Friday, July 23, 2010

Well today is my third day at home since my Epic swim last Monday and I was begining to feel human until I was kidnapped by Frank McNamara last night and he re introduced me to GUINNESS !!!! So today I also have my 1st Hangover in over 10 months !! Not sure if I miss them !!

I am floating on top of the World absolutley thrilled with myself and I have to pinch myself regularley to remind myself that I have Swum The English Channel.

I would like to thank all my crew who helped me to achieve my goal and a huge word of thanks goes to of you the people who sent texts tweets prayers and positive thoughts which helped me accross the Channel.

I would love to know how many people were tracking my swim on the GPS tracker it seems that everyone I speek to was watching my progress.

I will do another blog over the next few days
Monday, July 19, 2010
Liam finished his
English Channel Solo swim in 13 hrs 11 mins...... What can I say!!!! Great achievement. Im so very proud Kaye
Jim has no signal so finding it hard to tweet , keep sending tweets he will get them eventually. Last update liam doing really well they can see France no signing of landing yet.
Im here in Goudhurst with Sarah my cousin trying to pass a few hours but we are still keeping a watchful eye on the tracker. Kaye
An early start for everyone, we woke at 2.15 am . Liam slept really well even if I didnt but hey he is the one swimming. We all left Varne Ridge and down to the Marina. It was very busy there Relay Teams , solo swimmers loading boats and getting the last few minutes on dry land. A little hiccup we forgot the passports so after me speeding back to the caravan park for them it was time to leave.
Liam set off from Shakespere beach ,I am not on the boat as i dont have great sea legs so I watched him leave from the road.. The weather conditions are very good its going to be about 22 deg today. Now all I have to do is wait ...........
Sunday, July 18, 2010
OMG!!!!!!
The time is here we are off to the boat at 3.30 am the weather here is fantastic. The view from Varne Ridge is great you can see the coast of France very clearly. Thanks to everyone for the messages of goodluck we both really appreciate them.

Liam.To day is what the last year of hard trainning was for. I know in my own heart that you will make it, you have a great crew that will look after your needs and see you saftely to France. I will see you in Dover later..My love always Kaye
Well we arrived in Dover yesterday around lunch time and found Varne Ridge Caravan park our base for the next few days. I spent some time looking at the placks on the wall of all the Channel swimmers who have stayed here over the last couple of decades. Lots of Irish I must say!
Dave and Evelyn our hosts here take a very keen interest in the swimmer and they go out of their way to make us as comfortable as possible.

We meet some other Channel aspirants in the Mobile Home Park (Eddie from Brazil, Thomas from Wexford/London and Luke from the UK, Steven Black and Finbarr due here tonight)
I was anxious to get in the water and have a stretch out so down to the port with the lot of us where we met allot of the gang who came over for the Sandycove Swim Camp along with Freda Streeter who was training some 50 swimmers who are either soloist's or team members.

The waves were crashing in over the harbour wall and it was quite rough inside as well. getting into the water is quite a challenge on the steep stoney beach and when in the water it was strange not being able to see your hand as it glided through its very cloudy and extra salty too.

My crew who are here with me in Dover are Kaye (wife and emotional support) Eddie (support swimmer and the reason i'm here) Imelda (invaluable knowledge and motivator) Jimmy (communications and photographer) and of course Ozzi (Kaiser & physio and massage) .

The weather has improved overnight and it was lovely on the cliffs at 6am this morning, its not quite right for a solo crossing yet but i think 1 or 2 relays are heading out. I will get a better idea from mike my pilot at Lunch time today but i may not get final confirmation of the swim till 2 hrs before....it all down to weather conditions at this stage.

We called in to the White Horse a pub where most successful swimmers go to put their name on the ceiling, the photo attached is of Eddie writing his name up and me looking on.
Friday, July 16, 2010
Track Liam by Gps
Thursday, July 15, 2010



I've got the call from my skipper and my team and I are traveling to Dover on Saturday morning next. The hope is that I will swim either Sunday Monday or Tuesday and looking at the weather i'd be hoping for Monday.


What Happens Next I hear you say!


Well I will wait in Dover until the alotted time to meet the skipper and his boat "The Gallivant"


which you can track at www.bit.ly/trackliam , and we load up the crew in the Harbour and then make our way to the Beach at the end of the pictured cliff above.

En route to the Beach I will change into speedos and start lairing on the grease (Lanolin and Vaseline) I then jump over board swim to shore and turn around and wave at the boat when the clock will start.


I am not looking to beat any time just to achieve my goal and to cross the channel. My start time is looking like 4am so it will be dark but not for long if you are tracking me you might notice that i'm not swimming in a straight line, well i'm trying to but the tide is pushing me one way and a few hours later the opposite so my swim should look like an S.


As I near the French coast there will be a strong current so I will have to conserve energy to swim through it and not be dragged up to Belgium. Asuming I make it accross I will have a few minutes on the beach after which I will swim back to the boat and we will power back to Dover....


I am still raising Money for both the Hospice and for the RNLI







Wednesday, July 14, 2010
I swam in the & hogs swim on Sunday last and it was a really tough one.
2 meter swells in places, poor enough viz and lack of local knowledge made it a very tough swim for me.

However i was minding myself for this weekends big swim which is going to be the Channel......
Monday, July 12, 2010
We took the kids out of school for the last few days and high tailed it off to Orebic (a small village on the Croatian Coast oposite the Island of Kortula).The average temperature was 29deg and the water was a lovely 22deg.
The deal with my family was a 2hr swim every 2nd day and I must say it was a great way to taper (coach may not agree but we'll soon find out if twas good or bad).
We ate loads of fish and read a couple of books and generally spent much needed time with the kids.
Well we're home nearly 5 days at this stage and although I feel very rested it has been hectic between work and fitting in some swims.

Roll on the swim 8 or 9 days to go !!

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About me

I am a 40 year old happily married man with 3 fantastic children and a very supportive wife...........And I'm going to swim the English Channel !!

I live in Cork City, Ireland and I am the owner of Sheilas Hostel (www.sheilashostel.ie) and Gabriel House (www.gabriel-house.com) .

I have returned to my childhood sport of swimming after 26 years and I now train in Source under the watchfull eye of my coach Eilis Burns.





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