Thirty miles to glory

An epic accomplishment by my new friend, Davis Lee, who succeeded in his quest to conquer the English Channel. My account in last week's Boston Globe can be found here. Below is the unabridged version, accompanied by a stunning photo from Lisa Poole.

Thirty miles to glory

So, Davis Lee, you've finished your long-anticipated solo swim across the English Channel. What's next? According to the 35-year-old nuclear physicist from Newburyport, that's a question that requires reflection.

"I'm not sure if I've exorcised whatever demons made me want to do it, but perhaps it's all still a little too surreal," said Lee after his 12-hour, 41-minute swim from Dover, England, to Calais, France, last week. "I think one needs to stand on the cliffs of Dover and look into the distance, the cold, gray, rough water, with tons of shipping traffic, to even start to comprehend the absurdity of the task."

Lee was joined in England by his two-year-son Oliver, and his wife, Katharine, who is expecting the couple's second child in November, as well as his coach, Andrew Soracco, and his brother, Timothy Lee. Having a solid support crew was a comfort, though it didn't offset all the obstacles thrown at Lee. His anticipated swim date was delayed for two days. When he finally got the green light, it came at 1 a.m. Lee learned his start time six hours earlier, so he'd been awake for 16 hours by the time he stepped into the murky waters off Shakespeare Beach.

And he was already cold. The swashbuckling crew aboard his pilot boat, the Sea Satin, were below deck "guzzling tea and chain-smoking," said Lee. So the first-time channel swimmer had to choose between staying above deck, and getting chilled, or keeping warm below deck and risk nausea from the secondhand smoke. With high humidity, the salt air felt as cold as the water, he said, and swimming at night was "really, really freaky."

"The first hour was very calm, the next eight were very rough," Lee said. Worse, the tide changed just a few miles off the coast of France, turning the channel into "a washing machine."

"There were times, both early on and later on in the swim, when it was just dark, figuratively and literally," said Lee. "I wasn't going to allow myself to give up before I got to France, but if they pulled me from the water, I don't think I would have minded."

Even stepping onto French soil, after swimming 31.6 statute miles, was a bit anticlimactic. "I wish I could say it was amazing, with fireworks going off," said Lee after his first day back at Axcelis Technologies in Beverly. "But I was just spent. I was cold. I'd been awake for more than 30 hours. There was nothing left there to feel."

"And once you get out (on the French coast), you have to swim back to the boat to go back to England. That was probably the longest 300 yards of my life."

Reunited with his family in Dover, Lee grabbed a pint at The White Horse, a pub named after the channel's whitecaps that are said to resemble horses. The walls and ceilings are littered with signatures of successful channel swimmers.

"One of my favorites, because I could relate, had the name, time, date, and just said 'It was bloody horrible,'" said Lee. Lee took a similar tact, finding a spot on a ceiling beam above the bar, and signing his name, date, time, and adding, simply, "It was cold."

This week, Lee said he finally feels normal again. "I've forgotten a lot of the pain. The saltwater has been rinsed from my mouth. If you gargle saltwater for 13 hours, your mouth is destroyed."

Still, the question remains: What's the next challenge? Prior to his English Channel adventure, Lee admitted he was eyeing the North Channel between Ireland and Scotland, a stretch of open water that makes the English Channel look like child's play due to the frigid temperatures.

"It's equally long, but about 10 degrees colder. There are only eight or nine people who have done it," said Lee. "It's significantly more complicated. They have a little web site, that says, 'If you haven't completed an English Channel swim, we wouldn't even consider taking you on this. Don't even bother calling.' That's pretty hard-core."

However, after his channel crossing, Lee acknowledged he's gained a new perspective of the effort required, and the potential hardships. "We've got a baby coming," Lee said. "I'm going to see how that goes before planning any big, crazy swims."

Plus, the prospect of even colder waters would force Lee to recalibrate his training regimen. "I'd probably have to train in Maine all summer," he said, laughing. "And pack on another 40 pounds of fat."

FINIS