Place of Birth: Tramore, Waterford
Current City: Tramore, Waterford
Swimming Biography
Jim has been a keen swimmer all of his life, taking an active interest in the life-saving side of swimming. He began preparing for his marathon charity swim in aid of Concern Southern African Famine Appeal in 2001, putting in miles in Tramore Bay and between there and Dunmore. He trained on his own with the aid of a book called “Open Water Swimming†by Penny Lee Dean.
While training, Jim was a full-time student at Waterford Institute of Technology, studying Construction Management, which he completed with honours in 2003.
Swimmer's Report – English Channel
Direction: England to France
At 8.40pm on Monday 2nd September 2002, Jim entered the water just behind the pier at Dover.
An hour into the swim Jim became sick. His energy drink did not agree with him and it was hard to keep going for the next 13 hours running on empty.
Swimming throughout the night, Jim felt that he hit the tides just about right. The night swimming made it especially tough, not being able to see where he was going was very difficult.
Jim had to pick up his stroke rate in the last three miles in order to make the shore before the tides turned. However, he missed the window of opportunity and was carried towards Calais by the current.
Jim landed on a small rocky headland near Calais at 11am on Tuesday, 3rd September where ther ewas a lone Frenchman sitting on a rock reading a book. Jim greeted the man, “Bonjour,â€and the reply was “Salut. Ca va?â€
His time for the swim was 14 hours and 14 minutes.
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