FIVE West Dorset lifeguards marked 25 years of the RNLI lifeguard service by swimming a 25km relay in time for their morning beach shifts in Lyme Regis.
Father and son Malcolm and Ben Greenslade, Xanthe Dyer, Cole Dickinson and Kaje Phare took on the extraordinary open-water relay swim from Chesil Beach to Lyme Regis.
Their journey started at 2am by linking up with the rib from Lyme Regis Sea School, skippered by Elliot and Josh, and after pre-swim checks, they made their way east to the start.
Their swim started at 2.55am, just east of Dragon’s Teeth at Fleet Lagoon off Abbotsbury, in the pitch dark with just the hint of a hazy half-moon.
Malcolm said: “Pockets of cold air streaming through the gaps in the coastline and coupled with a fresh breeze from the NNE, made the temperature feel quite chilly after being used to hot summer days.”
The team’s powerful beam torches and green personal swim lights, which they wore attached to their goggles, were the only lights to be seen in the darkness.
To maintain their pace and target time of six hours, the five swimmers rotated in relay shifts of 1km.
Malcolm said: “There were points during the swim, particularly in the early stages when swimming a straight course in the dark wasn’t easy and it cost us about 30 minutes, so we were frantically doing the maths to make sure we could hit the target speed required of around 4kph.”
As they neared Lyme Regis, the five swimmers all entered the water together as a team for the final stretch.
They were joined by the RNLI Lyme Regis lifeboat, with Tim Edwards at the helm, plus paddleboards, kayaks and a cheering crowd to clap them onto the beach, along with commentary and a welcome from town crier Alan Vian.
The team arrived at 9.31am, with half an hour to spare before the start of their beach lifeguarding shift at 10am.
The team agreed it was the ultimate commute to work for people who love the sea!
To donate to their fundraiser, visit https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/rnli-lifeguards-weymouth-west-dorset.