Kindly supported by

When in September 1966 she waded ashore at Dymchurch in Kent after a twenty hour fifty-one minute breast-stroke swim (without the aid of goggles!) across one of the most treacherous stretches of water in the world, an extremely tough twenty-one miles in a very rarely achieved direct line from Wissant Bay on the French coast, sixteen year old Denize le Pennec of St Martin Jersey set several records; at that moment in time she became the youngest British female to have made the crossing of the English Channel, plus her landing point remains the most westerly landfall in the history of Channel swimming. More importantly for us Denize became the first swimmer from the British Channel Islands to complete the crossing. In that same year Denize also successfully extended her list of aquatic credits to include the initial eighteen mile crossing from Jersey to France and in 1969 she became the first to swim the forty-one mile course around Jersey. Thanks to her pioneering spirit our club now boasts an ever increasing tally of successful swims, the latest figures can be found in our swim-list section, which only goes to prove that success breeds success.

It was the starting point for what has become possibly the most successful open water swimming club in the world. We claim that title on a ‘per-capita’ basis with a population of a mere 85,000+ souls retained by coastal waters on a small rock nine miles by five in the Bay of St Malo. By the end of the 2006 season we had registered no less than twenty-six crossings of the English Channel by twenty-one different swimmers.

Present day local heroes are led by club President Sally Minty-Gravett with four Channel crossings spread over four decades, which places her as the only woman to have managed to extend their Channel career over such an elongated period. This unique achievement along with her background of previous swims elsewhere, together with her dedication, support and encouragement to others in the sport has resulted in Sally being elected as an ‘Honouree’ by the “International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame” located in Fort Lauderdale Florida. Sally drove the message home later in 2006 with a great swim from Catalina Island to the Californian shore, a distance equal to England’s own ‘ditch’. She also holds the record together with her younger brother David Minty as the only brother and sister to have swum the English Channel twice each, along with their individual ‘Round Jersey’ swims and Jersey to France each. Richard Flambard also has two Channel swims to his credit besides four ‘Round Jersey’ outings, holding the local male records for both. From amongst the clubs many ‘off Island’ supporters Alison ‘Queen of the Channel’ Streeter MBE of Nutfield Surrey a fully paid up life member of the JLDSC is the worlds runaway leader with an incredible forty-three successful Channel crossings which include the only three way swim by a female plus a brace of two-way swims; besides holding the current all-comers record for a Round Jersey swim. Fellow life members from the mainland; Lee Sowter (nee Williams) of Smallfield Surrey also has two Channel successes to her name, plus two Round Jersey swims as does Gillingham’s Cliff Golding, along with his three Jersey swims. Although we don’t count off Island members in our clubs tally of Channel swims, we are justly proud of their association with us and like to shout about all our ‘fellow members’ achievements. ‘Giant’ American Air Force Lt Col Tim Lawrence, already a Channel conqueror, holds a unique double with being the first native of Uncle Sam’s fair land to have swum around Jersey in 2002 and then four years later to set a record time with his swim from Jersey to France, again being the first American to record the swim. 

Our local ‘Blue Ribbon’ event, the forty-one mile circumnavigation of Jersey presents a unique record for the Maletroit family with Mum Dilys and both daughters Hannah and Sammy all recording Round Island solo swims; besides Sammy’s Channel crossing. The number of successful swims now totals over sixty-five, with close on 80% of these being solo conquests, the rest are variations of numerically challenged relays! A Round Jersey swim is now becoming a natural precursor for many swimmers contemplating a future Channel swim besides many proven marathon swimmers from around the world, attracted by Jersey’s fresh clean waters, scenic panorama of a unique Island and the challenge which such a distance throws down, together with our friendly welcoming native club members.

For twenty-six years the eighteen nautical miles from Jersey to France has lain dormant as a swim. ‘La Manche Two’ - being part of the English Channel or La Manche as our French neighbours describe the waters between our two sets of coastal shores has long been a quest for local swimmers. This unique ‘Channel swim’ was reinstated in 2005 with a record time for the crossing by Chris Baglin following a route proving relay, quaintly named the ‘Anglo-Spanglo Relay’ by Laura Lopez-Bonila and Cliff Golding. It will surely become yet another Channel crossing to be ticked off on the personal wish-list of many swimmers. Local club member Alison Horsfall claims the distinction of having swum around all the major islands within the Channel Island group, Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney and Sark besides her own English Channel swim.

Other than the Channel and our own coastal waters, club swimmers have left their mark around the world’s more challenging and diverse locations such as New York’s Manhattan Island, Rottnest Island to Perth Western Australia, Tampa Bay Florida and California’s Catalina Channel plus many courses in Europe and lets not forget the homely domestic swim calendar within the British mainland as organised by the British Long Distance Swimming Association. Its Premier swim, the eleven and a quarter miles of Windermere has been recorded by club members, Sally Minty, Linda Devereux, Debbie Banks, Jane Luscombe, Graham Lowe, ‘Charlie’ Gravett and Alison Horsfall.

One other local club member who rightly deserves recognition is the intrepid and incredibly adventurous Eric Blakeley MBE. Besides swimming around Jersey, Manhattan and crossing the Channel, Eric is only the second human on earth to have coupled such a feat with having climbed Mount Everest; in fact he has scaled the highest peaks of all seven continents on our planet. His other major sporting achievements are as wide ranging as bog-snorkelling and running up the entire 1860 steps of the 102 floors of the Empire State Building! As you see we have a vastly ‘interesting’ and diversified membership!

International representative honours have been bestowed upon Sally Minty and Linda Devereux who have both represented Great Britain in long distance events in both Britain and Europe. The club also has an ex-GB and England team manager in ‘Charlie’ Gravett as well a successful Channel Relay team member with the Kings Lynn Gladiators in 1975 (which Charlie tells us that his mum was so proud of him that he got extra toad in his toad in the hole), as well GB manager at the World Championships in Los Angeles during the 1984 Olympics when Alison Streeter was a squad member for the twenty-one mile Catalina Island swim. He also acted as manager for GB swims abroad in Belgium and English team manager at the Windermere ‘FINA - World Championships’ in 1986. As a swimmer he was a member of the world record breaking team from Royal Air Force Akrotiri Cyprus which swam from Turkey to Cyprus in 1971; at present he sits on the governing body for Channel swims as Vice Chairman of the Channel Swimming and Piloting Federation.

And so our club looks onwards and upwards with a plethora of local youngsters coming up through the ranks to challenge the club elders. We look forward to welcoming marathon swimmers from around the world to attempt our local swims and join the list of visiting greats which include British, American, French, Spanish, Australian and South African swimmers.

We hope you enjoy this stroll through our clubs history and record books and should a visit tickle your fancy more details can be gleaned from an E-mail to:-

sinkorswim@jerseymail.co.uk

‘NULIA RES MAGNA FACILIS EST’

(‘Nothing great is easy’ – Capt. Matthew Webb 1875)

Round Island Swimming made easy