Smashing a 14-mile swim – feat jellyfish, seasickness and supportive dolphins

Tuesday 10 September 2024

There might have been stinging jellies and waves of seasickness along the way, but Scott Docherty wasn't going to allow these to stop him from completing an epic 14-mile swim from Jersey to France.

The Docherty family – made up of Scott, Jenny, and children Eleanor (13) and Rory (11) – has been involved with the Jersey Long Distance Swimming Club for five years.

Having seen many swimmers complete the Jersey-France swim, Scott decided that he wanted to give the notorious 14-mile challenge a go.

Initially having set his sights on summer 2023, he began training for the swim early last year. However, the weather ended up scuppering his plans and pushed the window of opportunity to 2024.

He continued to train throughout the year until ideal conditions prevailed on Wednesday 28 August, when Scott was finally able to swim to France – a task he relished and smashed in a total of eight hours and 45 minutes with the support of the JLDSC.

Pictured: Scott (back, left) swam to France in just under nine hours.

But it wasn't all plain-swimming, as jellyfish and seasickness doing their best to cause him struggles along the way.

"[The jellyfish] enjoyed nothing more than giving the odd sting here and there," Scott recalled,"but the moon and the barrel jellies were are lot more friendly."

Scott also revelled in the "privilege" of being visited by a pod of dolphins along the way and hearing their whistles and clicks underwater.

His friends Colin Smith and Darren Osmand were onboard to keep him fed and motivated throughout and all were safely navigated to the French coast by pilot Guy Pipon and JLDSC observer Graeme Lowe.

Pictured: The JLDSC support multiple swimmers like Scott every year

But Scott doesn't plan on hanging his goggles up yet.

"I would love to do a round island relay swim with my wife and children," he added, which the JLDSC have said they will be helping them plan.

The JLDSC keep records of all successful Jersey-France swims. For details on those and more info about the club visit their website.