naramata-blend

Lessons from a Failed English Channel Swim

or Nothing great is easy

Sometimes it’s so hard that it turns out not so great…

Sometimes it’s so hard that it takes two years to face writing the blog post about it all.

Sitting on the bed at the Churchill Guest House in Dover, England, in my swim robe, still shivering, tears streaming down my face, husband Al says, “It’s OK. Really. We will find you a new boat pilot, sign you up and you will try again.” This is no easy thing to propose. Three years, thousands of dollars, another trip to Europe…

Here is how it started. Looking for a really tough challenge, I convinced Jan Johnston to attempt a two-person relay of the English Channel in June of 2023. The swim came on the heels of a successful swim of the English Channel with a six-person team, the Crazy Canucks in 2016. The Crazies then took on the Catalina Channel in 2019 and finished the task becoming the first Canadian team to swim from Catalina to mainland California. A duo at 67 and Jan at 60 seemed pretty possible.

Jan in the water and me getting ready for my third shift.

Our June slot to swim the Channel was not our preferred option as its very bloody cold (14C or below) but with booking three years before a swim due to high demand and limited pilot boats, the number one slot on the tide for Viking Princess II was June or nothing until 2024.

In my research at the time Channel teams of two are pretty rare… at the time only 33 duos had made the England to France crossing and of that number only a handful had been attempted in June. I guess the thinking is you might as well do a solo if you are going to do that much swimming. The other factor, a pretty big one, is the after drop. Swimmers alternate one hour in the drink, one on the boat. An hour is not long to warm up again after 12C.

Jan and I had no illusions that we could swim the approximately 50 kilometres solo but thought with a careful training plan, dedication and lots of cold water acclimatization we could just pull it off swimming about 25 k each in alternating hours for a total of 13 to 16 hours.

We arrived in Dover feeling ready and confident. Our daughter Lizzie came for the launch of our adventure as did husband Al and Jan’s husband Jamie. Fish and chips, attempts to spot France across the Channel, draft beer and lots of laughs. Then my confidence began eroding.

*Iain Hughes was 11 hours into his swim when he disappeared under the water.*

While waiting for the weather to improve and the call from our boat pilot Reg that it was go time, a young, strong, firefighter died after loosing contact with his support boat. He was in his 40s. We got the go ahead for our attempt the very next day. The Titan submersible was also missing at the time and the fate of its occupants unknown. A third, much less serious mind messer was the practice swims we had been doing in Dover Harbour that seemed cool but tolerable. It wasn’t the cold it was the jellyfish that got to me. Our 2016 relay was full of the nasty buggers and I got stung on the neck but… I couldn’t see them. I had goggle issues that landed me with an old pair that I could barely see out of. Learning my lesson I had nice clear goggles on and couldn’t believe how alarmed I was by them. As Reg so colourfully said, “It’s not the big white ones you have to worry about it’s the little purple f****ers that sting like hell.”

Jan and I boarding the Viking Princess II at 3 a.m.

We got the call from Reg and it went something like this. “Hey Reg, I’m a bit nervous after the fellow drowning yesterday.” Reg replied, “This is a dangerous sport and it has big risks.”

Five minutes later Reg called back and I could hear his wife in the background. It was clear she had convinced him to call us back. “You will be alright love. We have cameras on the boat on the swimmers at all times. We will keep a good watch.”

Jan and I and our partners sat in the lounge and discussed my mental wobbles before we had to gather our gear and head out into the middle of the night to the boat. “I do this for fun and right now this doesn’t seem too fun,” I said. “I don’t want to end up in the hospital or dead.” Sounds a bit overdramatic but it was the head space I was in… Jan and Jamie said they would respect my wishes but said we had trained hard, we were prepared, we had spent years and lots of money and they were game to give it a go. So go we went.

Jan in Channel in our first hour.

We had our first successful crossing with Reg and his brother Ray, famous Channel boat pilots so felt confident in their care but they seemed gruffer, less patient and less encouraging than they had a decade earlier. There was no warming up in the boats inner cabin during our hour shifts out of the water, a lot of talk about how fast we could do the crossing as it felt like they didn’t want to be out for hours and hours and hours and what felt like terse explanations of how the shift changes would be handled. I was mildly disappointed they didn’t remember us from our 2016 swim as they hadn’t piloted Canadians before and we took them for a big pub after party.

