CHARITY CHANNEL CROSSING

28th September 2008

On Sunday the 28th September 2008 at 08:18 am five crews set out from Dover Rowing club to cross the English Channel. Among them was a Folkestone Crew, A Coastal double scull (The Derek Mansell) with senior oarsmen Craig Hoveman (stroke aged 22) and Sam Milton (Bow aged 23) at the oars. This is the first Double scull that has attempted the crossing by a Folkestone Crew. Coastal Double sculls have only been around since just after the turn of the centuary, so this may be the first crossing by a coastal double scull. The row was in aid of charity, Folkestones crew supporting the Pilgrims Hospice and raised £350 pounds for the cause!


The other crews were Coastal Fours and Coastal Quadruple sculls. Crews from Dover Rowing club, Ryde Rowing Club on the Isle of White, a Cambridge Colledge crew and a crew in an ocean going double scull.
Each crew had its own support vessel to guide them across the busy shipping lanes and make sure that they arrived at the correct destination. All were heading for Sandgatte near the French side of the Channel Tunnel. The crew were supported by Paul Hoveman and Patrick Leppard who endured the crossing in an inflaitable rib!
Dovers crew pushed on at the start and gained a half hour lead over the rest of the field. They couldnt hold this for long and were soon passed by both Folkestone and Ryde.

When all was said and done the Folkestone crew were quickest to the other side.

There Time was 3 hours and 18 minutes which is very good going.
They were five minutes ahead of Ryde who finished second in a coastal coxed four in 3 hours 23 minutes. Dover were third.

The last Folkestone crew to complete the crossing of the channel was the veterans four of Steve Edgar, Dave Rumbold, John Allard, Bob Watkins and cox Mark Edgar who took 3 hours 56 minutes in 2002. Its not easy to compare the times as the Veteran crew left from Folkestone to Cape Gris Néz (23.8 miles) where as the latest crossing was from Dover to Sandgatte (22.2 miles). The previous record to that was by a George Edwards crew who crossed from Folkestone to Boulogne (30.8 miles) in 4 hours 18 minutes.
The fastest crossing by a member of Folkestone Rowing club was by Steve Tupper rowing with Dover. That was in a quadruple scull in a time of 2 hours 45 minutes which is tye record!
So are they the fastest Folkestone crew to cross at any part! If Georges crew had crossed from Dover to Sandgatte they would have completed the trip in 3 hours 6 minutes using there average time per mile from there crossing time.



Sponsors of the Event
The crew would like to thank the following main sponsors of the event. The cost of the trip was £1200
ON TIME WINDOWS
BASEPOINT
LEWIS FLOORING
BUCKLEYS
SMITH WINDOW SYSTEMS
DI-BI SPORTS