The money generated by the 13 hour and 19 minute swim across the world’s busiest shipping lanes goes to not-for-profit Hunterlink Recovery Services, which offers help to all seafarers in Australian ports and waters.
Fourth-generation seafarer Dean Summers dedicated his achievement to seafarers everywhere. He stated: “It’s this strong emotional link to the seafaring fraternity that drives me in my career and my personal life. Its a very natural fit to dedicate the efforts of the Channel swim towards the world’s 1.3 million seafarers, many of whom will traverse the Channel at some point in their lives. Theirs is a tough, lonely and thankless job and they deserve more from a world that relies completely on their work.”
Speaking after being met on landfall by ITF Belgium coordinator Christian Roos, he said: “Throughout my swim, I passed many flags of convenience ships and thought about the plight of those men and women working on them. I hope my efforts today have made people think about those workers and how difficult their jobs are.
“On a personal note, I was surprised but delighted to see my brother Christian Roos waiting for me on the French shores to greet me with beers and a warm, comradely hug — a wonderful gesture to finish off a very long day.”
There’s still time to donate to Hunterlink’s work. Visit https://give.everydayhero.com/au/dean-cs. A dedicated website for the swim is at http://www.channelswim4seafarers.com
