By CASEY NEILL
FOUR hours of vomiting ended Paul Hoffman’s previous attempt to swim across the English Channel, in July 2012.
Next month the Selby man will do it all again, hoping for a happier ending.
“It was a bucket list sort of thing I wanted to do and I didn’t get there last time,” he said.
Mr Hoffman doesn’t remember being pulled from the water, eight hours and 30 kilometres after setting off from Dover, England, for France.
“It didn’t end well. I was pretty sick,” he said.
But the swim raised thousands of dollars for StarBright – a learning exchange program supporting AIDS and HIV-affected orphans in Cape Town’s slums and shanty towns.
He’s hoping this attempt will again drum up donations for the charity.
“That’s a reward in itself,” he said.
Mr Hoffman’s wife Wendy told him to get back in the water before he flew home last time, “so at least you have a positive experience before you go”.
“It was good advice,” he said.
“It took a couple of months to get back into it and really start enjoying it.
“I carried on swimming but I was just sort of plodding.”
But he’s since taken on open water swims, including The Bloody Big Swim from Frankston to Mornington, a Rye to Portsea swim with Iceberger group Black Ice, and the Rottnest Channel Swim.
He’s stepping up his training and will fly out on 24 July for his swim window, from 28 July to 2 August.
Mr Hoffman, who once described himself as “a lousy swimmer”, said he’d learnt lessons from his last attempt. The biggest was to rely on his support crew.
“If you have a problem you have to tell them,” he said.
This time he’ll have two people who’ve successfully crossed the channel in his boat.
“I’ll be more relaxed knowing what I’m going into this time,” he said.
The swim from England to France is 34 kilometres in a straight line.
“The challenge you have is the current is pushing you sideways,” he said.
This could push the swim out to 50km. Mr Hoffman’s only allowed to wear goggles, a cap, and speedos and isn’t allowed to touch his support boat. Crew members will throw out containers attached to a rope filled with food and drinks.
The Rhodesian-born father of two had been dreaming about the challenge since he was 14 years old.
When he volunteered as a surf lifeguard at Sunrise beach in Cape Town, South Africa, legendary open water swimmer Lewis Pugh assessed his qualifying swim and told him about his tilt at the channel swim. The seed was planted.
So two years ago Mr Hoffman decided his 40th birthday would be a great time to tackle it.
He contacted coach John van Wisse and had been training in pools and open water across Melbourne ever since, his family his biggest supporters.
“I don’t think I’ll get a third chance, though!” he said.
“I was pretty confident last time. I was pretty angry about how it ended.
“I’m very confident that I’ll get it right this time.”
Visit www.paulschannelswim.com or www.starbright.org.au for more information or to make a donation.
