Swimming across the Humber!

I recently agreed to swim the Humber in aid of the Humber Rescue and that day had finally arrived!

The alarm went off at 7am and I dragged myself out of bed after what I can only describe as a heavy evening celebrating my wifes 40th birthday! Having made such excellent pre-event preparations I spent the next half hour looking for some minor things such as my wetsuit and towels etc…

Having all my stuff together I set off on the pushbike from Brigg at what I can only describe as a plod, in fact I think it was a wobbly plod! Thankfully the weather was excellent and by the time I reached the A15 I started to feel human again and was now looking forward to the swim.

I then headed over the bridge to the South shore and this gave me an excellent view of what I was going to be swimming…. Hmmm!

Everybody arrived nice and early to get ready and listen to the safety briefing.

Then it was into the boats and off to the North shore to be dropped off into the Humber….. and dropped off we was. For safety we had two Humber Rescue boats and also the support of a small boat at the rear. This meant it was important for the group to stay together to ensure the boats could cover us all.

One of the first things that you realise is just how strong the tide is, having been dropped off 100 yards on one side of the Humber Bridge we were already through to the other side. A large blast from Andy Veitch’s air horn let me know where they were on the bridge and head down and swim…. and swim…and swim.