Getting Closer!

Its getting closer to go-time. We called the pilot today and he said he will probably take us out on Friday or Saturday! Someone is supposed to go out before us...but we saw lightning on our way back from dinner. Today the channel was really calm. While we swam it was really low tide. I realized..after getting cut..that if there is seaweed there are usually rocks. So watch out for that if you ever go swimming in low tide. We're mostly up to just hanging around my hotel. We're pretty much pals with the front desk people, and I'm pretty sure the people at the gelato store have begun to recognize us. We (Shanni, Leore, Ezra, Jasper and I) decided that it would be fun to make a movie. So maybe we'll be premiering that on my blog. Touring has been to a minimum. But if all goes well I'll have lots of time for that afterwards! My grandparents have joined us today so that means we have 11 people in our party, restaurants usually aren't so happy with seating all of us. Hopefully the weather will be in our favor!

Thanks to everyone who has left comments of encouragement!
Also I'm having trouble loading photos but if you click on the slideshow it will send you to my picasa web album which will show you larger versions of them. I will keep adding more photos to that album.

Meeting With Reg

Today, we swam in Dover Harbour once again. The Dover Regatta was taking place so there were tons of booths on shore. After a quick swim we ate some doughnuts and a French dish that I can't remember the name of, but was quite delicious. We arranged to meet with Reg Brickell, my pilot at 1:30 under the Channel Swimming Association (CSA) tent. We toured through the town a bit to kill some time. Jasper and Ezra, my brothers, desperately wanted to go down an inflatible slide they had set up. My mom allowed all of us to go down, and after 3 runs we bounced off to meet Reg. I was lucky to get Reg as a pilot because he is highly sought after. He is known for his experience and many call him "the best." Apparently he has been piloting since he was sixteen years old! Reg was very easygoing and reassured me that I would be going out and he would get me across. After all I've done all the hard work all year, the "easy" part comes now. Reg says that if all goes well with the first swimmer (I'm the second swimmer in the tide slot) that I should be out on the seventh! Currently is windy and rainy, so hopefully it will lighten up towards the middle of the week so I can have a nice and flat crossing.

England..the first couple of days

I'm finally here in England. The culmination of a year's worth of training is near. It's kind of bittersweet to be ending my training but I'm looking forward to doing other things. My whole family including my grandparents will be coming with me. My friend/training partner extraordinare Leore Geller and her family are also coming. Leore has also been training all year with me and she will be my pacer. This was the first international flight I have ever been on, so I've never really experienced jet lag before. This was why it was recommended to me to arrive as early as possible. We are staying in Folkestone, which is in the County of Kent. Its about 15-20 mins from Dover, depending on how fast you drive. The hotel I am staying at is called the Langhorne Garden Hotel. It is great place to stay because the owners are quite accomdating and it is about a 5-10 min walk from a lovely beach. The beaches here are all made out of pebbles instead of sand so the water is really clear. There is a place called "the Sands," which is a beach made from imported sand. The first full day that I was here it was overcast, but still warm compared to the Berkeley weather. When its overcast its usually not windy, so I'll probably be swimming on a day like that because the water will be really calm. Our first dip in the English Channel was beautiful. And luckily I only saw one jellyfish. The next day the water became quite rough because the wind was up. We (Leore and I) went to "the Sands" to swim because the water was way too rough. I had NEVER seen water this choppy. After swimming for about 45 mins we bodysurfed in the waves. The waves at "the Sands" were still quite large. Today we went to Dover to swim. On the weekends groups of Channel swimmers gather to train together. It was still choppy today but not as bad because we were swimming in a harbour. Right after we got out, it started to rain lightly and the wind picked up. The weather here is quite unpredictable.