A swim around the British coast

A swimmer who is attempting to become the first person to swim around Great Britain was welcomed into St Abbs harbour at the beginning of the week.

Ross Edgley, who is attempting to swim the 2,000 miles round the coast of Britain had to shelter on board his support vessel Hecate in St Abbs Harbour and the weekend due to swell.

Ross Edgley set off from Margate, Kent, in June to swim the 2000 miles around the coast of Britain, aiming to do it in 100 days.

After setting off from Dunbar on Sunday, the swell on the North Sea off the Berwickshire coast was causing problems so Ross and his support team on board the Hecate, sheltered in St Abbs and used the time to make repairs to the boat before he continued on his marathon swim.

“They are all in good spirits, and we would all like to wish Ross and his team the best of luck, and safe onward journey for the rest of his remarkable undertaking,” said Euan Gibson, speaking on behalf of the St Abbs independent lifeboat crew.

Ross swims 12 hours a day, broken up into two six-hour sections with a rest period on his boat in between - determined not to set foot on land until he has completed the challenge. He has already broken the world record for the longest staged sea swim (day 74). In order to sustain that level of activity, he eats over 15,000 calories a day (which has included almost 400 bananas so far).

You can follow Ross’s progress, and read more about the project on the Red Bull web site https://www.redbull.com/gb-en/projects/great-british-swim