Brave Jan took the first shift from rocky Shakespeare Beach in the pitch black and stroked steadily for her hour. After a fumbling shift change (the boat is equipped with an elevator type device to re-board) I plunged in and felt calmer as my hour progressed. The jellies were EVERYWHERE but in the general crazy stress of the whole experience they became just a factor that could be largely ignored. The water felt cold but nothing I couldn’t handle.

Me on my first shift. The green light on my back is to make me more visible.

Back out on the boat I was cold. I changed into a dry suit, bundled up and sat in a miserable stiff shivering block. The thermos of warm electrolytes tasty absolutely horrid. We hadn’t thought to wash the borrowed thermoses out so mistake number one.

I assumed Jan was struggling with the cold equally as we had no communication with each other. My second turn I got down to business and took advantage of the calm seas to make some tracks. Reg began to look more hopeful that we would make the crossing in a reasonable time.

Seas this calm are a Channel swimmer’s dream.

My second shift in the calm seas with the sun breaking through was good until about the halfway mark where the cold (12C) started to break into my focus. By the last 15 minutes I was actually shivering. To combat it I picked up the pace. Normally in these swims at the point you start looking forward to a warm drink, your swim robe and getting more comfortable once your hour is up. I had a sinking feeling that the after drop would be bad. It’s the phenomenon when your core body temperature continues to drop after you’ve exited cold water. The cold blood in your limbs returns to your core and it’s nasty.

The hour break was miserable, even more than I anticipated. When you get that cold you don’t feel like moving which you definitely should. I only managed a few sips of the thermos, clung to the hot water bottle and shivered uncontrollably.

Al is my rock.

At this point its becoming obvious that Jan is handling the cold better than me. I spotted her getting ready for her shift while I was in the water. She had her robe off and was bouncing around. I was still cold and shivering after my hour breaks. In my fog this difference didn’t register.

In I went for my third hour. At this point we are approaching the halfway point in the Channel and our pace was holding. After only a short while I began to shiver. This was new to me. Shivering while swimming is your body’s natural reaction to cold as it tries to generate heat through muscle contractions. In open water it signals potential hypothermia.

I didn’t know that it was a serious sign but I did know I had never shivered while swimming.

I started counting strokes knowing roughly 100 strokes is 100 metres so another two minutes gone. Counting strokes is a sign of a big effort for me and as a way of distracting myself from the time passing. Again, the thought of the hour on the boat provided no comfort but a worsening dread.

I knew I was at my limit. I made it through the hour somehow and got back on the boat. The poor guy who disappeared the day before likely succumbed from hypothermia. I thought about Al and my kids. I decided to tell Al and Jamie I was done. Al knows me. He knows I’m tough. He knew it was time. Jamie suggested I give it awhile to see if I can come around. “Jan is fine in there.” I assumed she was feeling exactly as I was and wasn’t fine at all.

This is all I can bring myself to write about this. For two years I’ve wondered what I could have done differently. More cold water training, forcing myself to move around more on the boat and on and on. I’m sorry I let Jan down. I’m so thankful for next year’s Crazy Canucks five-person relay and with time I’ve given myself some grace. “Nothing great is easy,” said Captain Webb, the first to swim the Channel. It’s always a balancing act between ability, will and a big challenge and this time I came up short or with grace this time I made the right call to quit before I got in real trouble. The next victory will be even sweeter.

Jan was gracious about my call to quit the swim. For her, it was a victory as she is one of the few to experience what it’s like to attempt a Channel swim. She couldn’t be persuaded to give it another go with all the sacrifices she made.

Crazy Canucks III made up of me, Dionne, Deb, Kate and Tina and we have a swim window of August 27 to September 3 2026 on the Anastasia with boat pilot Eddie Spelling. (Eddie piloted the swim where the poor firefighter succumbed but he also took Sarah Thomas on the four-way that no-one thought could ever been done.) Deb has swum the triple crown which includes a solo of the English Channel, Catalina and Around Manhattan and is going for the fun of the team aspect, some nostalgia perhaps and seeing part of the swim from the boat, Dionne is tempted to try a solo and is going to see what’s involved, Kate, also an experienced open water swimmer has swum it in a relay 19 years ago, Tina is an all around adventurer with many athletic achievements on her resume looking for some new “fun”. I’m going because Al said I could.

