Neil Chapman from Boatshed.com decides to sail around the Isle of Wight singled-handed to follow Anna Wardley as she becomes the THIRD PERSON EVER to swim 60 miles around this Island.

See ANNA LINK

In this basic interview we talk to Neil on his boat and also Samantha Cassell who worked on Anna's shore support team, driving around the island, while Anna swam around.

Neil says; From my perspective, I decided that I was going to see if I could follow Anna on a boat. Having left the PSP Southampton Boat Show on the Saturday afternoon, Anna had already been swimming since 10 o’clock that morning. I took the boat down towards Yarmouth, thinking that I would catch her up as I went down the Solent. Unfortunately, Anna was travelling much faster than we’d expected and was already an hour and a half ahead of schedule and, having come out of Yarmouth and round towards the Needles, she was still way ahead of me. I was now faced with the prospect of an evening or night at sea following Anna and her team. The tide was against me, the boat slowed to literally a few miles an hour as I laboured on through rolling seas and into the night, chasing Anna as she went round the Isle of Wight.

Sam was part of the shore based team who was driving around the Isle of Wight following Anna also, and Sam, at Yarmouth, were there many people at Yarmouth who could see Anna’s progress?

Sam says; Yeah, lots of people. Lots of people could see her.After Yarmouth, then it was the Needles and I remember getting a report from the coastal lookout of the Needles to say that she’d gone round, but that’s a pretty remote area.

Neil says; I kept on motoring against the tide, I was by myself, but it was going dark and I headed East towards St Catherine’s Point. Interestingly, despite it was a full moon, at St Catherine’s Point, there is very little light, there’s no background light. So, it did seem very, very dark. Big tides at the time meant that there was a certain degree of tidal activity, waves, whirlpools as one comes towards St Catherine’s Point. I picked up a small series of lights and came reasonably close to Anna's support boats, got them on the radio and offered any support, but mainly congratulations on their efforts so far, and I continued around St Catherine’s Point.

Neil says; Waves, dark, cold, you can imagine it, slightly disconcerting on a 42 foot sailboat. How quite it felt in the water, or as one of her kayak or support team crew in small boats, one can only imagine.

The support team were also at Wentnor and this was a critical time. Can you explain to us what happened there?

Sam Says; Basically, we struggled to get Anna in out of the tide, so that meant that she was ultimately going to become a little stick that just drifted and drifted and drifted back over all the fabulous miles that she’d already done. Both everybody just watching, and all you can see are these lights disappearing, disappearing backwards, when you want them to be going forwards, forwards. Eventually, they got her in close and she started to pick up mileage again, but it was very scary, very, sort of, “Oh my gosh, what’s going on? Oh, my gosh are we going to be able to get her out of that tide into the cover of the bay and the coast”? But she did it.

Neil Says; Yeah, that particular piece of water is famous for its big tides and currents that run anything up to 10 miles an hour. Anna is obviously swimming but, if the tide is with her, that gives her an advantage. If the tide isn’t with her, then it gives a disadvantage. Personally, from my perspective, on board the boat, I dropped anchor and spent a few hours then waiting for the tide to turn and then heard, through the shore team, that Anna was closing on the notoriously dangerous Ryde Sands. Very difficult to follow on a boat, but managed I to get across the Ryde Sands.

Sam says; The other thing to remember here is that Anna is actually only swimming in a swimsuit and one swim cap. She can’t wear anything else, not wetsuit, drysuit, not a second cap or anything relevant to the regulations of the Swimming Association.
And, at this time, she’s been in the water for 24 hours. Okay, she’s got a shore team that can give her food but, as per the rules, she’s not allowed to take any other assistance other than to take food from her shore crew. She’s not allowed to touch any other boats or any other people around her.

Neil says; 26 hours and 33 minutes, Anna arrived at her starting point on the Ryde Pier at the Isle of Wight and numerous boats were there to accompany Anna’s arrival. I suppose, for me, what I thought was quite amazing is, having spent that much time in the water, she still came to a set of steps on Ryde pier and got out of the water like she had just swum a couple of length in a swimming pool!

Sam says; Absolutely, woo, woo. Well done Anna!