Two years ago Tim Denyer, a swimming coach, Sarah Leipciger and her daughter Eve Napier, then 11, floated the idea of Eve and five of her friends undertaking a relay swim across the English Channel to raise money for Child Poverty Action Group.

The Sea Gals – Eve, Lucy Sims, Amelie Noor and Sasha Vinnicombe, all 13, and Grace Radford and Ruby Greer, both 14 – have become the youngest female relay team to swim from England to France.

I felt total excitement and pride for them all as a group embarking on this incredible challenge that they had all been working towards for so long Alison Noor

Family and friends wave the girls off from Dover Marina at 4am.

“It was emotional watching the Viking Princess leave the jetty, and very beautiful. It was dark and the lights of the boat were incredibly bright. I was nervous and excited for the girls, knowing from my own experience of doing a Channel relay the hard work that was ahead of them” – Sarah Leipciger, Eve’s mum.

On board the Viking Princess with the girls were Denyer, the boat’s crew Reg and Ray Brickell, Eve’s dad, James Napier, and Phil, a Channel Swimming Association observer there to authenticate the swim.

Because of the tides, Channel swimmers make the crossing in an S shape. The shortest distance they will cover will be around 21 miles.



Reg Brickell takes Lucy from the Viking Princess to the start point.



The swim must be from shore to shore, so Lucy, who is swimming first, is to set off from Samphire Hoe beach in Dover.

Lucy starts the swim, with Reg Brickell escorting her to deeper waters where the Viking Princess awaits.



The girls received a text on Wednesday evening telling them they would be setting off at 3.30am on Thursday from Dover, which meant a 1am start in east London.

They had expected to be leaving on Saturday, but their swim was brought forward because of changing weather conditions. Some of the girls had to get permission to miss school.

I remember going to the first meeting and hearing my parents saying 'why are we even going, it’s never going to happen' Lucy

Sasha, Ruby and Amelie eat an early breakfast at 5.30am.

Lucy on the first leg of the swim from Dover as the sun rises.



The girls each had to spend an hour at a time in the water and they had to stick to their relay team order. If any of the swimmers did not spend their full hour in the water, the whole team would be disqualified.

Only five weeks ago I had my appendix removed, I couldn’t swim for around three weeks which was quite concerning as the swim was getting closer and I couldn’t train for it Amelie

Lucy updates her mum on her first swim as she supports the second swimmer, Amelie.



To be recognised officially, Channel swims must be unassisted, meaning wetsuits are not permitted. With the water temperature averaging 16C, some of the girls were concerned about the cold, but less so than about the jellyfish.

After my first swim I threw up twice. I got used to the rocking of the boat eventually Lucy

Getting into the water for the first time was the most difficult point. When I swam in the sea for the first time, in Majorca, I had a massive panic, and I’ve been scared of it ever since. Building up to my hour, every sea fear seemed to be re-entering my mind Sasha

At the changeovers the swimmers need to board the boat quickly, as the next swimmer waiting in the water will lose heat rapidly.

I think I was quite scared to begin with – everyone was talking about jellyfish in the water and saying 'oh my god you’re going to get stung' Grace

Phil helps Eve back on to the Viking Princess after her first swim.



“It’s actually really fun to be the youngest. It was kind of cool. It was kind of scary jumping in for the first time because I was cold and there were three jellyfish right next to the ladder. It was cold the entire time and there was one part where I was swimming through this mucky greasy part and there were jellyfish that kept stinging me, completely surrounding me. I was tired because I had to wake up at one in the morning but I was excited” – Eve

There were loads of jellyfish on my first swim and one went between my legs and got stuck there and it really hurt. I turned my head and Tim just laughed his head off, so I laughed too and then it was all OK Grace

Grace during her first swim.



“People said there was a jellyfish with really long tentacles under me. I didn’t open my eyes underwater because I didn’t want to see, but when I looked up you could see people covering their mouths with their hands, and then they would look at it as it went past and follow it with their eyes so you knew that one had just gone past you. Tim said we were not allowed to point because it would distract the swimmer, but you could see everyone’s heads following the jellyfish going past you” – Grace



I had Love on Top by Beyoncé in my head and I was pacing to it, that was the really good tip that we were all talking about Grace

“When you’re in the water for that long in your head you say 30 mins has got to be coming soon and then they hold up the 30-minute board and you think OK it wasn’t that bad, just that again, then five minutes later in my head I was: ‘WHERE IS MY 45-MINUTE BOARD, COME ON!’ That one was a long time coming” – Grace

While Ruby completes her first swim, Eve tries to catch up on sleep next to some of the food supplies.



