Rachel with cheque for BSA, in front of one of the paintings at the art exhibition inspired by her Channel Swim. The swim raised £1,800 for the Association.

Rachel Reed with former 'King of the Channel' Mervyn Sharp.

'Sunset on a big day in September': painting by Rachel.

Speaking Out

Carpe mare, Carpe diem and Carpe balbum!

Embrace the sea, embrace the day and (taking liberties with the Latin) embrace stammering - exactly as Rachel Reed did on 25th September last year, when she swam the Channel and raised £1,800 for the BSA. To put the achievement in context, more people have climbed Mount Everest than swum the 22 miles to France.

All was explained at Weymouth Library on 19th April when an art exhibition called 'Carpe mare', inspired by Rachel's swim, opened in the Mulberry Gallery. The work was by Rachel and Janice Kirkby-Brown, who was in the support boat on the swim.

As Rachel says, "For most of my life I have had a great love of the sea. Even though the English Channel is obviously a tough swim, I wouldn't have wanted to be anywhere else on that day. It is very interesting to think of the fact that people on the water, in boats, see the crossing in such a different light from the person in the water. The colours and sounds are so different from each perspective, even though Janice and I were only a few metres away from each other."

Also present was Mervyn Sharp, another Weymouth resident, and the one-time King of the Channel, who helped inspire Rachel, by swimming the Channel seven times.

Would Rachel like to do it again? "Yes" she says, "I could quite relish the thought of going through it again. Getting away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life has always been a tonic. Having a vast amount of ocean surrounding me is one of the best things in the world."

But swimming the Channel is not cheap. Apart from the time others kindly gave to help her, the hire of the support boat costs over £2,000. And if Rachel decides to do a return trip next time, it will cost more than £4,000. Amazing, really, that she had any money left to give so generously to the BSA and the RNLI.

And if she does do a return trip next time, the rules say that she can only have 8 minutes on the beach in France, where no one is allowed to help her in any way, before she has to get back into the sea and swim home.

We should admire Rachel: Channel swimmer, Alaskan kayaker, parachute jumper, long distance sailor and karate purple belt. Who says a stammer holds you back?!

YouTube video and more on the swim

From the Summer 2010 issue of Speaking Out, page 5.