I’m happy we are going in August when the Channel is at it’s “warmest”, a relatively balmy 16-18C. I’m happy for more team buddies so more time to get warm. It’s not a gimme by any means as we need the right conditions for the swim during our swim window. Sometimes the weather gods are not in your favour and you don’t even get an attempt. Seasickness is also a bit of a factor as are those damn purple jellies. With a bit of luck I may get my 70th birthday present and it will be great. I’m grateful for Al, my kids and the amazing group of women who have signed up for the adventure.

December 10, 2025 9

Our summer with the bees

We loved the bees so much that we planted them a meadow…as you do.

They emerged from the hives and swarmed up and sideways in a buzzing disorganized chaos that had me re-thinking the wisdom of this whole idea. What will the neighbours think? Will they sting us? There are too many of them. This is kind of frightening. Might have to call Tim back and say we have changed our minds.

A corner of our little farm became a bee yard in May of this year after winter discussions with local beekeeper and bee inspector Tim Bouwmeester of Desert Flower Honey. He rents bees out to local orchardists and has several more permanent bee yards in the area. After looking at our raspberry farm he agreed to place some hives here year-round after erecting an electric fence to discourage roaming bears.

We were pretty excited on the day the bees arrived.

Tim warned us that the bees would be disorganized for a few days until they settled in and oriented themselves to their new territory. After a few days of giving them a wide berth my anxiety waned and the love affair began.

We watched as the bees developed their routes to find nectar and pollen and their flights into and out of the hives became much more organized. Tim would come by every two weeks and calmly work with the bees while we watched and peppered him with questions. Wearing only the beekeepers hat and veil and tucking his socks into his pants he checked on the status of the queen, checked and treated the bees for mites and generally determined the health and strength of the hives. We helped in minor ways and I took photos.

Part of Tim’s bee passion is breeding queen bees and he selects for what I call niceness. His bees are as non-aggressive as they come. “As an inspector I see lots and lots of hives and many bees fly up all around you and get much more agitated,” Tim says. Who knew that we have exactly the right bees for rookie bee hosts?

We had a bee sting free summer and supportive neighbours interested in the project. Tim did get the odd sting working with the hives by inadvertently squishing a bee here and there that let him know but he says he used to that and after a brief hand wave the sting is forgotten.

Fascinated by what Tim tells us and shows us about the bees, we are happy to have them on our little farm but also not tempted to get our own hives and learn to be beekeepers. There is so much to it and the science to good beekeeping is evolving all the time in the face of climate change, diseases and pests like mites. “It is not a hobby to be taken lightly,” says Tim. “You really need to get educated.”

As for what we can do for the bees and other insects in our yard and in the Okanagan where we live, Tim says the biggest problem they are facing is lack of good forage. Our wine growing region is not great for the bees as grapes are wind pollinated. By cutting down orchards to grow vines we are creating a bee desert.

“We are too good at controlling weeds as well,” he says. “I am encouraged by new organic vineyard practices though. Cover crops of clover in between the vines is great as is using less herbicides.”

As for what all of us can do with any plot of land, Tim says don’t cut the grass as much. Let the weeds go. “Plant a meadow like you did or let even a part of your yard go a bit wild.”

Tim does regular tests and treatments for mites.

In addition to our raspberries, blueberries, haskups and blackberries (which bees love) we planted our meadow this summer and it was alive with bees and hummingbirds.

I now have another excuse as a gardener to plant more flowers.

We love showing visitors around our farm and the bees have become a part of the fun.

Visitors have often been lucky enough to be here when Tim comes to check on the bees.

Even with the hottest summer on record in the Okanagan, the bees did their thing. “It was a crazy summer,” said Tim. “I was surprised by how well the bees did. I still don’t know where they got their nectar from.”

Tim takes the supers filled with honey to his honey house on Naramata Road (near Hillside Winery) at the end of the summer.

As a bee host Tim ended the summer by dropping off a 3 kilogram pail of honey for us and it’s the best honey I’ve ever tasted.

We have a lovely winter’s worth of honey for us and some to give to friends and family.

November 24, 2021 0

Naramata’s Legend distills our hottest summer on record into a liqueur

Our Carpe Diem Farm raspberries fought hard through a heat dome that saw temperatures soar to 45 degrees C as did the jalapeño peppers grown in Naramata at https://www.puzzlegrassfarm.com and https://www.plottwistfarms.com. Our careful watering and tending combined with Legend Distilling’s artful magic has resulted in a spicy warming liqueur. It’s sort of an “out of the frying pan and into the fire” situation for our raspberries and the Naramarta peppers and the result may well become legendary.

