No news is not good news

Well, I have nothing new to report, which means I won't be swimming anytime soon. Winds look strong at least through Thursday, according to current forecasts (and Thursday is as far as the forecast goes). Oh well, I had a 2 1/2 hour swim this morning and felt great in the water, and I'm still feeling nothing but positive and patient. So, on with the waiting.

So far, I've met lots of extraordinary people on the beach here in Dover. Loads of Channel swimmers, of course - wannabees like me, and successful crossers. There are at least two women here waiting who are aiming for double crossings - yes, that means swimming over to France, and then swimming right back. (A few people have done triple crossings, but no one has ever done a quad - I think the swelling of the tongue and throat from the salt water has been the limiting factor there, just so you know.) I met Terry Laughlin, of Total Immersion. He made a video that I watched over a year ago, and it taught me a lot about open water swimming. Cool to meet him in person. I met John Van Wisse, an amazing Australian swimmer who has won the Manhattan Island Marathon Swim a few times (that's 26 or so miles around the whole island of Manhattan), in addition to other stuff. I swam with him in the Harbor - man, he's fast. And then I met Dan Martin. He's planning on doing a triathlon - around the world. Swim from New York to France - eight hours of swimming a day, boat at night, boat let's him off in exactly the same spot next day - should take four months. Bike from France to the tip of Russia - something like 10,000 miles - will take a long time. Run (or walk) from Alaska to New York - long time. He's supposed to start in May, 2010, and finish in late 2011. I didn't believe it at first, but he has a website that chronicles a bike trip from Korea to Cape Town, so I guess it's legit. No website for the world-wide triathlon yet. He says it will be up next month. Wow.

Now, back to waiting...