Summer Job

I observed 8 swims for the Channel Swimming Association and thoroughly enjoyed it. It gave me many opportunities to take photographs, most of them are posted on Photobox. Not just swimmers, but also some of the 500, or more, ships that travel up, down and across the English Channel every day.
The work involves sitting on a small boat watching someone swim from England to France, a process that takes on average 12½ hours. It can be boring, tiring and uncomfortable, but when they succeed it's unbelievably satisfying to have contributed in some small way.
This photo shows one of the boats that accompanies swimmers and a cargo boat. The coastguard say that swimmers have no rights in the channel, so sometimes the big ships are really close.The swimmer is alongside the tiny boat just in front of the cargo ship, they were probably about 300m apart.

British Summer

I've volunteered to be an observer for the Channel Swimming Association (CSA), which is the official body overseeing channel swimmers. The English Channel is one of, if not the most, challenging place for swimmers in the world.

The shortest distance from the UK to Frances is about 21 miles as the crow flies. Nearer 28 miles for a swimmer, because of the strong tidal currents.

This image shows a GPS plot of one of the swims that I observed.
The water is never warm and sometimes very cold. 17°C (62.5°F) is about the warmest it gets. To add to swimmers' problems this is also one of the busiest stretches of water in the world. Up to 500 ships pass through the Straits of Dover every 24 hours. The Ship AIS web site is a brilliant way to see just how busy it is.
The rules of the CSA prohibit anything but the most basic swimming costume and cap, no bouyancy aids and no protection from the cold except for a layer of grease. Some swimmers even forgo this basic protection.