Edenvale long-distance swimmer conquers the English Channel
“I was worried I would have to cancel as I could not lift my right arm very high.”
Edenvale resident and long-distance swimmer Emil Berning recently swam the English Channel.
Emil swam across the channel on September 19 in 12 hours and 53 minutes.
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He said at a distance of 34 kilometres it was the longest swim he had ever taken on.
Emil began swimming in 2006 to stay fit and to change his lifestyle.
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He decided to do long-distance swimming in 2014.
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“The swimming bug just bit and I began swimming more and more,” said Emil.
Since 2014 Emil has swum numerous long-distance swims including the one from Cape Town Harbour to Robben Island, the one in the Midmar and Katse dams as well as the one from Zanzibar to Tanzania.
Emil said the idea to swim the channel came to him in 2016 when he questioned how he could challenge himself even more.
Despite a two-year waiting list, Emil was able to swim this year when a person who had applied for the swim, decided not to do it. Emil took his slot.
However, in the lead up to the swim, Emil fell at a training session and cracked two ribs.
“I was worried I would have to cancel as I could not lift my right arm very high,” said Emil.
Soon after arriving in England Emil met his support crew who had travelled by boat across the channel alongside him.
The support crew provided Emil with food and drink and were there in case he needed assistance.
If Emil had touched the boat, he would have been disqualified.
Snack bars and warm tea were passed to Emil every 40 minutes with a pole.
For inspiration, Emil visited the White Horse Inn the day before the swim.
He said the walls of the inn are covered in signatures of swimmers who completed the channel swim.
“The night before the swim I couldn’t sleep – I was so nervous,” said Emil.
Emil began the swim from Samphire near Folkestone at 8.50am.
After a few hours, he entered the shipping lanes in the channel.
“Although you think you’re swimming from point to point you actually swim by following a S-shaped route. The currents pushed me up the English coast and then pulled me down on the French coast,” said Emil.
He said the biggest challenge was the mental aspect of the swim.
For the last two hours of the event, Emil swam in darkness.
“Once the sun set the shore never seemed to get closer. The only reason I knew I was getting closer was because the support vessel couldn’t follow me,” said Emil.
He said when he first tried to climb out the water he fell down as his legs couldn’t support him.
“When I stood on the French shore I stood there for a minute but saw nothing. It was such an anti-climax,” said Emil.
Emil said he only realised what he had achieved when he started reading congratulatory messages.
The next day Emil wrote his name on the wall of the White Horse Inn. His name was now among the names of other South Africans who had completed the swim.
He said writing his name on the wall was a great feeling.
When Emil is not swimming across channels, he and a group of 15 others attempt to raise funds for Mandeville Dolphins Swimming Club.
“All of us swim eight miles [12.87 kilometres] at the Midmar Mile to raise the funds. 2018 will be the fifth year,” said Emil.
He said the funds are used to run the swimming club and to buy swimming kits.
Now that Emil has conquered the channel, he hopes to swim the Great Shark Swim.
The swim will see Emil and a group of other swimmers swim 100km along the east coast of South Africa.
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