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Kinsale Native swims English Channel in aid of Kinsale RNLI.
Thursday,
September 07, 2006.
Kinsale native DANNY COHOLAN landed at a beach 3 miles north of Calais at 2.06am
today, having set out to swim the English Channel at 9.30am yesterday. In
all, Coholan spent 16 hours, 36 minutes swimming what is thought to be one
of the longest geographical swims of the Channel. His efforts are to raise funds for Kinsale RNLI. He is the first Corkman to ever complete this event. CONGRATULATIONS & THANKS DANNY FROM ALL AT KINSALE RNLI.
30 year old Coholan travelled to Dover on August 30 to await favourable
weather and tide conditions. As the crow flies, the distance from
Shakespeare Beach in Dover, England to Cap Gris Nez in France is 22 miles,
but Coholan was forced by the strong spring tides to swim an ‘S’ route that
eventually saw him come ashore north of Calais early this morning.
Accompanying Coholan on his swim attempt was a support boat hired from the
Channel Swimming & Piloting Federation with a pilot, co-pilot and an
independent scrutineer on board. The pilot had the task of navigating
Coholan through possibly the busiest shipping traffic on any stretch of
water worldwide. For the duration of the swim, Coholan was not allowed to
touch the boat and treaded water for 30 seconds to maximum 1 minute per hour
to consume a carbohydrate gel and a high energy drink. Coholan
greased up in advance of the swim, not for heat as is commonly thought, but
to prevent skin friction.
Approximately 120 people per year attempt to swim the Channel between the
months of May and October. Of these, an average of 30 swimmers complete the
task. Over the years, of the 6,000 swimmers who attempted the swim, only 811
have succeeded. The major challenges for a swimmer are fitness, overcoming
the boredom factor and water temperature. Both physical and mental training
is demanded of the swimmer and even then just 1 degree difference in water
temperature can be the downfall of the fittest individual, as many American
and Australian swimmers, accustomed to warmer waters, have found in the
past.
Although a swimmer all his life, Danny took up competitive swimming just
two years ago. He has now worked up his daily training schedule to swimming
25 miles per week between Kinsale Harbour and the Old Head of Kinsale. This
is a major commitment for the young Garda and his wife Laura, who has
been very supportive of her husband’s efforts. Danny’s brother Kevin Coholan
is a crew member of the Kinsale inshore lifeboat, and he wants to use the
swim to raise funds to build a permanent lifeboat station in Kinsale. His Dad John
is one of the local butchers in Kinsale and he received a steady flow of
well wishers to the shop throughout the day yesterday.
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