Eve Skipper in RNLI Castle to Castle Swim

UPDATE

I did it !  One mile in open water in 48 mins. Raced on Annabel J as crew in the pilot cutter review the day before but arms not too knackered.  Over confident at the start and wiggled my way to the front with all the tri athletes and ended up in a foaming maelstrom of bubbles and flailing arms and feet as Sharon  Davies started 450 swimmers on a tiny beach. Spent the first half a mile trying to get my panic and heart beat under control. Amazing cross section of people and a huge number of local women swimming. Well done to Lilli, Amanda, Shelia, Maria, Amelia, Bryony and Matt, Dicon, Tim. Mark and heaps more. Raised £110 for RNLI and think the event should hit £40 000 which aint bad for a restricted entry race.

Will I do it next year ? Well that is a question. It would be nice to do it calmly with a fast front crawl.

Thanks everybody. Debbie

Classic Sailing Skipper in Castle to Castle Swim

The RNLI Castle to Castle Swim 2011 starts from Pendennis Headland and involves a one mile open water swim across to St Mawes Castle and my home port of St Mawes.

400 crazy people have entered this year and I think I must be the 399th....so no backing out now.

For once I am not skippering pilot cutter Eve of St Mawes, so I have no excuse not to put my mermaid tendencies to good use, and raise money for the RNLI. It is the same weekend (Sun 29th May 2011) as The 'Classic Sailing Pilot Cutter Regatta' that my company organises ....so I am hoping the race fleet will give the swimmers lots of encouragement.....and try not to run us down racing !

It is very early in the year for swimming in the sea, and having tried a few training swims last year, I found it incredibly hard to swim with my head in the water for the first 5 or 6 minutes so this will definately be a challenge for me.

My ambition for 2011 is to do the Falmouth Race for Life 5km run in early May, the Castle to Castle swim in late May and maybe the St Mawes / Nearwater Triathlon in September !

Not so many of you know that my partner and now husband Adam was shipwrecked on historic Tall Ship Maria Assumpta off Padstow in 1995 and many of that crew would not be here now without the RNLI. As a professional sailor I would never take the RNLI for granted but I have never before tried to raise money for them. Its about time I did my bit.

This is for the RNLI beach lifeguards which is a relatively new thing on Cornish Beaches. With all the local Government cuts it was probably just as well that the Royal National Lifeboat Insitute has taken over the surf beach lifeguarding in Cornwall.

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

Link to Debbie Pursers Just Giving site.

 If you enjoy swimming in the sea why not sail on Eve of St Mawes. We are encouraging as many charter crew as possible to become wild swimmers this year. See some of our favourite wild swimming spots in Cornwall and worldwide Debbie Purser's skippers blog - wild swimming.