Sonnet a natural in el lay (July this year).
In 2018 Sonnet did a Fellowship at the LA County Museum of Art (LACMA). During this time she lived in Venice Beach, joined by Madeleine and Madeleine's friend Willoughby (ages, 16) who had never been out of the UK let alone the West Coast. The two of them enjoyed un-parented days of skateboarding and surfing for an endless California summer.
We stay at the Prosper Hotel complete with sun-soaked rooftop pool and bikini bar.
And what a swim. From the git go there were the icons - The Brooklyn Bridge ! The Williamsburg Bridge! The Manhattan Bridge! - within the first hour. Then the Empire State and the Chrysler building and the United Nations. Eventually things string out on the Harlem River (NB NYC resides in a tidal estuary and the East River and Harlem River are tidal and not rivers) while 15 of the 20 bridges cross here. Finally the mighty Hudson's flow brings me home, ending beside Wall Street lit-up like a 100-story Christmas candle.
Sonnet, Kate, Brad and Deborah follow me around the island, notably at the Washington Bridge connecting NY to New Jersey where they hoot and holler from the little red light house. Then, 8 hours and 30 minutes later, Sunday Midnight/ Monday morning, it is over. Sonnet and I find a strictly saw-dust-on-the-floor and cheerful Irish pub for a Guinness and an intimate celebration.
Me and the cut man at the Little Odessa boardwalk, pre swim
I met Barney in Maida Value, W9, the neighbourhood of our second flat, in 1999. Barney had completed his B.S. at Stanford (Symbolic Systems) and Ph.D. at Cambridge in computer science and AI.
And what does one do with such credentials ? Work at NASA, of course, where he was the Software Architect on the Remote Agent, the first s/w agent to fly onboard a deep space probe during NASA's Deep Space One Mission, and widely considered one of the top achievements in the history of AI and awarded NASA's "software of the year" in 1999.
From there, Barney founded PowerSet, a neural networking application, backed by Peter Thiel's Founders Fund, and sold to Microsoft becoming Microsoft Bing. A fellow has to make some money in his 20s, afterall.
Barney has gone on to found and fund over 200 AI-related start-ups in SV. We frequently see each other, and I am always refreshed by his ideas. Back in the day we agreed to form a venture firm together but that would have required my relocating to the Bay Area, which Sonnet and I were not ready to do then.
I can't not reflect on time-gone-by given I met Ant in 1999 at eZoka.com, my ill fated Internet 1.0 start-up (and what a ride). Before eZoka, Anthony was a host at the original Soho House, swagging with celebrities and models, before it became a global phenom w venues in Manhattan's meat packing district assuring the meat packers could go somewhere else to pack their meat. Repeat in other cities. Today Anthony lives in North London, has a daughter and an owner of a bar-inventory management company. As far as it goes, I would describe his lifestyle as "alternative".
Speaking of alternative, I meet Andy at the party who owns the club and two others in similar edgy-cool locations. I'm intrigued and wonder, at 58, if there is yet a few late nights left in me ? I tried, last year, with Madeleine, then at Manchester University, to go clubbing until sunrise yet, despite her willingness to engage - combined with an open bar tab for her friends - I was done by 1pm.
Mitch nearly bonked on Day-One taking 17 hours to cross The Channel and, admitted by him - it was touch and go.
The beginning of the summer started in the South of France as Sonnet took a break from her Elsa Schiaparelli exhibition, which opens in March 2026; from there I went to Spain to meet my coach and two Croatia camp friends to swim the Straight of Gibraltar, which did not happen due to wind and sea swell. Instead, we hung out in Tarifa, which is not a bad place to hang out, with perfect sunshine and Morocco in plain sight.
Gibraltar, while an Oceans Seven swim, is only nine miles - less than 4 hours of swimming. Instead, it was to be a warm-up for the Manhattan Twenty Bridges, a 29 miler circumnavigating the Manhattan island.
Well, my question answered by Callum Hudson-Odoi who Eitan defended in the 2014 Surrey Cup Under-13s final when Hampton School defeated Whitgift on the last of the PKs in the most thrilling football match I have watched to this day. Callum, for his part, went on to play for Chelsea and now the resurgent Nottingham Forest where he plays 'winger' and has scored five goals this season, so far, including the Saturday winner against Manchester City.
Eitan recalls the Surrey Cup when Hampton's strategy to staff two defenders on Callum who seemed to barely to notice the inconvenience. I recall a kid who was slippery as an eel and as sure footed as anyone I had seen on the pitch at age-13. He read the field perfectly and always in the right place to set up the action or to make a strike.
Now, interviewed after the Man City match, I observe a thoughtful young man who gives credit for the game-winner to the team-mate who set up the angle. Callum is football at its best.
I am there solo last night for Wonderhorse and, better, the opening act HighSchool recommended by Christian and seen together with him, Sonnet, Madeleine, Eitan, Flora, uncle Anthony and Dylan & Fred from the Surely Knots at OMEARA, a club in SE1 with maybe a couple hundred people last year October. Both bands formed in 2022 and coming up, deservedly, big.
