Suffolk Swimming Club, and swimming the channel this year - Paul Hophenspherger!". I couldn't believe it! In my first two competitve races in over 12 years, and in the coldest water I had ever swum in, I had a gold and silver medal. Not bad I thought. I was quite chuffed with myself.



Above: Hoffy wins the Freestyle event (nearest camera) and below receiving the Gold medal for winning the event.
 


I met many channel swimmers there, including Kevin Murphy who has swum across 34 times and Cliff Golding.  I picked up some good tips from them and made new contacts.



At the end of the meet, a lady from Finland performed the handover ceremony for the 2008 World Winter Swimming Championships which will be held there from 8 - 10 February 2008. I've got the bug now and I can't wait!

Click here for more photos and Hoffy's Event times and placings

Hoffy.

Web: www.HoffysChannelSwim.org.uk
e-mail: paul@HoffysChannelSwim.org.uk 

Above Left to Right: Paul Hopfensperger, Liam Fairhurst and Karen Roberts celebrate Liam's 12th Birthday at The Next Generation Gym, Cambridge, Monday February 26th, 2007.

(Before reading this article, please read "This is why I'm swimming the channel..." below to find out who Liam is and just what be has been through so far in his 12 short years).

Following on from my previous blog as mentioned above, my wife and I were delighted and honoured to be invited to a very special birthday party for a very special boy - Liam Fairhurst. He was so excited and happy that day. He also had a special cake made which had a cheque on it telling us that he had raised a staggering £70,000 pounds for CLIC Sargent by doing his 1 mile swim in December 2006, 1 year after he was given the all clear from his cancer. It was a special day, for a special boy and a special family.



This morning I received a telephone call from a mutual aquaintance who asked me how I was. I told her that I was not very happy because the doctor had just given me more antibiotics for my persistant ear infection, which was stopping me training for the channel swim. As I sat there feeling sorry for myself, she hit me with a killer blow. "I've got some bad news" she said, "Liam's cancer has come back". I was dumbstruck. We had a long conversation about it, but in a nutshell they are optimistic that they have caught it early. He will undergo chemotherapy followed by an operation to remove the cancer and is receiving the full support of CLIC Sargent.

I really can't express the emotion I am feeling at present, but I urge everyone who reads this to please donate just £10.00 to CLIC Sargent by clicking on the link below. More if at all possible. Liam's family, and many others like them need your money. I would like to say this to Liam.

"Liam, you are a fighter. You have got through this once, and you will get through this again. I am not now just swimming the the channel for CLIC Sargent and St. Nicholas' Hospice, I AM SWIMMING IT FOR YOU. If you can swim a whole mile having been through what you have been through, I can swim that little old channel for you."

Beccy and I send you our very best wishes, and I want you to be on that beach in Dover in July to wave me off. We will see you soon.

Hoffy and Beccy.

CLICK HERE TO DONATE DIRECTLY TO CLIC SARGENT TO HELP LIAM AND HIS FAMILY.

Web: www.HoffysChannelSwim.org.uk
e-mail: paul@HoffysChannelSwim.org.uk 

BREAKING NEWS - March 08, 2007 - CALLING ALL SWIMMING CLUBS!

We have decided to organise a "Virtual Channel Swim for Liam". In a straight line, the English Channel is 21 Statute Miles across. This is the equivalent to 1,344 lengths of a 25 Metre pool. We would like anyone who is interested in raising money for CLIC Sargent and their swim club to participate in a relay event of this distance. Please e-mail me on the above e-mail address or telephone me on 07887 711333 if your club would like to participate. It doesn't matter what club you are from, anywhere in the world will be OK. You can register with us, do your swim, and donate online to the fund. CALL NOW TO ENTER!

Hoffy.     

Above: Paul Hopfensperger and Successful 2006 Channel Swimmer Edward Williams, after his coaching session at St Neots Swimming Pool, Cambridgeshire on Tuesday February 13, 2007.

A recent visitor from Hampshire to my main channel swim web site (www.HoffysChannelSwim.org.uk) pointed me in the direction of a young swim coach named Edward Williams. Edward at the age of 19, successfully completed a 26 mile channel crossing in 14 hours on August 22, 2006. Edward and I e-mailed each other and I agreed to a 1 hour swim clinic in St. Neots on Feb 13. It was probably the best £30 I have so far spent in my attempts to gather information to complete this swim.

Edward spent 30 minutes teaching me the books to read, the food to eat (and not to eat) when swimming the channel. He told me how to conserve energy by adapting my stroke. He told me about how to ease the pain that will inevitably reach my shoulders after about 10 miles in the channel. It really was fascinating stuff.

After the 30 minute poolside theory, he told me to get my speedos on, and now let's try 30 minutes in the pool. Being now only 20 years young, Edward is very fit and has a typical swimmers triangular body. Stepping onto the poolside in me speedos at the ripe old age of 43 years and eleven months, I was breathing in so as to not appear too overweight in the presecence of a successful channel swimmer. He looked at me and said "Ah Yes!. You have the perfect figure for a successful channel swimmer!". I think he meant, what I already know. This is if you are too skinny, the cold will get you in the channel, and you could suffer from hypothermia. I thanked him for this compliment and I entered the water to begin my coaching.

The first thing he changed was my front crawl technigue. The same technique that successfuly helped me become county record holder for 100 Metres Freestyle at age 15. The same technique that helped me win the Mens Open 100 Metres freestyle at the Suffolk County championships at the age of 20. Edward changed it. He said, that we needed to extend the stroke and raise the elbows higher. He told me that if we could knock just one stroke off a length of a 25 mete swimming pool, we would be knocking 1344 strokes off the same distance in the channel and so preserve energy. Simple stuff but I need him to tell me that. He told me that if my elbows were too low in the channel, the waves would hit them and knock me off my stroke, gradually wearing me down. And so it went on for 30 minutes. It was fantastic stuff.