We lost about a third of our crop this year due to extreme heat so these sweet survivors deserve their special Legend Distilling boozy end.

“Legend has it…(well actually…science states) that jalapeño peppers contain capsaicin – which when consumed – can make some people feel a sense of euphoria, similar to a ‘runner’s high’.

This 30% alcohol by volume Jalapeño Raspberry Liqueur is the first release in Legenddistilling.com new experimental Day Tripper series. “It allows us to showcase the bounty of our local area in very small batches,” says Legend’s Dawn Lennie. “Each flavour is unique and available just once, or maybe once again. You just never know.”

As the label says, “Life is one big experiment – choose your drinks wisely.” Legend’s distillery location is abundant with fresh ingredients. Our raspberry farm is literally just down the street from Legend and the two farms that provided the peppers just minutes away.

The liqueur has a distillate base of Legend handmade vodka made from 100% British Columbia grown wheat and the fruit infusion is our raspberries and the peppers.

The liqueur pairs well with tequila to make a spicy margarita, vodka (think jello shots or a gimlet) Legend’s Black Moon (smoke and spice) or Legend’s Naramaro or other Amaro Liqueurs.

Dawn says it works a great replacer for Fireball if you need a warm sip after a day of skiing, snowboarding or sledding.

Mixers suggestions for fun and easy sippers or if you want to dream up a festive cocktail include mango, cranberry and apple juices, ginger ale, fruit punch, orange, pineapple, raspberry juices or fresh lime or lemon juice.

Try it in shooters for a kick, says Dawn. It also pairs well with melon and banana liqueur, peach schnapps, raspberry sourpuss, framboise, and orange liqueur or coconut rum.

Ready for a first sip.

In 2013, Doug and Dawn Lennie took over the site of the former Naramata doctor’s office and transformed the property into a distillery and tasting room, complete with patio, garden and outdoor restaurant with one of the best lake views in all of Naramata.

Passionate about local ingredients, the Lennies support local farmers, producers and small businesses in the community. “We are able to tell a story through the spirits and provisions we make; a story of this amazing place, it’s history, it’s legends and the incredible people who live here,” says Dawn.

November 21, 2021 0

The making of a meadow

It took only 10 weeks from planting to transform a bare patch of poor soil to a magical meadow alive with bees and birds in a Naramata, British Columbia, Canada garden.

From sceptic to meadow evangelist and more literally from septic to sun kissed field of beauty our making of a meadow project has been one of the most satisfying garden projects we have ever undertaken.

Our 2,500 square-foot traditional lawn that was watered, fertilized, aerated, and mown and mown and mown was the victim of a total failure of our old septic system. According to https://www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca/books/lawns-into-meadows-growing-a/9780998862378-item.html Owen Wormser, lawn mowing itself is a major source of pollution. Greenhouse gas emissions from mowing, along with fertilizer and pesticide production, watering, leaf blowing and other lawn management practices, were found by a University of California-Irvine study to be four times greater than the amount of carbon stored by grass. Lawns are an expensive, time-consuming ecological catastrophe.

Work being done to instal our new septic system and field gave us the opportunity to try something new rather than re-plant our lawn. That’s why I call this project from shit to shinola.

Step one

Plant a cover crop of rye grass to keep down the weeds and to fix nitrogen into our poor sandy soil.

We planted a cover crop of annual rye grass in the fall and kept it mowed to prevent it from going to seed.

Step 2

Till in the rye grass in early spring.

If you aren’t starting with bare ground you need to carefully remove all of your lawn grass as it will compete with your wildflower seedlings. This could mean lots of back-breaking shovelling or rent a turf cutter.

Step 3

Rough up the soil with a rake

Step 4

Seed

Here are the seed blends we chose for our project:

Pacific Northwest Wildflower Blend that includes Baby Blue-Eyes, Bird’s Eyes Gilia, California Poppy, Blue Flax, Blanket Flower…

Southern Prairies Wildflower Blend with Dotted Gayfeather, Greenthread, Hoary Vervain, Five-spot, Tidy-tips…

Hummingbird Wildflower Blend with Four O’Clocks, Lemon Bergamot, Scarlet Sage, Phlox, Wild Petunia…

Knee High Meadow Blend with Baby’s Breath, Black Eyed Susan, African Daisy….