Ray Brickell must keep Viking Princess to the pace of the swimmers, watching them on a screen linked to cameras on the sides of the boat. The swimmers must keep to the course set by the boat.

The worst thing was probably the initial training at the lido, just swimming up and down for an hour which can get quite tedious Amelie

Amelie’s second swim.



“Maybe I should have been concerned for Amelie as she had only slowly started back swimming two weeks earlier, but she had been so positive yet sensible and gradually swam each day for 15 minutes or so. She did become a little worried when Tim said he would like to bring it forward to Thursday, and up until this point Amelie had only built up to 30 minutes non-stop and she had still been getting pain towards the end of each swim. So she went for a 45-minute swim on Monday and then a 3km swim on Tuesday – she did it in 50 minutes, no pain, so I could tell she was thrilled with that and she felt ready” – Alison Noor, Amelie’s mum

Sasha and Eve during their second swims.



Lucy’s second swim.



The best thing about the training was listening to music together in the car on the way to Dover Eve

Because all the girls are comfortable breathing bilaterally, Tim could move them to the starboard side of the boat, where they were more protected from the higher waves as the tide turned against wind.

“All day I followed the texts from James on WhatsApp. It was like a rollercoaster. It happened so quickly, it was really surreal. There was a pause for a while and I convinced myself something had happened. One photo of Sasha looked like she was crying. I started crying. Then a message came through that Sasha had been swimming while a dolphin was spotted. Magical” – Chloe Vinnicombe, Sasha’s mum

Dad James, coach Tim and Sasha try to warm up Eve after her second swim.

My greatest fear was of them getting too cold or sick – the biggest risks are hypothermia and the remoteness of the environment. If things go wrong out there, there’s not much you can do about it. One minute the sea is beautiful and alluring, the next its deadly James Napier, Eve’s dad

Lucy, Eve and Amelie onboard the Viking Princess while Grace is on her second swim.

“When I got out Tim said I should be proud of myself - we overtook a solo boat in the first 20 minutes of my swim, and I did give it everything cos I thought this will be my last swim if I sprint, but if I don’t sprint I’ll have to do another one and I don’t know if I could have. When I came out my lungs and stomach and mouth were full of seawater and I don’t think I could have done another swim even if I was finishing” – Grace

My last swim was surprisingly good. French waters were way warmer and I felt it was a good swim. I was so happy when I finished it – I had no idea we were so close to France Lucy

Lucy during her third swim. With the tide against the wind, conditions become increasingly challenging.

“The day felt like a dream because we hadn’t slept the night before, and every time I nodded off I woke again quickly because I felt guilty that I might miss something. I must have pressed the refresh button on the Viking Princess tracker site about a thousand times that day, watching the little red pointer progress across the Channel. I spoke to Eve once, and could hear the other girls cheering whichever swimmer was in the water. It was incredible. Eve was completely chilled out and not worried about the possibility of a third swim. I could still hear the girls cheering with the same gusto they’d exhibited when I’d called hours before, and I knew they were going to make it” – Sarah Leipciger, Eve’s mum.

“We kept WhatsApping messages of support. I don’t know if the girls got them. Everyone at work was supportive and knew I had a hundred windows open tweeting updates to our supporters” – Jonathan Sims, Lucy’s dad

I was really hoping to finish the swim as I was really excited about actually touching France and felt very lucky to be the one to do it as it was very much the luck of the draw Amelie

Amelie’s third swim, in rougher seas with the tide against the wind.



“For me, my last swim was definitely the best as everyone was by the side shouting and cheering and as France got closer it got very exciting as the reality of completing the Channel became very real. The conditions were quite rough by then and there were lots of weeds but I didn’t really mind it, I found it more entertaining than anything” – Amelie

Eve and Lucy with cameraphones ready as Amelie heads for Cap Gris-Nez. The Viking Princess is unable to go any closer to the shore.

Amelie stands up on Cap Gris-Nez, 13 hours and 23 minutes after Lucy left Samphire Hoe beach.



“When I reached France it was very rocky and weedy, making it quite tricky to get to shore safely” – Amelie

Sasha, Eve, Grace and Ruby celebrate as Amelie stands up on Cap Gris-Nez.



“Seeing Amelie stand on the rock at the Cap was the best thing” – Lucy

“When Amelie made land, I had just arrived to watch my other daughter’s school play. James sent our WhatsApp group a video and we heard the boat claxon. Just amazing. I was so proud. Lucy’s old school teachers were smiling” – Jonathan Sims, Lucy’s dad

Eve hugs Amelie as she returns to the Viking Princess, with Grace celebrating and Eve’s dad James photographing.



Lucy, Eve and Ruby hang on, tired and cold, as the Viking Princess motors back to Dover in rough seas.