If anyone is thinking of doing any cold water swimming, I would recommend going to see Edward. He is a fascinating character, excellent coach and I could have listened to him all day. His web site is at www.edward-williams.org.uk.

CHANNEL SWIM NOW CONFIRMED

Most people who ask me about the swim, think that you just go down to Dover, get in the water, swim across the channel get out at Calais and have a croissant on the beach while having a Frenchman draping me in strings of Garlic and Onions. Unfortunately it is alot more complicated than that. At the start of January, I had to undergo a full medical and get approval from my GP to actually do the swim. A 32 page form had to also be completed and sent for approval by the Channel Swimming Association.

I am pleased to confirm that on February 15, 2007 I received an e-mail from Dr. Julie Bradshaw MBE (The Channel Swimming Association Secretary) confirming that my "...channel swim application has been processed and approved today". This is fantastic news and is another milestone in this mamoth one year project.

NOTE! Julie is the only person who has ever swum the channel doing the butterfly stroke. This is a formidable task which I cannot even comprehend!

Hoffy.

Web: www.HoffysChannelSwim.org.uk
e-mail: paul@HoffysChannelSwim.org.uk     

Above: Emerging from the sea at Felixstowe, Suffolk, Boxing Day - December 26, 2006. Swim Distance - 1 Mile. Water Temerature 48 Degrees Fahrenheit (9 Degrees Centigrade). My coldest swim to date.

When I heard that a few people were going to ‘take a dip’ in the sea on Boxing Day, I thought it too big an opportunity to miss to get in some cold water swim practice, and try and raise a few pounds toward the CLIC Sargent channel swim fund. With only just over a weeks notice, I started phoning the coast guard to see how cold the water was, and prepared myself mentally for what was undoubtedly going to be the coldest swim of my life.

I had just finished reading a book called “Swimming to ANTARTICA – Tales of a Long-Distance Swimmer” by Lynne Cox. At 14, Lynne Cox swam 27 miles from Catalina Island to the California mainland; at 15 and 16, she broke the men’s and women’s world records for swimming the English Channel. She is also the first person ever to have swum a mile in zero-degree water in Antarctica! This one book, from the most remarkable cold water swimmer who has ever lived, has taught me an immense amount about the mental and physical barriers that need crossing, to complete a channel swim. The one thing that was in my mind all over Christmas, and my wife’s also I know although she didn’t say, was what happened if I was out at sea on Boxing Day, alone, with no one to help, and hypothermia set in? Lynne Cox taught me to watch for the signs.

To complete a cold water swim, it doesn’t matter if your hands and feet get cold. It is uncomfortable, but it doesn’t matter. What matters is that you keep your core body temperature up, and that your brain is functioning correctly. This is why channel swimmers need to have a goodly portion of body fat on them, to keep the cold out of your inner body, i.e. your heart. Because what can happen is you can get so cold that your body just shuts down, your heart stops and you die, alone and out at sea. This was in my mind all over Christmas.

I was unexpectedly joined on the day by “The King Of The Channel” – Mike Read. I was absolutely stunned when he walked into the bar of the Fludyers Arms Hotel asking the Mayor of Bury St Edmunds “Where is he?”. He said he had heard me on the radio, and instead of going to Colchester, he was going to join me for the first ¼ Mile. “What an honour, to swim with Mike Read!” I thought.
 

After the photo shoots, we undressed, I put Channel Grease on for the first time and entered the water. When I got in up to my neck, I was shook rigid. It was undoubtedly the coldest water I had ever been in (48 Degrees Fahrenheit, 9 Degrees Centigrade). I looked at Mike. “If it’s too cold, just get out" he said. “No way” I thought. “If I give up here, no one will believe that I will swim the channel”. We started to swim. Breathing was difficult. Very difficult. I could not get my breath it was so cold. I stopped and looked at Mike. I had left him behind about 50 Metres. “I’m going to have to go” I shouted. “It’s too cold to hang around”. “I’m getting out after the fourth groyne” he said. I turned round and absolutely legged it!
 

Half way along, I started thinking about the hypothermia. My legs and hands were absolutely numb. It felt as though they weren’t there. I thought about Lynne Cox in Antarctica. “Keep thinking about your fingers being together” she said. “If they come apart, it means your brain is not communicating with your fingers, and so you need to get out quick”. My fingers were together, and my body, with it’s excess fat was quite warm. I kept going and made the one mile swim in 35 minutes. I touched the pier, swam to the shore, but could not get out. I physically could not stand up, my feet were so cold. They felt as though they were made of rubber. I crawled on hands and knees to the beach. Knelt down close to the beach, still in the water. Then with all my physical and mental strength, forced myself to stand up, and walked out onto the beach. I did it, I got out and was greeted by my wife, my son, my cousin Trevor Cole, and our friends Mike and Monica Ames.
 

I rushed to the car and got in, still soaking wet. Mike Read came running over, and said “Well done Paul. Well done!”. “Is it as cold as that in the channel?” I shivered. “No” he said. “It's about 58-60 in the Channel. If you can do what you did today, you can swim the channel”. Those words of encouragement were exactly what I needed to hear. We raised £60.15p in the bucket for CLIC Sargent. If you would like to retrospectively sponsor me for this swim, please click on the link below. The children and families like Liam’s (see below) need as much as we can possibly give them. They deserve it.

Please donate to CLIC Sargent by clicking here.