Biodiversity Blend which includes basil, Bishops Flower, Lupin, Borage, Chinese Aster, Ox-Eye Daisy, Yellow Mustard…

And for good measure and because we like her… The Dr. Bonnie Henry Pollinator Blend which is a mix of Cosmos.

With regular irrigation to get the seeds going, here are the results of the first 10 weeks of our glorious meadow.

Week 1

It only took a week for tiny shoots to emerge.

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

Week 5 and 6

Flowers!

Week 7

Week 8

Our bees are getting happier and happier

Week 9

Week 10

When is the last time you sat having a coffee and experienced your lawn for an hour? Our meadow is alive with scents and colour and insect and bird activity. As a gardener I get a lot of pleasure out of a perennial bed planted up with 20 or 30 plants. Imagine two or three thousand flowers in an ever-changing tapestry of colour all ready for my camera lens. This is how a meadow evangelist is born.

Meadows offer a unique opportunity to help the planet from our own yards. They support many of the wild things that keep our ecosystems healthy and store carbon. Imagine sitting in a meadow and listening to the hummingbirds zooming from flower-to-flower, hear the background buzzing of the bees and watching swallowtail butterflies lighting here and there while the flora aroma engulfs you. Make room for some wildflowers, remove some or all of your unused lawn. If just a fraction of the existing lawns in Canada were turned into meadows, the ecological impact, especially on threatened pollinator species, would be immediately significant. All the preaching aside…it’s beautiful!

July 30, 2021 13

10 tips to keep your bits while swimming the chilly English Channel

The Challenge

After being part of a successful 6-person relay swim crossing of the English Channel (2016) with my team the Crazy Canucks I want to feel the butterflies and pebbles on an English beach one more time with sights set on France. I’m going back as half of a 2-person team. Sounds doable right? Half the Channel (we swam 50 km in our 2016 relay) and at my age in 2023 at 66 I feel like I will be biting off just enough to chew.

After some intensive research it looks like there is a good reason duos are quite rare. All the “ins” and “outs” of the one-hour shifts are a mind game and a shiver fest. All the helpful advice about ditching the duo for a solo aside, I have gathered 10 great tips to share from the some of the top open water swimmers in the world that will help anyone attempting a solo or relay open water challenge in chilly waters.

The Wonderful Mentors

Marilyn Korzekwa

In her 60s, named after famous Canadian swimmer Marilyn Bell, here are just a sampling of Dr. Korzekwa’s accomplishments:

1st to complete Lake Ontario from south-to-north and north-to-south
1st Canadian Triple Crown swimmer which includes the English Channel, Manhattan Island and Catalina Channel
Planning a second attempt of the first crossing of Lake Nipissing in 2020

Photo from Marilyn Korzekwa, Santa Barbara Channel

John Myatt

Ice king, John Myatt, is a father of three from Britain who has come back to swimming in the last decade after a long hiatus. Here is a sampler of John’s claims to fame:

Gold medal winner of the 45-49 age group at the Ice Swimming World Championship in Murmansk, Russia in 2019 (1,000 metres in zero degree water)
Half of a two-man English Channel team in 2015
Two-way, two-man English Channel relay in 2018 (22 hours, 49 minutes)
Currently planning a very challenging yet-to-be announced solo English Channel crossing

Lynne Cox

American Lynne Cox is arguably the best cold water, long distance swimmer the world has ever seen. Her most famous swim was the 2.7 miles in the Bering Straits, 350 miles north of Anchorage, Alaska where the water temperature ranges from 38-42 degrees Fahrenheit. Perhaps the most incredible of cold water swims, her 2 hours, 16 minutes from Little Diomede (USA) to Big Diomede (USSR) astonished the physiologists who were monitoring her swim. It marked one of the coldest swims ever completed.

Staying Warm

Warming up is tough. Go below, get dry and in a sleeping bag and drink lots of hot calories. Bring at least three sleeping bags per person in case they get damp. Buy them cheap in England and throw them out. Forget grease, just enough Vaseline to prevent rubbing. Grease will keep you clammy in your sleeping bag. Bring lots of swim suits so you can get in a dry one. Maybe a hair dryer if you’ve got electricity on board. Cut your hair short so it dries fast. You may need one support staff dedicated to keeping you in hot food and drink. — Marilyn Korzekwa. (Hard core Marilyn re cutting your hair…my hair is short but my partner Jan is in the process of growing her’s long…)

2. Acclimatize to the cold

I would definitely acclimatise to the cold as the thing is with a two person relay your not really fully recovered or warm going back in and that did take its toll. My top tip would be to build up to eventually swimming 6 x 1 hour with 30 minute breaks and feeds as when you get that extra half hour on the boat it will be amazing and you’ll enjoy your swim alot more and have the confidence knowing you have done it virtually all in training. — John Myatt

3. Trust your partner

As your a two-person team you will definitely want that trust in each other on the day knowing you have done all the hard work. — John Myatt. (Here is where keeping your bits comes in. Jan and I know that if either of us wants to call it quits the other will be strongly discouraging this idea. Just having someone counting on you can make all the difference when the chips are down.)

