IrishSeaCrossing

I spent last Sunday making this website instead of
training (…it is a close call as to which was more painful!)…day 26 on the
plan called for 5 hours, which would have been a new 2012 endurance record.

I want this site to be as good as it can be so that it is well received and well distributed. I hope that this way the charities will get much needed exposure and that we will be able to raise the targeted funds!

I will do the record breaking 5 hour training session tomorrow!

After several boughts of sore Achilles tendons I have finally given up fighting my body.

I now use heel raisers in my shoes and placed “rungs” on the wheel to reduce the strain on my ankles when using the wheel – which is like constantly walking up a steep slope!

So far the modification to the wheel / and my shoes is doing the trick! No more sore Achilles! Result!

My next
training slot should be 5 hours…my last was 4 and that was painful in more ways
than one! Sore legs, rather
a poor show, they felt spent after just 2 hours.

But Bored….? I
have never been so bored. I
have tried to watch videos on the iPad whilst training but the sunlight means
that you cannot see the screen. I
fitting reminder of how much I would miss my sight if I were ever to lose it!

So, the plan is to train in the dark! So I can watch movies….and why not
start with the Star Wars Trilogy. The
first three…the proper ones! And
when my sessions get up to 9 hours long, I’ll bring in the new ones and what
them all in sequence.

Any other ideas on “distraction” techniques welcomed…(I will not
have an iPad on the crossing attempt!).

Chris.

P.s. one of my jobs is to fit navigation lights to the Tredalo®
raft. Perhaps I should just
fit a “lightsabre” instead?

Being really dedicated…when the canal had frozen over, meaning that I couldn’t train for the Devizes to Westminster kayak race, I decided I would be really dedicated and train for the Irish Sea Crossing instead. So Joy and I worked hard to clear the training pond of ice…it was 3-4 inches think!

After 3 hrs of training I gave up training thinking that the ice accumulating on the wheel was making it harder to turn. But I wasn’t sure if I was just getting tired…

I later found out that some of the runner-wheels had frozen and were no longer turning. Continuing to train on frozen runner wheels had damaged several of them, and these have now had to be replaced.

Ironically, the high pressure weather system that created this cold spell is just what I need to cross the Irish Sea…!

Chris.

Here is my
training set up. The Tredalo® raft has now been set up in my back garden
with a pond underneath it for proper water resistance training. This is
also acting as a fatigue test rig – but that is another story.

So now I can conduct representative training without having to train in a lake! Not a very interesting view though…looking at a brick wall…hmm.

As mentioned
on the website, I think that the required high pressure weather system is more
likely in late September or early October.
I need high pressure with very light winds, and ideally light Easterly
winds.

Currently, there is still much to do to be ready (my fitness, the
Tredalo’s readiness, and the last sea/lake testing). However, I
hope will happen in next few weeks….

Once ready, it will then just be a case of waiting for the weather…I
hope to get in touch with the Weather folks in the Irish Sea Ferry Co’s to see
if they can keep a watching brief on the weather for me…so if anybody knows of, or can get hold of the “Met-man” over there…then please let me know.

Here’s hoping for good weather.

Chris.

Thanks for logging on to the Irish Sea Crossing Blog.

The whole point of the event is to raise money for two very worthy
charities. I don’t know where I’d be
without my sight. Everything I do relies
on me being able to see. The WBA helps
so many partially sighted and blind people, and that, to me is a worthy
cause. As is the RNLI, who not only go
out and rescue people in need but also but in a lot of effort in preventing the
need for rescues in the first place.

I have set my sponsorship targets at more than double what I have
ever managed to raise before on a single event.
In some ways this represents the perceived enormity of the task. I think this is going to be a tough one! I mean really tough.

So my request for our help is three fold:

Firstly…..please part with you hard earned cash
to show your support to this event and to the charities it supports,

Secondly…..please forward details of this event
to all of your contacts so that they can do the same and

Thirdly…..please let me have any of your good
ideas as to how I can get more people involved.

Many thanks for your help and support and I look forward to your ideas helping me to swell the charity funds. Thank you.

Wish me luck!

Chris.