Recommended long distance swims...?

[ladyfish]

I have a slot booked to swim the english channel in 2007 and I would really like to get some long distance swims in this year to build my confidence etc. Unfortunately due to the natue of my work I am busy most weekends until the end of September which has meant I cannot attend the swims in Dover. Can anyone suggest some good swims from the end of September that would be a good start to my channel swimming training. I am prepared to travel abroad as I know the water in this country gets a bit too cold for long swims.

Any advice would be gratefully received.

Many thanks.

[Steve]

These people may be of help: http://www.swimtrek.com/ (at least in terms of where to go, if not actually organising a trip - they probably won't do enough distance for a channel swimmer :)). IIRC from the BBC documentary David Walliams did some of his swims in Croatia.

[ladyfish]

Hi Steve,

I actually did a Swimtrek earlier this year in Croatia - met David on his training swim! It was a good start to my training but as you say they don't do quite enough distance. I'm looking to doing another one though - they're great fun.

Thanks for your help.

[RoDeVe]

Hello,
if you want to practice a long distance swim, I can suggest you two competitive races scheduled for 9th and 10th September in Italy.
The first one is "Isola Gallinara OPEN International" (http://www.nuotomaster.it/FONDO/locridu.asp?N09Z), in Albenga (Liguria), a 20km swim. The second one is a 10km race in lake Caldonazzo (http://www.nuotomaster.it/FONDO/locridu.asp?N10T)(Trentino). Let me know if you could be interested, so that I can call for you and take all the informations you need.
Unfortunately the Open Water season here in Italy is coming to an end, so that there aren't any more long distance competitions!