4. Don’t let age hold you back

I think you don’t need to be limited in your thinking by your chronological age. I think it’s great to tackle these swims at any age. If you’ve done the preparation and you are in shape it comes down to your mental fortitude. — Lynne Cox (I do think there are some concessions you need to make in your training which should include good rest days that will help in recovery. I will be 66, Jan will be 61.)

5. What to eat and when

All of your feeding can be on board during your one-hour off. Eat whatever you like. Hot chocolate, hot Maxim, hot coffee, latte, Perpetuem (a Hammer nutrition product, comes in two flavours that I particularly like- orange vanilla and coffee latte), tea with lots of honey or sugar, soup. I find pb and jam sandwiches easy to digest. Chocolates, eclairs, cake, etc. Potato chips are good for nausea. — Marilyn Korzekwa. We didn’t feed in the water during our hourly swims even when doing the two- way, I don’t think there is a need as you can get more nutrition down you on your hour out of the water. — John Myatt

The Channel was fickle during our 2016 swim. We had periods of relative calm but strong winds and waves nearing France.

6. Curb your enthusiasm

In January 2017 I was smashing out 14k on a Monday in the pool feeling like I was invincible and with in a short space of time I developed three major shoulder problems that lasted for 18 months, it was a hard path to my start line but I got there in one piece by changing my stroke and training habits and respecting that sometimes less is more, your body needs just as much rest as training, well in fact a whole lot more rest, never neglect that. — John Myatt

7. Fat or fast

The general answer to, “Should I put on weight to swim in cold water?” is that if you are very slim you better be fast. If you are a slower swimmer a little extra padding will help to keep you warm. It is also universally advised to do lots and lots of training in cold water. Another expression I’ve hear is “eat your wetsuit” or add a bit of jiggle to replace the insulation your wetsuit provides. With our June swim window, Okanagan Lake will be suitably chilly in the spring, even colder than the Channel, which will be ideal. (Jan doesn’t know it yet but I think we will be dipping in the lake (with wetsuits) all winter the season before our swim.)

8. Train smart

You should do a trial 34 k swim of Lake Okanagan in late May. It will work out the kinks, help you learn what you like, refine your schedule and give you immeasurable confidence. By April, you should be each be swimming 20 k a week. — Marilyn Korzekwa

Inevitably it’s all about making it to the start line in one piece, if you get any niggles ease back and seek a way to deal with it, either through physio stroke analysis etc, you just have to protect yourself and not force it and it will come with consistency. — John Myatt

Train in all types of weather and include some night swims, I would add.

9. Don’t fear the jellies

When I was swimming half way back from France on our second leg the light was shining down in the water and I could see the purple/ blue hues from the jellyfish bioluminescence and it was the most wonderful sight I have ever seen, the stings were nothing, a lot less than a stinging nettle. The culmination of the cold 11c water at night and the stings were the perfect tonic in waking me up and getting me to the finish. — John Myatt (Sounds a bit hard core John! I did get stung on our six-person relay and although it hurt at the time a little vinegar poured on the sting helped immediately. Although unpleasant, the jellies are a lot less scary than sharks which we thought a lot about on our Catalina Channel relay…)

10. Enjoy the ride

It’s all about the hours and hours of training and the camaraderie that brings. Once on the Viking Princess and out there in the Channel, It’s also about trying to take in the beauty and not letting the enormity of the task override the possibility of drinking it all in.

January 8, 2021 2

Leap of faith – Diving into the English Channel

“You’re a land animal trying to swim,” says Paul Sereno, University of Chicago Professor. “You’re what we call a secondary swimmer.”

Jan Johnston and I in April in Skaha Lake

Elaine

Your deposit has been received £1000.00. We have secured your position (1st swimmer 19th June – 2nd July 2023) with the non-refundable deposit.

