We are getting really close to the day now and everything going ok and according to plan. Joey Veale has given us our last gym program and they have been so beneficial to us so far and definitely worth the time and effort thanks for all you're wonderful help. Natalie has had us out giving us excellent advice from her kayak and brought us around gull island, and today brought Thomas her son to come kayak with us from ballyvooney to stradbally thanks so much to both of them two beautiful swims altogether. I will put up a picture of my swim it's lucky I wear the watch as you would get dizzy looking at someone else's tracker as Natalie told her today "I'll have to Put a tracker and a zapper on ya"😂
Last Saturday brought us to Dunmore East where we joined approximately 300 others for the RNLI swim. There were some really superb swim times and well done to all who took part. Apologies to everyone that I(jenny😂)swam into, it wasn't intentional but my guidance system was a little bit off that day and I hope I didn't damage any of the buoys I swam into!!! Thanks to the lovely very helpful people in the kayaks who kept pointing me in the right direction, I was a few weeks too early trying to head to France 🙄
Thank goodness one of the duo didn't see the jellyfish until the end of the swim but we just swam over them and kept swimming!! That's a massive difference from 11 months ago when one of us would probably have abandoned ship and swam for shore!!!
We're nearly afraid to say it out loud but it feels like the water temperature is finally increasing and now we can look forward to getting more sea swims in.
Our fundraising page is going extremely well and thanks again to everyone for your kindness and generosity for our charity Breakthrough Cancer Research. All your donations will be going to their bowel cancer research program, thank you.
As we get closer to the date, to say we are getting excited, anxious and nervous is an understatement but the support and good wishes is definitely helping us and hopefully will help us across the channel if we hit a wall or have to wait for a big ship to pass!! Thanks very much for all the great support, really appreciated by us both.
5 weeks and 4 days but who's counting 😳
Thank you all from the jellyfish duo
Monday, 29 May 2017
Wednesday, 10 May 2017
The quiz fundraiser in Minnie’s Pub Abbeyside last night was a massive success. Many thanks to, Bob O’Brien quizmaster and his team of helpers Deirdre Marie and Mike, The Jelly Fish Duo were also helping a little!! Big thanks to Pat O’Brien for the delicious food at the interval it went down a treat. The spot prizes were excellent and thank you to: Flahavans, Dan McCarthy, Hallahan's Pharmacy, The Country Store, The Park Hotel, Curlylocks, Eurospar, Joe for the Waterford Crystal, Timmy for Jameson Distillery tickets and Clonea Leisure Centre. The quiz teams were excellent; to say they made a good night great would be an understatement. Fun night and what a vibrant crowd thank you so much to each and everyone. The generosity and support given for the channel swim in aid of breakthrough bowel cancer raised €3260 phenomenal. We have raised €6357 of the 10,000 euro goal to date.
Jellyfish duo 😊😉
Jellyfish duo 😊😉
Friday, 28 April 2017
Where on earth is the time going?? Here we are a month later and getting closer every day to July 3rd and to say reality is hitting us is an understatement!!
Firstly thank you very much to Dan Mcgrath Media for the lovely write up he did for the local papers, very nice job indeed. Also WLR are going to interview one of us on Friday (don't know how hard the other one tried to get an hour off)!!! Thanks for the publicity as it will all help our charity and indeed keep us motivated with all the support and encouragement we've been getting.
We are back out swimming in the sea and it's really great but still a little chilly. We can't get the big distances that we'd be hoping for but nothing we can do about that except wait for water temperature to rise a bit. Hopefully that won't be too much longer. It's lovely joining the regular group of swimmers that have been doing this longer than us and their words of wisdom and little tips are very helpful indeed thank you stilettos and friends! By the way, the thinking that jellyfish only like warmer water is a myth, don't ask!!!
We have our fundraising quiz night Friday 5th May in minnies and hopefully a fun night ahead! Also a fundraising waxing night (brave men) in micilin's Friday 13th may, that's sure to be a laugh and we look forward to both events and thanks to everyone for their help organising both evenings.
Hopefully in the next update we will be telling you that we are doing one pool session a week with Natalie and one gym session with joey and the rest out in the lovely warm sea, well we can always hope! The sea temperature at the moment is about 8 degrees and it's going to need to get to 11 or 12 degrees for us to really get long swims in but until then at least one of the duo is getting a good laugh at the antics of the other trying to get into the nice refreshing sea, just hilarious!!!
9 weeks and 4 days is all but who's counting😱😱
As always thank you very much to everyone for their very generous donations towards our charity Breakthrough Cancer Research and a big thanks for all the encouragement and support you're given to us, it all helps immensely, until the next time, The jellyfish duo x
Firstly thank you very much to Dan Mcgrath Media for the lovely write up he did for the local papers, very nice job indeed. Also WLR are going to interview one of us on Friday (don't know how hard the other one tried to get an hour off)!!! Thanks for the publicity as it will all help our charity and indeed keep us motivated with all the support and encouragement we've been getting.
