Solent Swim 2025 is cancelled
Swimmers, kayakers, volunteers, boat skippers, lifeboat and supporters.
We are so very sorry and utterly heartbroken to have to inform you that this year’s swim has been cancelled.
We have made the extremely difficult decision this morning in consultation with our safety support team – including kayak lead, Freshwater lifeboat and the lead boat skipper. The decision is based on the wind forecast for Saturday morning and also on our back day of Sunday. If anything, the forecasted winds have been strengthening over the past few days and the likelihood of us being able to cross safely is extremely minimal.
We know that the swimmers will be incredibly disappointed. But of course we are putting safety above everything else. We considered leaving the decision until tomorrow morning, but as the conditions look unlikely to change we decided the best option was to call it now so that anyone who has not yet left the mainland can make other arrangements. There are also other logistical issues which are difficult to manage if we had left the decision to the last minute. Be assured that if we thought there was any chance that the conditions would be safe we would have left it until tomorrow morning.
What happens now
Sadly, there are no more suitable tidal conditions on any weekends for the rest of the summer. The Wessex Cancer swim is programmed for two weeks time so we can’t go that day. We are looking at possible weekdays which would be a similar early morning start. When we know more we will circulate to swimmers and safety teams and if we can muster enough to make it viable and safe we will attempt to organise that and we very much hope you can all join. We realise that is a poor alternative, but we want to try and ensure at least some swimmers succeed in the challenge.
We know there may be questions around money raised. If we could ask you to leave them for next week, we would be grateful, as we need to discuss this with others as well.
An e-mail has been circulated to all 195 people involved in the day. If you have not received this, please e-mail solentswim@westwight.org.uk and we will get back to you as soon as possible.
Thank you for your understanding.