Win The Sea
I get sea-sick in the ferry and also during swimming if there are breakers or waves. This sea-sickness was the main cause of my failure to set a world record on September 8/9 or even in 1960. The night rest at the Cap Gris Nez hotel did me immense good. I felt on top of the world. The weather on September 21 was near perfect. I jumped into the water within 12 days of my 5th swim, a record in itself, after saying a little prayer, asking God to give me good weather all through and to crown me with success. Nearly the whole of Cap Gris Nez village had turned out to wish me luck and see me enter the water for the sixth time ...
Once in water, you get oblivious of time, distance or direction. The only thought which kept me worried, was that I must make it 'and that I must get good weather all the way. The second half of the swim is always very difficult. And if even little waves develop, it saps the ebbing energy of the swimmer all the more. Taking a lesson from my previous swims I kept my speed at a steady pace for I knew I would need every ounce of my energy towards the close.... I felt hungry and famished and shouted for my manager. In reply, I was told that I could not afford to waste 10 minutes in having the feed! If I have to break the record. I must swim on with all my might. But I refused ...I am sorry now for it. For if I had gone on, I might have finished the whole swim in less than 10 hours and 15 minutes creating a new world record from both sides ..
After the feed I really got my teeth into the strokes .... I was squeezing my body for the last drop of energy I could get out of it.... and edged on inch by inch. The people in the motorboat were cheering me. I saw the flash on the Kent shore very clearly. I realized I was very close. I could see the record, like the proverbial carrot, dangling before my swollen eyes ...
I kept pulling myself on a little more, just a little more ... the momentum was building up- then I felt rocks, sharp and craggy Then a big rock appeared before me. And that was it .... the shore it was ... the time: 4.35 a.m. GMT: I had broken the world record by 15 minutes. I thanked God for fulfilling my life's ambition. Then I remembered my parents. I had not failed my country.