Thanks

Reg (Reginald Brickell, Captain of the Viking Princess II)

With that innocuous looking email, Jan and I are leaping into the English Channel as a team of just two very early in the Channel swimming season. Why does a Channel swim start with securing a boat? Why so early? Why 2023?

There are only seven boats accredited by the Channel Swim Association to pilot swimmers across the storied English Channel from England to France. With the knowledge that the success of our Crazy Canucks relay of six people in 2016 in pretty rough seas was in large measure due to our excellent pilot, choosing Reg and Ray Brickell and the Viking Princess II was a given. As the Brickells’ are much sought-after respected pilots we have to book three years before our swim and coming all the way from Canada it is important to secure a first swim on the tide position. This is key as we may run into weather that will delay our swim and we will get the first shot on that tide.

Our end of June slot was the only first swim position open for all of 2023 and we booked immediately when Reg opened up his booking for that year. What does June mean? The bloody cold English Channel could be very bloody cold (14C).

“It’s a state between a dream state and an awake state,” says famous open water swimmer Lynne Cox. “Maybe we can call it sea-dreaming. The rhythm of swimming lulls your body — which, well trained, seems to keep moving on its own — and your brain is allowed to go wherever it wants.“

Here we are in 14 C degree water on a sunny April day

To swim the English Channel has been described by many as the Everest of long distance swimming. “As an open water swimmer, the English Channel is the pinnacle,” says Jan. “I want to be part of that.” I’m looking to up the ante from the six-person team I was on in 2016 as far as I think I’m capable of pushing it. (I will be 67 in 2023. Jan will be 61). Knowing my swim speed and having a pretty good handle on my abilities and mental toughness, a solo swim although tauntingly tempting seems many hundreds of strokes too far.

From the Channel Swimming Association record book

Of all the teams that attempt the Channel, teams of two are pretty rare. The official record shows only 33 duos have made the England to France crossing until 2019 as compared to 483 six-person teams. I guess the thinking is you might as well do a solo if you are going to do that much swimming…

Jan and I (Crazy Canucks II) will take one-hour turns dodging jelly fish while our boat captain dodges cruise ships and freighters in the world’s busiest shipping channel. It will take us anywhere from 16 to 18 hours (very estimated) so 8, 9 or even 10 swims each with a total of 50 kilometres of swimming. It took our Crazy Canucks team 13 hours and 47 minutes to complete the task in 2016.

That smile is why Jan is an ideal team mate. She is up for anything, willing to suffer in the cold and as upbeat as she looks in this photo.

Here is Jan with my brother Dean in a much kinder ocean as we complete the first Canadian relay crossing of the Catalina Channel in 2019.

The beginning of our boat trip to the our relay start at Catalina Island.

The French finish of our 2016 English Channel Relay… a bit of a different beast.

Here I am with Ray heading toward shore in the dingy to start the English Channel crossing for our team in 2016. Some of our swim will be in the dark which is actually less scary than the all-night swim of Catalina (sharks).

Bring on that leap or dive of faith. Here is hoping the pandemic will be over, we will stay fit to train and we experience the rush of it all.

“Who needs psychedelics,” says Lynne Cox. “when you can just go for a swim in the ocean.”

October 23, 2020 5

Spreading the love – Artisan jam vs. store bought

And a story of how not to make money…

Raspberry jam from our farm-picked raspberries. From farm to jar in one day with only four ingredients.

Jam is a treat and although made from fresh berries it’s hard to argue that it is “healthy” as sugar is an important ingredient. If you are going to indulge yourself a bit, jam made from organic berries picked at their peak, pure cane sugar, freshly-squeezed lemon juice and fruit pectin is better for you than store-bought brands and you sure as heck can taste the difference.

Do you ever get a chemical after taste from store-bought jam or a gummy, overly sweet taste?

Fruit, never mind the raspberries you think you are buying, is often not even the first ingredient in store-bought jam. Look out for ingredients such fruit syrup (concentrated juices from less expensive fruit such as apples, pears or pineapples), high fructose corn syrup which is cheaper than pure cane sugar (now this is an ingredient you should avoid at all costs), natural flavours (which can be a whole lot of things that have nothing to do with raspberries) and citric acid which is made in a lab to substitute for lemon juice.

We grow our raspberries with a whole lot of care, no pesticides and only organic fertilizers.

I will let you in a little secret. I make absolutely no profit and do not even cover my costs when making jam with raspberries from our farm and selling it for $7 (Canadian) a jar. Hence…spreading the love.

