I made it a goal to swim the English channel in 2010. Everyone has said to book my pilot as soon as possible, so I went ahead and booked a pilot for the neap tide July19-27.
I did this without realizing that there are now 2 separate governing bodies for the English Channel - The English Channel Swimming and Piloting Federation and Channel Swimming Association Ltd. I booked Mike Oram from the CS&PF.
My question is what is the difference between these 2 groups? Is there any advantage to having your swim recognized by one of these groups instead of the other?
Thanks!
Kim
Parents
Former Member
The CSA is the original group, founded in the 1920's, and the "traditionally" recognized one. The other is a group that formed within the last 10 years or so as a breakaway from the CSA. There is bad blood between them - CSA really seems to have it's collective nose out of joint about CSPF.
That said, Mike Oram has no small rep as being excellent at getting his swimmers across and I don't think that anyone has every questioned the legitimacy of any swimmer's crossing that he was in charge of. Politics aside, if you get across with either group, you will have done it and no one will question that.
Good luck!
-LBJ
The CSA is the original group, founded in the 1920's, and the "traditionally" recognized one. The other is a group that formed within the last 10 years or so as a breakaway from the CSA. There is bad blood between them - CSA really seems to have it's collective nose out of joint about CSPF.
That said, Mike Oram has no small rep as being excellent at getting his swimmers across and I don't think that anyone has every questioned the legitimacy of any swimmer's crossing that he was in charge of. Politics aside, if you get across with either group, you will have done it and no one will question that.
Good luck!
-LBJ
