SLATHERED in grease cooked up at his Newcastle home and wearing his favourite budget goggles, Craig Clarke has high hopes of finally swimming the English Channel two years after COVID-19 dashed his initial plans.
"This to me is the big one, it's like, 'Do I need to do anything more after this?' I don't know. This is the dream," he said as he emerged from training at Merewether this week.
Clarke, 57, who recently retired from a mining executive role, flies out of Sydney on June 14 bound for England to begin final preparations for the solo Dover to Calais ocean challenge, first conquered by a Briton in 1875 and long viewed as the Holy Grail of ocean swimming.
The Channel Swimming Association has given Clarke, who is swimming to raise funds for mental health charity Beyond Blue, a window between July 1 and 13 to make his attempt, pending weather conditions.
The mammoth challenge follows Clarke's 36-kilometre swim from Catherine Hill bay to Nobbys in August 2020, which he did after his preparations to cross the English Channel were thwarted by the pandemic.
He is upbeat about his first attempt at the Channel, regarded as the busiest shipping zone in the world.
"My coach Trent Grimsey did manage to swim [the Channel] almost perfectly straight when he set the record time for the swim [6 hours, 55 minutes, in 2012] but that is an extremely unique set of cherries to be lined up inclusive of the lowest possible tides for the year combined with ideal conditions on the water," Clarke said. "The straight line distance as the crow flies is 34km, or 21 miles, but the average distance swum for those successfully completing the Channel is around 48km, mostly impacted by the strong low tide as shown in the tracked path of that particular relay of swimmers last year."
"Despite the strict qualifying conditions and preparation of most swimmers attempting the Channel and tighter controls on the weather conditions required before starting, there is still only about a 50 per cent success rate for solo swimmers over the past five years."
The pilot boat that will assist Clarke transported 16 solo swimmers during Channel attempts last year. Only one swimmer finished.
Clarke feels physically and mentally strong after continuing training in the wake of his 2020 Newcastle swim, which went pear-shaped half way and took way longer than expected after "brutal" swell and tide conditions struck off Redhead.
"The best thing about that [swim] is that it's in the physical and mental memory bank, and I've done things differently since then," he says.
Clarke has increased his swim train regime: before the 2020 event he was notching up 100kms a month; in May alone he swam 140kms. He has also travelled south to the Illawarra district to swim in cooler waters than those of the Hunter [the Channel water temperature will be under 15 degrees].
"I've been chasing the cold water and been in the Minnamurra River, which is colder and tidal," he says.
Qualifying for the Channel feat by swimming for six hours in Port Phillip Bay, he has also indulged in thrice-weekly ice baths, first in a tub in his courtyard, later at a local gym.
Weighing in at around 100 kilograms, he is six kilograms above his "normal racing weight" but five kilograms less than what he weighed in his 2020 effort.
Exposed to the ocean as a Nipper at Swansea Belmont surf club at the age of five and then later training at Valentine pool before representing his state and country, Clarke's decision to face the Channel is inspired by the late Des Renford, who at the age of 39 completed his first of 19 crossings.
"That image of all the grease on him, jumping into cold water and swimming between countries - it was something I hoped one day to do, it's always been in my mind," he says.
Fittingly, Clarke will see Renford's son, Michael, who he has trained with in the past, hours before he heads to the airport. The Sydney-based Mr Renford is one of a small crew who Clarke has turned to in view of keeping a positive mind-frame before the big day.
"In the lead up to my [2020 swim] I shut out all negative thoughts, even people, in my world. It is a crazy thing, you should do it in life in general," he says. "A good couple of months out I am always having positive thoughts, you are training your mind just like your body."
Clarke has spent months researching his Channel swim, which he says is impossible to swim in a straight course due to the tides.
"The tides are huge, they are seven metres whereas our king tide [in Newcastle] is 2.3 metres, and when it hits you it pushes you sideways and you can't swim across it," he says.
"What that means is you have to set yourself up to try and get as far across as you can before the low tide starts - so you start in reference to high tide, and if that's at 1am in the morning, then that's when you start."
Many swimmers face two tidal changes during the Channel crossing, however Clarke hopes to swim fast enough to only deal with one.
"I expect to start just prior to high tide when the strong pull into the Channel has gone and you have an opportunity from that point to when low tide kicks in to get as far across as you can," he says. "When low tide hits, you do a sharp right turn, almost parallel to the coast rather towards France, to set yourself up so when the low tide hits it brings you onto French land."
There is a strong chance he could be pushed past his planned landing point by the tides, in which case he'll have to wait until it drops before swimming across towards the closest point on the French coastline.
During the swim, which he estimates could take 11 hours in good conditions or up to 15 if things don't go to plan, he will be accompanied and encouraged by a crew of five. That includes an official observer, who ensures he is meeting all regulations, which includes wearing the correct style of costume and only one swimming cap and avoiding any form of even minor assistance throughout the swim.
Before he gets in the water, he will lather himself in a protective grease he will carry from Newcastle, made by melting lanolin, parafen and 50+ sunscreen. After some costly goggles let him down in his 2020 swim, he has sourced a cheap pair from Kmart which he reckons have excellent anti-fog properties. He's yet to choose his lucky pair of bathers but they'll be bright.
Clarke does not expect to encounter sharks - "People don't realise they don't like cold water" - and will drink 300mls of a high-carb mixture (he has five varieties, including Staminade and his preferred strong, warm Milo) every 40 minutes that he is in the water to replace the energy he is expending.
"I am maintaining a weight that is above my racing weight, it's good insulation," he says.
As for his secret swimming strength, it might be his might and barrel-like frame: "I have a natural ocean swimming style and a few sharp observers have said I sit higher in the water than most. I think it's my chest and lung capacity. I'd like to think that my thick-set upper body comes in handy."
Clarke has dedicated his swim to his late father, Peter, his icon Renford, his late surf life saving coach Cliff Marsh, OAM, who was also instrumental in starting his coal mining career; and Dennis Day, his teenage swimming coach who "raised my pain tolerance in swimming by training us very hard".
He also says he's swimming for his mother, Patricia, who used to rise at 4am to get him to the pool ("I would never be a swimmer without her"), and close family members including his uncle Paul, cousin Andrew and his twin sister and "rock", Michelle.
When he's out in the ocean, his favourite place, when not thinking about how his body is feeling and when his next feed is, he keeps positive by remembering songs and special people who have helped him on his journey.
"I'm not nervous, I'm excited. I think the night before [I swim] there won't be much sleep, not from nerves but just the reality that it's going to happen," he says.
"It's more just trying to calm the racing mind in terms of visualising the whole day."
In the ocean, he expects to hit a few mental walls. One thing he struggled with during his 2020 swim was a fear of not getting to shore before dark: "In the end I just made it, you have to fight through. I had said to my crew, 'If it's dark, don't think we are stopping, we have to finish!"
Clarke raised $32,000 in 2020 for Beyond Blue, a charity he supports because he has faced mental health pressures in past years, alongside those close to him: "There were a few things, career-related and on the relationship side, where I have struggled and needed help with in my earlier years. Back then, it wasn't spoken about, it was all about the macho thing. Guys don't talk to each other like women do about their own issues."
He is grateful for the support he gets from all his swim community, and hopes his latest challenge will inspire others to keep going, despite setbacks, as he has faced in the ocean and life.
"For me this is about goal setting," he says. "COVID has affected everyone in a negative way but you can reset and re-target and work through things. Your opportunity will come."
