The first time she swam the English Channel, champion endurance swimmer Chloë McCardel thought she was going to die. She was in the 24th hour of an attempt at a double crossing, and the sky was pitch black. The wind was howling and two-metre tall waves had been bashing her exhausted body for hours. Then, the boat that was guiding her slipped out of sight. Her chest began to tighten and panic took over.
“I was screaming, ‘Please don’t leave me behind!’” she says. “It was the worst experience of my life.”
Hypothermia had set in and Chloë was hallucinating. She knew people had died attempting the Channel. The water temperature sits between 15 and 17 degrees Celsius, and the cold is just one of many perils. The tract of ocean that lies between England and France is one of the busiest trade routes in the world, and part of the boat captain’s job is to ensure the swimmer isn’t hit by a tanker. Swimmers have been lost by their boat captains and never been seen again. This was flashing through Chloë’s mind as her own vessel disappeared from view.
“It was just so distressing,” she says. “Huge waves were completely overwhelming me. As a swimmer, you are at the mercy of mother nature and other humans on boats making what are potentially life-and-death decisions. We don’t have wetsuits on. We don’t have paddles or flippers. We’re just a little person in bathers, goggles and cap.”
At 24, Chloë’s goal was to be the second Australian to complete a double crossing of the English Channel, but as she screamed into the sea, she knew she would not be finishing the swim that night.
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