We are back out swimming in the sea and it's really great but still a little chilly. We can't get the big distances that we'd be hoping for but nothing we can do about that except wait for water temperature to rise a bit. Hopefully that won't be too much longer. It's lovely joining the regular group of swimmers that have been doing this longer than us and their words of wisdom and little tips are very helpful indeed thank you stilettos and friends! By the way, the thinking that jellyfish only like warmer water is a myth, don't ask!!!
We have our fundraising quiz night Friday 5th May in minnies and hopefully a fun night ahead! Also a fundraising waxing night (brave men) in micilin's Friday 13th may, that's sure to be a laugh and we look forward to both events and thanks to everyone for their help organising both evenings.
Hopefully in the next update we will be telling you that we are doing one pool session a week with Natalie and one gym session with joey and the rest out in the lovely warm sea, well we can always hope! The sea temperature at the moment is about 8 degrees and it's going to need to get to 11 or 12 degrees for us to really get long swims in but until then at least one of the duo is getting a good laugh at the antics of the other trying to get into the nice refreshing sea, just hilarious!!!
9 weeks and 4 days is all but who's counting😱😱
As always thank you very much to everyone for their very generous donations towards our charity Breakthrough Cancer Research and a big thanks for all the encouragement and support you're given to us, it all helps immensely, until the next time, The jellyfish duo x
Saturday, 1 April 2017
Things are becoming very real and scary now as July 3rd is creeping up on us!! Just putting finishing touches on registration, medicals etc then booking transport to Dover!!! We will be handing out our sponsorship cards soon and don't mind asking for support as it's a worthy charity (as are all others) that we are collecting for. 100% raised going to breakthrough for their bowel cancer research program. Thanks again so much for donations received already. Big thanks to Jordan Daly social media management for lovely job he did with the cards.
We have secured a date with quizmaster Brendan o Brien and Minnies for Friday 5th May and we'd love if you could join us for an enjoyable night, reminder again nearer the date.
Training is going well and another new gyp program starts today so looking forward to that!! One of the duo hit the sea last Sunday, invigorating to say the least but really good to be out in the open water. Thanks Clare, Maura, Sylvia and Simon, most enjoyable and hopefully again this weekend weather permitting. The temperature still bit low to be out training full time in the sea but getting closer 😀
Whoever said you're never to old to learn is quite right!! One of the duo got a valuable swimming tip from Natalie on Wednesday and is putting it into practice with great results altogether!! Now the other one is put to the pin of her collar to keep up, thanks Natalie!!!
We have secured a date with quizmaster Brendan o Brien and Minnies for Friday 5th May and we'd love if you could join us for an enjoyable night, reminder again nearer the date.
Training is going well and another new gyp program starts today so looking forward to that!! One of the duo hit the sea last Sunday, invigorating to say the least but really good to be out in the open water. Thanks Clare, Maura, Sylvia and Simon, most enjoyable and hopefully again this weekend weather permitting. The temperature still bit low to be out training full time in the sea but getting closer 😀
Whoever said you're never to old to learn is quite right!! One of the duo got a valuable swimming tip from Natalie on Wednesday and is putting it into practice with great results altogether!! Now the other one is put to the pin of her collar to keep up, thanks Natalie!!!
Monday, 13 March 2017
UL swim
Just back from another lovely training session in UL and we were joined by Clare Morrisey today. For those of you who don't know our friend Clare she is an excellent open water swimmer and herself a channel swim success!!! Clare along with 5 other ladies made up the Stiletto Swimmers relay team of 2010 who made it across and to say we picked her brain today is an understatement!!! Thanks Clare, invaluable to get 1st hand info, nothing like it.
Most of the relay teams are made up of groups of four, five or six and even on the channel swim Facebook page we hadn't seen another team of two like ourselves that's until today!! While in the pool in UL we got chatting to a group in the lane beside us (on a break between drills Natalie!!!). These were from Galway and one of the ladies Annette and a friend are attempting the swim in September. So good to know we're not the only duo crackpots!!! All the best to them with their training.
We are having a few days off as one of the team is heading for Cheltenham and hopefully she'll be swimming in champagne celebrating loads of success, giddy up!!! Until next time thanks so much for all the encouragement and support, really appreciated. Jellyfish duo
Most of the relay teams are made up of groups of four, five or six and even on the channel swim Facebook page we hadn't seen another team of two like ourselves that's until today!! While in the pool in UL we got chatting to a group in the lane beside us (on a break between drills Natalie!!!). These were from Galway and one of the ladies Annette and a friend are attempting the swim in September. So good to know we're not the only duo crackpots!!! All the best to them with their training.