A first-generation Mexican American, Vasquez represents a predominantly hispanic community who tend towards anti-choice and anti-immigration (a reality is that first generation immigrants are the most aggressive on closing the borders) and a hard patch to till for a Democrat.
Eitan briefs Gabe on existing and potential financial supporters, their profile, and how to stimulate an investment in the campaign. Less than 30 days to the elections, Vasquez has out-fundraised Herrell by c 2:1, which is promising, but certainly no assurance of victory.
While sitting in the sunshine drinking coffee outside our Oslo hotel I spot Erling Haaland who is in town for the Norway v Austria Eurocup qualifier the day before where Haaland hits the winning goal in the 80th minute on Norway's 2-1 victory. Given Haaland is a world top-3 active player alongside Messi and MBappe, he was generous with his attention while informing he felt poorly for Eitan's love of Manchester United (Haarland plays for Manchester City).
Below, the route I took from England to France. Across the top, from Dover to the separation zone, the tide was gentle and I was on a true course to Calais. A hard Southeast tide, on the second half of the swim, carried the Viking Princess II past Cap Gris Nez and added maybe file miles to the 22 mile crossing.
Dear all
I am slowly posting the Channel notes, all 43 of them, into one place on my blog. And here it is.
Have a mighty summer.
Jeff
Other than feeling like a fire truck hit me, I am mostly thinking, wow - did that just happen ? and then: I am glad that I am not swimming the Channel today. Or tomorrow. And likely again.
But the swim : 3:15am wake-up alarm, 4am meet-and-greet the pilot, ECA observer and Nils (Red Top coach) at the boat, 4:15am chug out of the harbour to a pebbly beach below a chalky cliff, slide into the sea (cold ! salty!), 5am start swimming.
The pre-sunrise water ghoulish and my goggles fill instantly and keep filling. Fuck. The heaviness of the swim made worse by the Dover Cliffs which never disappear no mater how far I go. This btw mirrored the second-half when the French coast stuck in place as I fly, parallel to the shoreline, on a strong tide eventually past Cap Gris-Nez missing the sandy Calais beaches before eventually landing on a rocky edge (NB I had to swim hard to reach France unaware of the potential drama of being swept back into the Channel and missing a beachhead altogether).
On the up, the sunshine on my back was divine, I had an amazing crew, and the Channel mostly flat eg perfect conditions. Interestingly, to me, when I switched to a higher-tempo stroke to counter the tide I could no long hold a thought, nor sing a tune, and the swimming rhythm became meditative causing a trippy perception of time speeding up, noted from the programmed 30-minute hydration/nutrition feeds, which started to feel like five minutes apart.
Making the landing a lifetime highlight, yes, triggering a euphoric feeling that has yet to leave me. A feeling that all the effort has been many times rewarded.
I am hopeful that the story will be retold, by me, my family and friends, well into the future, sitting on a sandy beach, looking into a never ending blue horizon.
Thank you, everyone, for your love and support on the Channel "project."
I have felt your presence during morning practices (which seemed like Midnight in January), the Croatia camp (87km in one week), cold water preparation in the SF Bay (down to 10C) and the Thames (to 5C, with a wetsuit) which has powered me through the hardest days (six hour swim ! 5:45 wake up !) and the best days (six hour swim ! 5:45 wake up !).
Your emails, texts and wishes will be on my mind this Sunday.
As it stands now, I will swim the English Channel on Sunday, July 28, early morning UK with the exact start-time TBD. I will update as the swim gets closer.
Soon to meet Goliath.
I am still on the Berkeley High leader board with records for the 500 yard and 200 yard freestyle set in 1985. There have been a few close misses over the years and I am cheering for the times to come down.
BHS swim coach Michael, a Berkeley High graduate around my time, keeps me up to date on the men's program while childhood friend Amanda (my year, '85) does the same for the BHS women as head coach of water polo and, until recently, swim teams.
The work, the swimmers and swim-teams and friends, the communities and the coaches and the race times jumble together. What is clear : it is the journey where the adventure lays rest.
Photo from a 'yellow jackets' swim meet earlier this year in Berkeley.
Below, senior year. The flat-top from local barber Tony who got rich from customer stock tips and retired at 50.
I was going to shave it all for the Northcoast Championships only the finals were the same day as Senior Prom and my girlfriend Malaika was having none of that. Going into Northcoast I was seeded first in the 500 yard and 200 yard freestyle and came in 4th and 6th, respectively.
Well, and here we go, the English Channel season is open with water temperatures at 16C (60.8F). A few awesome swimmers from the Croatia camp have now made it across and also reaching Calais this week is Berkeley High senior Maya Merhige who finished in 11 hours and 39 minutes (no pressure here) making her one of the youngest swimmers to complete the Triple Crown of open water swimming, which includes the Channel, the 20-mile Catalina Channel and the 28.5 miles "20 Bridges" around Manhattan. Maya has one hell of a college essay.
