An endurance swimmer from Jersey, Phil Gaudin, witnessed a breathtaking view of a pod of dolphins during his attempt at a sea-swim crossing last month.

Gaudin unexpectedly encountered the marine mammal while swimming the Jersey to France route, a distance of 20.5 miles (33km) in just six hours and 56 minutes.

The Jersey Long Distance Swimming Club (JLDSC) mentioned in a statement that their member, Gaudin, completed the Jersey-France crossing on May 23, their earliest on record. They also revealed that the sighting of the pod of dolphins happened during the early part of the route for around 30 minutes.

“It was surreal and humbling,” said Gaudin about his experience of seeing dolphins in a report published in Yahoo Sports via the BBC.

“I could hear their chatter all around, but could not see them to start with, then I could feel the power from their tails and sound from their blowholes before seeing them glide in front and to the side of me. I was watching them watching me,” he added.

Gaudin also spoke about seeing blue jellyfish apart from dolphins during the sea-swim crossing, which he considered an “ominous sign of climate change.”

“There is an algal bloom with the warmer seas that is bringing the phytoplankton, making the sea greener, in turn bringing copious amounts of blue jellyfish,” Gaudin remarked.

Moreover, according to a report from the Jersey Evening Post, before last month, Gaudin had already swum the Jersey-to-France route in 2023, apart from a Round Jersey open-water swim last year.

He is now aiming to attempt a swim in the English Channel later this month, and the preparations are fully underway.​

Who was on the support crew with Phil Gaudin during the record Jersey-France crossing?

Phil Gaudin began the swim at La Coupe point in Jersey in the best possible conditions aboard the JLDSC support vessel Sea Swimmer, in which Guy Pipon was the pilot. The other members in the support crew during the record Jersey-France crossing were observers Luke Edmonds and Jenny Fitzgerald.

Talking about his experience, Gaudin found it really tough to get through the last portion of the route before reaching the finish line. He felt quite fatigued, and the strong sea shore drift to ultimately reach France.

“I was worried my legs wouldn’t work as I had kicked hard for the last 30 minutes, darting in and out of more jellyfish,” Gaudin said.

“I saw Luke jump in with ten minutes to go and then kicked on. The harder I swam, the more left I drifted up the beach, making the swim longer,” he remarked.

In France, he thanked his support crew and family for playing a key role in his preparation for the swim in the last few months.

Moreover, JLDSC also stated that they are expecting 15 swimmers to attempt the Jersey-France crossing after just seven did so last year.

Will Phill Gaudin complete the English Channel swim later this month after months of preparation? Tell us in the comments.

Read more at Swimmer's Club!

Written by

Arjun Sharma

Edited by

Suyashdeep Sason