English Channel solo swim for charity
29/08/2019
UPDATE: Jody completed her swim on Tuesday 27th August.
Jody Jones, a Director of Testrade Ltd and daughter of Gail Long, is undertaking a solo swim of the English Channel, raising money for Blesma – The Limbless Veterans. This is one of the longest serving military charities and supports veterans who have either lost the use of a limb or an eye, have had amputations or who have lost limbs on the battlefield. The charity supports the beneficiaries for life and provides financial, physical and psychological support, as well as providing opportunities for future employment, confidence building, welfare and housing. It is a small but very important charity that has supported a number of Jody’s family friends and former colleagues of her husband who have been injured in the line of duty.
Jody’s Channel solo tidal window opens on 8 August, during which time she will be attempting to swim 21 miles across the busiest shipping lane in the world, alongside her pilot boat ‘Optimist’, from Samphire Hoe Beach in Dover to France. She will have a support crew on board, which will include husband and Testrade colleague Rich Jones. She will be swimming according to ‘English Channel rules’, which means that she will only be allowed to wear a standard swimming costume, goggles and a swim hat, and will not be allowed to touch the pilot boat or anyone on it. An official observer from the Channel Swimming & Piloting Federation will also be on board in order to make sure she follows the rules and to ratify her swim. Along the way she will encounter marine life, including seals and jellyfish, as well as giant container ships and ferries. Jody has been in training for this swim for four years; she was supposed to be swimming in 2018 but due to a shock cancer diagnosis in December 2017 she had to delay for a year.Should you wish to support Jody and the charity for which she is undertaking this challenge, her fundraising page is: www.justgiving.com/jodyschannelswim2019
