A team from Colchester-based 16 Medical Regiment swims the English Channel, 1 September 2015.

A team from Colchester-based 16 Medical Regiment has swum across the English Channel, battling high winds and the strongest spring tide of the year on the way.

Exercise Serpents Swim saw the mixed team of eight medics swim from Dover to Calais as a relay. The crossing took 17 hours 20 minutes in total, with each medic swimming at least two hour-long sessions before handing over to a colleague.

With the tide dragging them off route, the medics swam an estimated 40 miles to swim the 22 miles from Dover to Calais. They also had to battle winds of up to 23 knots that whipped up heavy waves.

Lieutenant Colonel Philip McNee, Commanding Officer of 16 Med Regt, started the swim off from Dover’s Shakespeare Beach at 6.30am on Friday (28 Aug) and they arrived in France just before midnight.

He said: “The team was superb; everyone was up for it and no-one wanted to let their colleagues down. We’d all trained hard, but it was a tougher challenge than we expected with the tides and wind taking us on a long zigzag across the Channel. It was a fantastic feeling to finish but we were all asleep on the way back, there was no cigars and champagne!”

Sergeant Craig McDougall, a 37-year-old radiographer from East Kilbride, is a qualified swimming coach and oversaw the team’s training.

“Open water swimming is very different to swimming lengths in a pool,” he said. “We’d trained on spotting drills - to focus on how to keep an eye on the boat in the waves - and bilateral breathing, to break the habit of always breathing form one side and make it easier to swim in waves. Both skills really paid off.

“Swimming at night in heavy waves is an interesting experience, and you find out a lot about yourself when you’re cold, wet and alone in sea! It was a challenge, but one that we all massively enjoyed and I’m so proud to have finished.”

Sergeant Mike Brewer, a 30-year-old biomedical scientist from Swindon, was one of the last swimmers to get in the water.

“I had seen people swimming for six hours and it was daunting to know how demanding it was before I got started,” he said. “The second I jumped into the water and the cold hit I wanted to get out, but I didn’t want to let the team or myself down and once I got swimming I quickly settled into a rhythm. It was good to be with friends when you’re freezing cold and exhausted and we were all elated to finish.”