Wendy Trehiou landed on the French coast at Cap Gris Nez, near Boulougne, just before 6.30pm local time on Thursday, 14 hours and 40 minutes after setting off from Dover.
It was the fourth one-way Channel swim for Ms Trehiou, who also completed a double-crossing in 2013, and she described it as one of the toughest.
‘Leaving aside the double, this was the second hardest after my first one in 2006,’ she said. ‘The word they were using for the sea state was “confused” – not how the forecast said it would be.
‘I was having a few mental challenges during the first five hours, I sensed the Channel wasn’t my friend and that it wouldn’t be an easy day, but I kept telling myself that I’d be tucked up in bed by tonight.’
Conditions remained tough during the closing stages, with advice from support crew David Le Clercq and Neil Faudemer, who are both long-distance swimmers, to accelerate as she neared French soil.
‘It’s not great being told to sprint when you’ve been in the water for more than ten hours, but the boys did brilliantly and I didn’t want to let them down after they’d come across from Jersey to support,’ she said.
The 51-year-old has amassed an impressive CV of swims since her first Channel crossing.
She overcame breast cancer, which was diagnosed in 2011, and the following year completed the Channel again.
Pushing for even longer distances, Ms Trehiou then made a successful attempt at a double Channel crossing, completing the return trip in 39 hours. Two years later she was in the water for around 24 hours in swimming from St Malo to Jersey, a route that features especially challenging tidal currents.
Previous challenges have been undertaken to raise funds for a series of good causes, with the latest swim in aid of Jersey-based Company of Dogs, which works to rehome dogs who have had troubled starts to their lives.
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