Eddie Spelling
Eddie Spelling is an English Channel escort pilot who navigates the escort boat, Anastasia, a 42 foot Dutch Steel flybridge motor cruiser. She has RYA/MCA Small Commercial Craft & Workboat registration: Class 2 (60 miles from safe haven).
Spelling has been escorting English Channel swimmers for over 10 years and is a registered pilot with the Channel Swimming & Piloting Federation. His boat is very much a family-run boat, with his son-in-law Robert Thompson as a permanent crew member. His son Mike Spelling is hoping to become a pilot, and is currently training in the North Sea.
Eddie Spelling, Robert Thompson, and Mike Spelling manage a small family company called One Charter that utilizes their boat, Anastasia in order to escort swimmers across the English Channel. One Charter also offers a Live Channel Swimming Viewer that enables family, friends, and fans to watch in real-time as an individual channel swimmer or relay team attempts a crossing.
The Other Side
Sarah Thomas is the protagonist of the film The Other Side, a documentary covering her English Channel quad swim. On 17 September 2019, she completed an unprecedented 134 km four-way crossing of the English Channel in 54 hours 10 minutes 0 seconds at the age of 37 where she swam from England to France to England to France and back to England with escort pilot Eddie Spelling on Anastasia.
- 1st crossing from England to France: 11 hours 26 minutes 50 seconds
- 2nd crossing from France to England: 12 hours 41 minutes 14 seconds
- 3rd crossing from England to France: 12 hours 58 minutes 16 seconds
- 4th crossing from France to England: 17 hours 5 minutes 40 seconds
Successful Swims
Spelling has piloted the following successful solo swimmers and relays across the English Channel:
- On 18 September 2010 Helen Conway in 11:05:54
- On 22 September 2011 Relay Swim: "Aspire SRLV in 14:13
- On 9 August 2003 Sammy Maletroit in 12:12
- On 15 August 2008 Elizabeth Fry in 12:01
- On 3 August 2009 Fredrik Kumlin in 13:50:19
- On 16 July 2008 Special Category Swim: "Colman Family" in 12:22
- On 8 August 2003 Richard Flambard in 11:33
- On 2 July 2011 Relay Swim: "Bobcats Swim Squad" in 10:59:13
- On 10 September 2005 Owen Sisk in 16:26
- On 26 July 2003 Nicholas Sidelnik in 9:53
- On 17 September 2019 Sarah Thomas in 54 hours 10 minutes:
- 1st crossing from England to France: 11 hours 26 minutes 50 seconds
- 2nd crossing from France to England: 12 hours 41 minutes 14 seconds
- 3rd crossing from England to France: 12 hours 58 minutes 16 seconds
- 4th crossing from France to England: 17 hours 5 minutes 40 seconds
- 1st crossing from England to France: 11 hours 26 minutes 50 seconds
External Links
- SwimOut Kicks Off with Sarah Thomas and Freda Streeter
- 80 Years And Counting In The English Channel
- Impossible? Done Repeatedly By Sarah Thomas
- Sarah Thomas On Staying Focused On WOWSA Live
- From A Dark Place To The Other Side
- The Other Side
- Freestyling For Four, The Heroic Comeback Of Sarah Thomas
- Open-Water Swimmer Sarah Thomas Didn't Let Cancer Stop Her in Record-Breaking Quest
- The Other Side x 4, Successfully Accomplished
- Sarah Thomas En Route To Mightily Raising The Bar
- Awe, Admiration: The Awesomeness Of Sarah Thomas
- Eddie Spelling of the Channel Swimming & Piloting Federation
- Channel Swimming & Piloting Federation new website
- English Channel website
- Love Channel Swimming website
- Anastasia
- Eddie Spelling Brings Channel Swimming To The Home
- Standing Up To The Tests Of Time
- Crews Are Made of Special People
- These Ladies Don't Batt An Eye To Age
- World Open Water Swimming Association
- Open Water Swimming
- Jason Snell Achieves The Peak And Pond Challenge
- Courtney Moates Paulk, Doubly Successful