I haven’t been able to find new jars that sell for less than $1 each

The jars, lids and rings cost about $1 each although to find that price now I have to search for sales as these prices go up every year.

I love my labels designed by calligrapher http://Kathyguthrie.com and printed by http://Stickerapp.com

My labels, not including the one-time design cost, are about 25 cents each. (They would be slightly cheaper if I ordered in larger quantities.)

Each jar has a pint of fresh-picked organic raspberries from our farm which I would sell for $5.

The fresh lemon juice is also an expensive ingredient.

I make my jam in a copper jam pan I ordered from France. The jam heats more quickly reducing cooking time and preserving more flavour in the copper pan.

So with the cost of the ingredients, jars and labels adding up to my sale price I have not yet added in labour which includes sterilizing everything, meticulously cleaning work surfaces, making multiple small batches to control the quality and electricity to make the jam and boil the water in the canner. In addition time is spent marketing and distributing the jam which I often deliver.

Some batches of jam are made even more special with some artisan vodka. Get this…This Slowpoke Vodka made by http://Legenddistilling.com is made from our raspberries so the jam is like raspberry flavour squared.

Why do I make and sell jam? I love making jam. The smell of a simmering pan of raspberry jam is my favourite scent in the world. I like it that we have developed a bit of a following (and a wait list) and local bed and breakfasts, lodges and neighbours appreciate how great it tastes and have an inkling of what goes into making it. As cheesy as it sounds, it truly feels like spreading the love.

September 15, 2020 4

“It is the sun shining on the rain and the rain falling on the sunshine…” The Secret Garden

It’s been unusual. A cooler and wetter spring…a pandemic that kept us a home. Our secret garden has been the beneficiary. Here is a bit of a photo essay on the effects of perfect growing conditions and lots of attention in our Naramata, British Columbia, Canada garden on the summer solstice.

“I am sure there is Magic in everything, only we have not sense enough to get hold of it and make it do things for us.” The Secret Garden

The purples seem more purple this year…

The pinks more pink…

And we’ve had time to sit and enjoy it all unfolding.

With our pals who are allowed in from time to time…

Just outside the garden walls is our raspberry farm just days away from harvest.

The farm has never looked so tidy. One hour-long spray with round-up would have dealt with all the grass and weeds that invaded the rows but we don’t spray or use chemicals so it was a 160-hour job completed over four months. On hands and knees with a garden fork… It should be easier to maintain going forward with minor attention. It looks great but more importantly the raspberry roots now have less competition for nutrients, water and space. It’s going to be a bumper crop.

June 21, 2020 4

Hot cross buns to make us all a bit less well…cross

These lovely spiced buns are easy to make in just a few hours.

Traditionally served on Good Friday in the UK, they are a spring treat that will fill you kitchen with yeasty, spicey aromas and are wonderful with a large pat of butter, just out of the oven.

Makes 12

Ingredients

4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 package active dry yeast
2 teaspoons orange zest
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cardamom
1 cup whole milk
1/3 unsalted butter, cubed
1 large egg
1 egg yolk

Topping

1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup water
1 tablespoon vegetable oil

Glaze

1/4 water
1/4 cup sugar

A mixer makes this recipe easy but it can be done by hand also.

Directions

Proof the yeast in two tablespoons of warm water.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat 1 1/2 cups flour, sugar, the proofed yeast, orange zest, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and cardamom at low speed until combined.
In a small saucepan, heat milk and butter over medium heat until a food thermometer registers 120 to 130 degrees or until the butter is melted and the milk begins to froth. With mixer at low speed, add milk mixture to flour mixture. Increase mixer speed to medium, and beat for 2 minutes. Add egg and egg yolk; beat at high speed for 2 minutes. Gradually add remaining 2 1/2 cups flour, beating until a soft dough forms.
Using the dough hook attachment, beat at medium-low speed until dough is smooth but sticky… about 8 minutes.
Spray a large bowl with cooking spray. Place dough in bowl, turning to grease top. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in warm, draft-free place until doubled in size, 45 to 60 minutes.

Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Punch dough down; turn onto a lightly floured surface. Divide dough into 12 pieces. Shape each into a ball and place 2 inches apart of prepared pan.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

To make the crosses

For topping, in a small bowl, whisk together flour, 1/4 cup water and oil until smooth. Transfer to a piping bag fitted with a small round pastry tip. Pipe a cross over each bun.