UPDATE: Hoffy has started his record breaking swim
At 8.25pm last night Cllr Paul Hopfensperger began his attempt at a record breaking two-way Channel swim.
Paul, 45, began his mammoth swim from Samphire Hoe near Dover and faces the huge challenge of swimming in the dark throughout the night with high winds of force four, possibly gusting to six.
Speaking from his support boat his wife Rebecca said the seas were quite rough and there had been some slight rain.
At 9.40pm Paul had had his first food of a specially prepared liquid feed to keep up his strength. He will have one of these for the first three hours of the swim and then receive them half hourly.
The water temperature was 17C and the early stages of the swim was said to be going well.
Paul, who last year completed a cross-Channel swim in 13.5 hours has just a 10 minute window on land when he reaches France before he starts the return leg of the journing.
He is aiming to make landfall at Cap Gris Nez in France as swimming from this point means he will have the tide with him for his return journey.
He is to be accompanied by two support swimmers Mark Ransom, 38, and Chris Enyon, 19. Mark, a paramdeic from Bury completed a cross Channel swim earlier this year to raise money for the East Anglia's Children's Hospices. Chris is hoping to swim the Channel later this year.
If Paul is successful he will be the oldest male two-way cross Channel swimmer and enter the Guinness Book of Records.
His main objective apart from meeting the challenge is to raise money for St Nicholas' Hospice and Clic Sergent.
The Suffolk county councillor from Bury St Edmunds carries two lights in the water, one on his helmet and one attached to his trunks.
Speaking ahead of the event he said: "I've done everything I can mentally and phsyically to prepare for it and have been doing neuro linguistic preparation training so I have mentally done this swim in my mind many times. I will be swimming through the night and it will be cold and windy but it looks as if we are finally ready to go."
To support him log onto www.hoffystwowaychannelswim.org.uk
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Weather for Bury St Edmunds
Friday 25 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 12 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 22 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 12 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 20 mph
Wind direction: East
