Demi-god Status

How does a mere mortal appreciate the effort required to forful Hugh\'s last dream of swimming the channel. It comes in various forms of congratulations from fantastic to well done!, but being a long distance swimmer I can appreciate the effort on a different level. We all know hours of beating the lanes in the pool and working on the mind are all prerequisites to a swim of this distance, so what separates this from other swims. It took sitting on the boat for over 13 hour watching someone hour after hour beating their arms  to simply forful their dreams to make me really understand that a simple , \'well done\' seems inadequate.

 

The diesel engines smoked as we left Dover harbour for Shakespeare beach,  in the pitch dark. I was so pumped to be part of a channel crossing team. A dream of most long distance swimmers. I was in the role of pacer according to the channel swimming official and proud of it. 1 hour in the water and  1 hour out was the official rules. After the first hour in the water I calculated another 5 leaps over the side into the cold water and swimming. It was all made spectacular with  crossing the busiest shipping lanes in the world and riding the wake each massive ship sent us. All the while my efforts were being doubled and with out rest. Hugh\'s nausea concerned me as he was only drinking fluid and not eating, but the whole while the machine kept a steady rhythm. In the water its cold, lonely and silent as your ears are full of prestick and to keep that going for 13 hours+ it requires an effort more than physical endurance but the mental drive to keep you going. The quote of the trip was founded the following morning over a big breakfast when Hugh was asked what he had learnt from the swim. The reply, \'I now know where the devil lives\', cause the temptation to get out the water was offered so many times. And getting out would have been easy, but to stick it out for all that time requires the effort of more than a mortal, but that of a demi-god!