A TEAM of six swimmers are in Dover today as they prepare to swim the Channel.

Some of the team, including captain, Leslie Emilie Tuck, from Embsay, are attempting the relay swim for the second time, after poor weather last year meant them missing out on their week long window.

This year, the team - Channellettes y Hombre 2019 - made up of four women and two men - hope to be taking to the sea in the boat, The Optimist - sometime between tomorrow (June 15) and Friday, June 21.

Each of the swimmers will spend an hour in the water in rotation as they cross the Channel, which at is shortest is 21 miles, but can vary due to the current, and most will be hoping to raise funds for charities close to their hearts.

All are experienced swimmers who have been training for the Channel swim for months, with the help of Channel swimmer and coach, Christine Bradley, who has carried out both solo and relay swims, and in Leslie’s case, for three years.

Leslie, is raising money for Embsay with Eastby Good Neighbours and Manorlands Hospice; Amber Rose Nolson, a pilates teacher, also from Embsay, is raising money for the NeoNatal Unit at Leeds General Infirmary; Richard Lewis, from Thornton-in-Craven, is supporting Brain Tumour Research, Rebecca Kendall, from Sutton-in-Craven, is doing it for Manorlands Hospice, and Lorraine Watson, from London, for the children’s charity, Mermaids. Former Bradford GP Mark Purvis, Oxenhope is a keen rugby player, and president of Baildon RUFC.

Leslie, a mother of two, from the United States, was brought up swimming in the rivers and beaches in North Carolina and New York, has done the Great North Swim several times and decided to attempt the Channel because it is the ‘one English body of water Americans recognise’.

She got together a team and booked a boat in 2016 for last year’s planned crossing, but was beaten by the weather.

“Unfortunately, our window was un-crossable due to weather conditions – the leftover of a hurricane put paid to our attempt in 2018 and we were rolled over to this 2019 June dates. So now I have been training for the past three years,” she said.

All the team members have their own fundraising pages, and all can be tracked as they cross the Channel at: cspf.co.uk/tracking. They can also be tracked on Facebook at: facebook.com/groups/689864961376625/?ref=share