LuckyP
Ring Warrior
Hi All,
Right, I'm waiting on a call from the support boat pilot to confirm that the weather is good and then we are off!!
3.30am start from Shakespeare Beach (Dover) and and then some night swimming out into the shipping lanes. Cargo vessels, jellies, and huge turds await!! Just speedos, hat, goggles and PGT Sticker!!!!!
If I can make it (defo not a certainty so please don't shoot me come Thursday!!) it should be around 15hrs before I land.....somewhere on the continent!!!
Feeding every half hour from a pole and line with Maxim energy drink, bananas and milky ways - sound great doesn't it!!
Why??? (I hear you ask)
Well for my mate Ben. Here is his story (from the Just Giving page):
-----------------
"Ben was centre stage. Our leader, our joker, our confidant, our inspiration and most of all our friend.
'We' are the 'Lads', a group of six 40 somethings, who met at Loughborough University in 1989 and have stayed in touch ever since.
Ben was diagnosed with 'Man-in-the-barrel syndrome' Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis - Motor Neurone Disease in 2007.
He passed away at home on the 8th of May 2010 in the arms of his wife, our friend, Rachel.
The lads were numbed. Some of us took it better than others. None of us can even imagine what it must have been (and still is) like for Rach.
Ben leaves his wife and their three kids, Sam, Jacob and Hannah.
As if this tragic event wasn't enough - Ben and Rach's first born, their son Sam, after a difficulty at birth, has Cerebral Palsy, is confined to a wheel chair and communicates by moving his eyes left or right. You just couldn't make this up. Gut wrenching.
For a period in the family's life, Rachel was dealing with Sam's condition, whilst watching helplessly as Ben deteriorated from a fine figure of a man into the shell that MND had left him - only his eyes giving away the man we knew beneath. No movement, no japes, no nothing - just eyes looking at you trying to reassure us that he was the same Ben under it all that there ever was.
Rachel was amazing. She coped (outwardly anyhow) with both husband and a son chair-bound and needing 24hr care. Always smiling, talking about it with the humour that attracted us to the pair back in the day. She reassured us and broke the ice on our trips down to see them both and in the end acted as our interpreter. A difficult time for us, the lads. I just can't image was it must be like for her. A strong woman. She can always bank on our support.
But it's just not the same without him here...
So that's why it's MNDA. They provide careers and do fantastic research, hopfully one day finding a cure. I hope you see why I've chosen this charity. MND isn't going away any time soon, so even if we just raise a small amount, even if it just pays for few days of research time or a few days of caring, it will be worth every penny."
-------------------
So yeah. Am I prepared? Well we'll see. Training most weekend in Dover Harbour since May - 7hrs on a Saturday and 6hrs on a Sunday. An utter ball ache of the highest order!!
If you would like to see how I'm getting on then click here for the live position feed:
http://cspf.co.uk/tracking
Click on the box after 'SUVA', my support boat and then when the box comes up click on 'Latest Track'
Should be about half way at 10am tomorrow.
I'm not normally one for asking for contributions, but if any of you feel that the cause is worthy, then please contribute. I know it would mean the world to Rachel and the kids.
Here:
www.justgiving.com/peter-taylor10
Oh - and for any twits out there
my mate set up this - don't ask me how it works - but he tells me he can read them out at my feed breaks:
https://twitter.com/PeterTaylor2012
I'm getting quite nervous now................
Ben here on the left, me duncan goodhew in the background!!
And here again:
And our last Le Mans together:
Right, I'm off to the kitchen. Carb loading!!!!
Thanks for reading and wish me luck!!!
Pete
Right, I'm waiting on a call from the support boat pilot to confirm that the weather is good and then we are off!!
3.30am start from Shakespeare Beach (Dover) and and then some night swimming out into the shipping lanes. Cargo vessels, jellies, and huge turds await!! Just speedos, hat, goggles and PGT Sticker!!!!!
If I can make it (defo not a certainty so please don't shoot me come Thursday!!) it should be around 15hrs before I land.....somewhere on the continent!!!
Feeding every half hour from a pole and line with Maxim energy drink, bananas and milky ways - sound great doesn't it!!
Why??? (I hear you ask)
Well for my mate Ben. Here is his story (from the Just Giving page):
-----------------
"Ben was centre stage. Our leader, our joker, our confidant, our inspiration and most of all our friend.
'We' are the 'Lads', a group of six 40 somethings, who met at Loughborough University in 1989 and have stayed in touch ever since.
Ben was diagnosed with 'Man-in-the-barrel syndrome' Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis - Motor Neurone Disease in 2007.
He passed away at home on the 8th of May 2010 in the arms of his wife, our friend, Rachel.
The lads were numbed. Some of us took it better than others. None of us can even imagine what it must have been (and still is) like for Rach.
Ben leaves his wife and their three kids, Sam, Jacob and Hannah.
As if this tragic event wasn't enough - Ben and Rach's first born, their son Sam, after a difficulty at birth, has Cerebral Palsy, is confined to a wheel chair and communicates by moving his eyes left or right. You just couldn't make this up. Gut wrenching.
For a period in the family's life, Rachel was dealing with Sam's condition, whilst watching helplessly as Ben deteriorated from a fine figure of a man into the shell that MND had left him - only his eyes giving away the man we knew beneath. No movement, no japes, no nothing - just eyes looking at you trying to reassure us that he was the same Ben under it all that there ever was.
Rachel was amazing. She coped (outwardly anyhow) with both husband and a son chair-bound and needing 24hr care. Always smiling, talking about it with the humour that attracted us to the pair back in the day. She reassured us and broke the ice on our trips down to see them both and in the end acted as our interpreter. A difficult time for us, the lads. I just can't image was it must be like for her. A strong woman. She can always bank on our support.
But it's just not the same without him here...
So that's why it's MNDA. They provide careers and do fantastic research, hopfully one day finding a cure. I hope you see why I've chosen this charity. MND isn't going away any time soon, so even if we just raise a small amount, even if it just pays for few days of research time or a few days of caring, it will be worth every penny."
-------------------
So yeah. Am I prepared? Well we'll see. Training most weekend in Dover Harbour since May - 7hrs on a Saturday and 6hrs on a Sunday. An utter ball ache of the highest order!!
If you would like to see how I'm getting on then click here for the live position feed:
http://cspf.co.uk/tracking
Click on the box after 'SUVA', my support boat and then when the box comes up click on 'Latest Track'
Should be about half way at 10am tomorrow.
I'm not normally one for asking for contributions, but if any of you feel that the cause is worthy, then please contribute. I know it would mean the world to Rachel and the kids.
Here:
www.justgiving.com/peter-taylor10
Oh - and for any twits out there
my mate set up this - don't ask me how it works - but he tells me he can read them out at my feed breaks:https://twitter.com/PeterTaylor2012
I'm getting quite nervous now................
Ben here on the left, me duncan goodhew in the background!!
And here again:
And our last Le Mans together:
Right, I'm off to the kitchen. Carb loading!!!!
Thanks for reading and wish me luck!!!
Pete
haha:
