The Dovercoaster

I visit Dover on a scorching hot Sunday in the middle of August and park outside the Premier Inn, where countless swimmers have sat, looking out to sea, waiting for an update from their pilot. There is a bright blue sky and gentle breeze. There are cormorants and shearwaters stood on the rocks, drying out their wings in the sun. There are young families and old couples setting up camp chairs and multicoloured windbreakers on the beach, while swimmers train out in the harbour for what might be the biggest swim of their lives.

Halfway down the Sea Front, there is a small statue of Matthew Webb, looking out to sea, covered in streaks of bird poo. Matthew Webb is the reason for all this. In 1875, Webb battled the strong currents and jellyfish to become the first person to swim across the English Channel. After this extraordinary achievement, Webb spent the rest of his life performing stunts, before he died at the age of 35, while trying to swim across Niagara Gorge.

The English Channel is the world’s most iconic swim. No surprise – it’s in high demand. There are hundreds of crossings each year – that’s solos and relays – which means there’s at least a two-year wait (probably more like three). Charities buy up most of these places well in advance, safe in the knowledge that people will always want to swim the Channel.

But this popularity creates problems – how to get everyone out? All swimmers, whether you’re attempting a solo or part of a relay team, will be given a week-long window between June and the end of September when the days are long and the water temperature is above 14 degrees. This is ‘the Dovercoaster’ – an anxious and unpredictable period of time when the pilots seek to give all their swimmers the best chance to get out and reach the other side.

This is ‘the Dovercoaster’ – an anxious and unpredictable period of time when the pilots seek to give all their swimmers the best chance to get out and reach the other side.

When the weather looks good, the pilots will take advantage of any favourable conditions to get as many swimmers out as possible, which means you could be called down to Dover before your window actually opens. This is what happened to Jo Slota-Newson who swam her first solo in August 2024.

Jo already had a good idea of what to expect. ‘In 2022, I swam a relay to get a sense of what the Channel swim involved. Then, in 2023, I planned to swim from Jersey to France, but I had to go home and come back a month later due to strong winds. At the same time, all my training buddies for the Channel kept getting blown out. It was chaos for everyone.’

In 2024, Jo planned to return to Dover for her solo swim. ‘But with a couple of weeks still to go, my pilot called to explain there might be a chance to go out before my window opened. This was meant to be an 8am start and he checked in every day to confirm this was still a possibility – and then he called to ask how I felt about night swimming! The weather had changed; nighttime now looked like the calmest conditions.’

‘We had both options in parallel until the night before,’ Jo explains. All this uncertainty means you have to be in a constant state of readiness, with your bags packed, able to organise time off work and someone to look after your kids, if that applies to you. And not just you – your crew too. ‘Expect the unexpected,’ Jo says. ‘You need to have a long list of people you can ask to crew for you right at the last minute.’

But Jo’s experience is quite rare. Sadly – it’s much more likely that you won’t get to swim at all. In August 2023, Natalie Barton was part of a relay team due to swim the Channel. ‘But the wind was all wrong,’ Nat explains. ‘There were only two swimmable days in a 10-day period, right in the middle of August. I was talking to our pilot every day – Can we go? Can we go? It was only in the evenings that he confirmed we wouldn’t be able to go out.’ And so, as the week came to an end, and after 18 months of 5am starts to squeeze in a swim before work, that was it, the window closed and Nat had to go home.

Nat returned to Dover in August 2024 with a new team. After the swim, which the team completed in 12 hours 5 minutes, I spoke to Nat about her latest ‘ride’, which is a great example of all the twists and turns to expect before you get chance to swim.

‘It all looked positive at the start.’ The first relay team went out as soon as the window opened, but the next couple of days weren’t so good. A solo swimmer went out on Day 4. Nat’s team was next. ‘This was when our wait really starts,’ she explains. ‘On Thursday lunchtime, we were told that Friday morning might be possible. It would be confirmed after the next shipping forecast. That evening, I got ready to drive down to Dover, but once the forecast was released we’re told to “stand down” – we wouldn’t be swimming on Friday morning after all.’

‘I decided to stay at home that night and head to Dover on Friday morning, now feeling quite nervous about the prospect of swimming through the night. But it wasn’t my decision – I had to swim when told! I arrived at lunchtime, still not sure if we’d be swimming that night or the next morning. I tried to rest before meeting up with the other swimmers. This was the first time we’d met as a whole team! But at 6.30pm, we were told to “stand down”. We’d swim at 7.30am. As you can imagine, we were all so relieved to know that we would actually be swimming – the last day of our window!’

There are thousands more stories like these – amazing feats of resilience and determination before the real challenge begins.

I get extremely lucky on my trip to Dover and bump into two legendary swimmers who know the English Channel and the unique ‘charms’ of the Dovercoaster better than anyone – Liz Fry and Kevin Murphy (a.k.a., ‘King of the English Channel’).

Liz Fry is a US swimmer who swam the Oceans Seven before it was even a thing. She’s swum the English Channel six times over the years, including one two-way (yes, there and back again!), but she’s here this time to crew for a friend who, when we speak, has already been ‘blown out’ once.

Liz adds an important international element to the Dover experience. International swimmers don’t get special consideration, even if they’ve travelled halfway around the world. ‘Swimmers go out in the order they booked,’ Liz explains. This means you can’t wait around for the latest forecast: you’ve got to accept the expense and be in Dover for the full duration of your window – and probably more. Liz is here for almost two weeks, arriving four days before her friend’s window opens, with return flights booked two days after the window is due to close.

Is this unique? How does this compare to other start lines around the world? ‘Yes, it’s unique,’ Liz explains, ‘but it’s also iconic. As my father used to say (only half-joking), “You’re not a swimmer until you’ve swum the English Channel”’.

As I chat to Liz about her incredible swims, Kevin looks on, amiable, amused. Here is a man who has seen it all. He holds the men’s record for the number of crossings – 28 singles, three doubles and, in 1975, he attempted the first ever triple, swimming 52 hours before he got blown out on the home stretch by force 6 winds. In 2025, Kevin will brave the Dovercoaster once again, for a celebratory relay to mark the 60^th anniversary of his first crossing in 1965.

Kevin now lives in Dover where he is part of The King’s Swimmers which run training camps for endurance swims, including the English Channel. So – what’s the trick? How do you ride this thing? How do you survive this thing?

Kevin endorses all the usual advice. Have your bags packed. Make sure you understand the process. Communicate with the pilot. He cautions swimmers against trying to push the pilots. ‘If the weather’s not great but might still be OK, some pilots give swimmers a choice. Throw it back to them,’ Kevin advises. ‘Ask them what you should do. What do they recommend?’

But Kevin’s years of experience also give him a sense of perspective: ‘Change your mindset. Don’t fear it. Don’t resist it or resent it. Accept it. Be patient. The pressure and anxiety are all part of the ultimate achievement.’