Friends prepare for first-ever Cardigan Bay Challenge

06th June, 2019

It started with a drunken text sent just before the bells rang in 2018. A year and a half later, Karl Jackson, Clint Proffitt and Dan Brook-Sutton are in the final stages of preparing to swim from Barmouth to Abersoch, in what is believed to be the inaugural Cardigan Bay Challenge.

“Clint was on Abersoch beach on New Year’s Eve of 2017 and he looked across Cardigan Bay, towards Barmouth,” explains Karl. “He then asked his father-in-law, ‘How far is it from Barmouth to Abersoch?’ The reply was 22 miles.

“Clint then sent a drunken text asking if I fancied swimming it. I replied, ‘yes, why not?’”

Karl, 36, a police officer, started swimming in earnest in 2011 after taking up triathlon. He now swims 400m in the pool in under six minutes. Clint, 57, a retired police officer now working as a personal trainer and sports therapist, is a triathlete, Ironman and keen swimmer with a background in water polo.

They have since recruited fellow swimmer Dan, 41, a sports masseuse and trainee sports therapist, who has a background in surfing and now triathlon and swim-runs.

On the 10th of August, the three friends will swim across the bay in a relay – each swimming an hour until they reach the beach at Abersoch, where it all began. They are raising money for Plastic Ocean, RNLI and Air Ambulance, with a target of £5000.

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