this post was submitted on 05 Aug 2025
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Water Snek (mander.xyz)
submitted 6 days ago by fossilesque@mander.xyz to c/science_memes@mander.xyz
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[–] protist@mander.xyz 192 points 6 days ago (2 children)

For roughly six hours the tide will take the swimmer 'up' the Channel, and then as the tide changes direction, the following six hours will take the swimmer 'down' the Channel. This up and down movement of the water is relentless and unavoidable.

When traversing the English Channel, the boat pilot pays respect to the aformentioned tides when heading for France, which means the tidal affect will be perpendicular to the direction of the swimmer. It is incredibly rare for a swimmer to ever be swimming with or against the tide.

The moon's position relative to the earth and sun changes, creating different strengths of tide. The smaller tides are called neap tides, and the bigger ones are spring tides. Historically, swimmers have made their attempts on neap tides, as the belief is that this reduces the effect of wind against tide. It also reduces the risk of the swimmer missing the land target of Cap Gris Nez in France.

Source: Channel Swimming & Piloting Federation

[–] adhocfungus@midwest.social 90 points 6 days ago (2 children)

So she was swimming for roughly 18 hours? I'm impressed and terrified.

[–] khannie@lemmy.world 60 points 6 days ago (3 children)

Savage feat of endurance. I wonder how many calories that burns.

[–] kboy101222@sh.itjust.works 54 points 6 days ago

All of them

[–] atomicorange@lemmy.world 36 points 6 days ago (1 children)

At high intensity about 14k.

[–] Chee_Koala@lemmy.world 42 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Damn, you can cross the English Channel on roughly 28 Belgian waffles?

[–] atomicorange@lemmy.world 62 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (2 children)

Depends on how well you lash them together. They’re bound to get soggy though.

[–] anomnom@sh.itjust.works 6 points 5 days ago

No man is an island, but if you lash enough dead bodies together, they make a pretty good raft.

[–] GCanuck@lemmy.world 6 points 6 days ago (1 children)

I have no source but I recall seeing a before and after picture. The before was fat. The after was skinny.

[–] Zorcron@lemmy.zip 12 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

A quick google shows people estimating 500-750 kcal/hour when swimming the English Channel. And another big range, but it looks like ~15 hours is a decent estimate for a one-way crossing, so that’s ~7,000-11,000 kcal, which assuming 3500kcal/lb of fat, that’s 2-3 lbs.

This is all ignoring the fact that most of the energy burned is actually glycogen and food consumed during the swim, not fat reserves.

[–] merc@sh.itjust.works 5 points 5 days ago

Here's another question: how far did she swim?

Do you count the distance her body travelled relative to the land? Or do you only count the distance she travelled relative to the water, and it was the water that was moving.

If you count the distance relative to the land, she'll have been measured to have travelled much farther and with a much faster average speed.