New World Record

Ian Tordoff Smashes The English Channel Record

Since 1875 people have been swimming the 33 km of the English Channel in an attempt to break the record for crossing from England to France by sea. More recently, all manner of craft have set records for the passage and in September 1976 Andrew Samuel set a new record for a kayak crossing in a time of 3 hours 33 minutes and 47 seconds, this has been recognized by Guinness Records as the fastest single kayak crossing. The record has been attempted on a number of later occasions but Samuel’s background of marathon racing in Scotland offered him the skills and confidence to complete the crossing in a marathon boat of that era, not the usual craft of choice under typical conditions.

On May 18th 2005 Ian set off from Folkestone in Valley's new Rapier kayak and despite less than ideal conditions touched land in France 3 hours 22 minutes later.  Shaving over 11 minutes off the previous best time.

Ian, a sports development officer for Chester City Council, has been an international Kayak paddler on various Great British teams for 19 years.  He has attended world championships in wild water racing, sprint, marathon and rafting. His speed, endurance and technical ability to race on rough water, coupled with navigation skills gained from sea touring and racing, made him ideally suited to the English Channel record attempt.

As Ian himself says “After recently stepping back from international competition I read about the existing record, the last few months have been based around testing myself and finding a suitable boat with a view to setting a new time for the crossing. In doing so I also hope to raise money for the British Heart Foundation.” The boat in question was Valley Sea Kayak’s new Rapier.  At just less than 6m long and under 45cm wide it has many of the characteristics of a racing paddle ski giving it speed and maneuverability in waves. Built with a closed cockpit and storage, the boat is super fast achieving speeds close to those of a marathon kayak but able to cope with the rough conditions of open water. The boat Ian used is of carbon/Kevlar construction, weighing in at just 14 kg fully fitted with Hatches, bulkheads and rudder. Although fast and maneuverable, the boat still offers a degree of stability, although fishing in high seas could be a challenge!

Whilst training with K2 and K1 marathon boats at his club in Chester, the boat reached speeds of 16 km per hour and has maintained 12.5 km per hour over a 40 minute time trial. The aim for the crossing was to maintain a speed of at least 11.2 km per hour.  In fact Ian achieved an average speed of 12 km per hour.   Feedback on progress was monitored using a Garmin global positioning system. This tracks current speed, average speed and distance which offered accurate feedback on progress for the crossing.

 Everyone at Valley would like to congratulate Ian on his fantastic achievement.  Well done!