Swimming nine to five: Alice adds eight-hour Sark crossing to her impressive CV

IT may be a “path” that’s trodden quite frequently by inter-island ferries, and annually by several dozen rowing crews, but swims between Jersey and Sark are as rare as hen’s teeth.

After reaching the north-west corner of the Island following a gruelling day in the water, Alice Harvey became just the third swimmer ever to successfully complete a Sark crossing.

In joining Neil Faudemer and Sally Minty-Gravett on the roll of honour maintained by the Jersey Long Distance Swimming Club, the former JCG pupil provided the perfect way of celebrating the 20th anniversary of her first major long-distance swim.

Aged just 15 at the time and on her summer holidays from school, Ms Harvey swam round Jersey on 25 August 2006.

This was the start of an impressive list of achievements that has also included a 13-hour crossing of the English Channel in 2018, a “there and back” swim along the length of Lake Windermere the same year, and being the fastest woman in the open, non-wetsuit, category of the annual Lake Zürich race in 2025.

She told the JEP that Sark has been an ambition for some time.

“I’ve been pestering the club about it for years,” she said.

“I really set my sights on it this time last year but still needed to have lots of conversations with the right people about the tides and course to make sure we had everything lined up.”

Ms Harvey, a civil servant with the Infrastructure and Environment Department, paid tribute to the expertise of pilot Guy Pipon.

“He spent an awful lot of time researching the tidal flows and spoke to Neil Faudemer about his experiences,” she said.

“Guy settled on departing at 9.30am, four hours after high water in St Helier, which was perfect timing – my success is down to him.”

Conditions were less than perfect to begin with, Ms Harvey said, with the sea state being choppy for around three hours before becoming flatter.

“It was ideal for the middle part of the swim, but then the last 500 metres or so were tough with a really strong tide,” she said.

“I run quite a lot, and I’d compare it to having a hill to climb up at the end of a long course.”

There was plenty of experience on board Sea Swimmer, the boat piloted by Mr Pipon.

Mrs Minty-Gravett watched proudly as her protégé, who she taught to swim as a youngster, clocked off the miles, while there was also support at sea from swimming club president Jenny Fitzgerald and accomplished swimmer Graeme Lowe.

“It was great to have them on board and to have my family and some of the friends who’d trained with me shouting encouragement from the cliffs on the north coast as I got close,” added Ms Harvey.

Mrs Minty-Gravett took the plunge for the final stretch alongside her friend, which culminated with Ms Harvey touching Jersey rock after seven hours and 59 minutes – the fastest time recorded for a Sark swim.