We are having a few days off as one of the team is heading for Cheltenham and hopefully she'll be swimming in champagne celebrating loads of success, giddy up!!! Until next time thanks so much for all the encouragement and support, really appreciated. Jellyfish duo
Saturday, 4 March 2017
Pilot Boat
Reality is definitely setting in these days as registration forms, memberships and medicals are in order before the end of the month!! Filling these out is confirming there's no turning back so better do it soon in case one of the duo gets cold feet (pardon the pun)!! Speaking of cold feet we are still grounded and the more we get impatient to get out in the sea the colder it seems to be getting!! Fingers crossed we'll be out in month or we'll have pool fever ( equivalent of cabin fever to swimmers)! The most important part of organising the swim is to book our pilot boat which we did last May. It's not possible to get across the channel without these registered boats. The channel swimming association gives us the list and we organise the day rest. We choose our boat for the name "Connemara" and our skipper is a very nice gentleman by the name of Kevin Sherman who will get us safely across the channel to our destination Calais. These pilot boat skippers know the channel better than anyone on the planet and know the tides and how to get us across safely. The attempts to swim the channel are done during neap tides of which there are approximately 10 during the season. The skipper knows the tides and currents and will guide us through them hopefully with ease as the best we can keep with them the better our chance of success. The Dover strait is one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world and some of these ships are 350 meters in length and 300,000 tonnes in weight and believe it or not but they have right of way!!!! Hopefully we won't meet too many of them on the 3rd of July!!
Thanks for all the good wishes and support, greatly appreciated
Thanks for all the good wishes and support, greatly appreciated
Saturday, 25 February 2017
Fears!!
As we are getting impatient to get swimming in the sea we are thinking about our little friends that may join us uninvited and other dangers!! We both have listed our top 5 fears, no guessing who's list is who's!!!
1. Failure
2. Injuries
3. Hypothermia
4. Unforgiving tides
5. Sharks!!!!
2. Injuries
3. Hypothermia
4. Unforgiving tides
5. Sharks!!!!
1. Jellyfish
2. Failure
3. Hypothermia
4. Jenny
😜
5. Injuries
2. Failure
3. Hypothermia
4. Jenny
😜5. Injuries
Keeping Warn
Us modelling our new dryrobes that we will be relying on to keep us warm between our swims across the channel with our minder mike!
Jellyfish Attacks!!
Just a few pictures first two are From jellyfish sting this is what one of the duo gets for laughing at the fear of the other!!!! Not nice she won't laugh the next time 
😂
😂
Our gym programmes so far from joey Veale who certainly knows he's stuff but we wonder does he know we not planning on taking on conor mcgregor!! It's certainly paying off and we're really looking forward to getting out into the sea as we've been indoors since 22nd November when we got a bit cold but that's another story. should have listened to Clare!! Pool training has been great but ready for the sea now whenever it warms up?? 19 weeks and 3 days to go but who's counting 
😆Many thanks again for all the support and good wishes, really helps keep us motivated. More to follow from the jellyfish duo
😆Many thanks again for all the support and good wishes, really helps keep us motivated. More to follow from the jellyfish duo
Updates
Great day in UL Excellent workout thanks again to the great Natalie shaw-Hamilton Gold Coast leisure centre for our program. Thank god for no jellyfish in a 50m pool 😂😂
😂😂
Progress
As we update this our gym program has been really intensified thanks to Joey Velae at the Clonea Leisure Centre and we are definitely reaping the rewards in the pool....hopefully!!!
Our training consists of 5 days a week usually 2 in the gym and 3 in the pool and the pool has really got interesting thanks to Natalie Shaw-Hamilton in the Gold Coast Leisure Centre, putting us through our paces.
We have had a few interesting days so far with lots of story's to follow for now we will start you with his one.
One of the 1st being a swim from the pier in Ballinacourty to the lighthouse under the watch full eye of Phillippa's niece Kelly in the Kyack. That was the 18th July and to say we were joined by a few jellyfish is an understatement the sea was FULL of them!!! One of us was petrified and the other got badly stung laughing at the one petrified freaking out at the jellyfish hence our channel swim team name "jellyfish duo"
Our training consists of 5 days a week usually 2 in the gym and 3 in the pool and the pool has really got interesting thanks to Natalie Shaw-Hamilton in the Gold Coast Leisure Centre, putting us through our paces.
We have had a few interesting days so far with lots of story's to follow for now we will start you with his one.
One of the 1st being a swim from the pier in Ballinacourty to the lighthouse under the watch full eye of Phillippa's niece Kelly in the Kyack. That was the 18th July and to say we were joined by a few jellyfish is an understatement the sea was FULL of them!!! One of us was petrified and the other got badly stung laughing at the one petrified freaking out at the jellyfish hence our channel swim team name "jellyfish duo"
Thanks for all the good wishes and support much appreciated and helps keep us motivated.
More to follow soon.
Our Story
https://give.everydayhero.com/ie/phil-and-jen-s-swim-adventure
On th 26th May 2016 our adventure began when we got our date to swim the English Channel on the 3rd of July 2017! We have been training to challenge the Channel since the 4th June 2016 and it has been an adventure so far, to say the least. We will be updating this page regularly with our stories of Jellyfish, Seals, Dolphins and Hypothermia (to mention a few) While we are doing this swim we are going to raise money for Breakthrough Cancer Research, specifically their Bowel Cancer Research Program. If you would like to support our charity, click the link below and also please share our page with your friends. ALL DONATIONS WILL BE GOING TOWARDS THE BOWEL CANCER RESEARCH PROGRAM!
Thanks in advance, from the Jellyfish Duo 
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