Mermaid Laura swims the Channel

A woman from Henley has nearly reached France on her Channel swim.

Laura Reineke, a Henley Mermaid, has undertaken the challenge of swimming the British Channel, from Dover to France.

She has been swimming for 15 hours straight, setting off from Samphire Hoe in Dover at 2.38am this morning. She is due to land in Wissant Beach in around an hour. 

She is supported by fellow mermaid Joan Fennelly aboard the accompanying pilot boat, who will be livestreaming her arrival to the French coast on the Henley Mermaids' Facebook page.. 

Ms Reineke was briefly joined around noon by friend Lee Saudan, who has previously swum the channel, for some moral support. Her friend Lee Saudan, who is updating friends and family with Ms Reineke's progress, says that the going is getting tough now and she is tiring. She added: "Time for Laura to dig deep...this is where strength of mind needs to take over." 

Ms Saudan swam with her again at around 3pm to help pick up the pace. 

Setting off in the dark this morning, Ms Reineke said: “I'm okay. Slightly apprehensive now. It’s very dark and it’s quite bumpy because the waves are bumping off the harbour wall as we’re coming out, but apparently when we get to Samphire Hoe, it will settle down.

“I’ll have to jump in and swim to shore, wave at the boat and then swim back to the boat – all in the dark.”

Upon arrival at Samphire Hoe, Ms Reineke, 50, was covered in Vaseline to stop the chafing. The water temperature was around 19.4 degrees at shore but has dropped to 18.4.  

Ms Fennelly, Ms Saudan and friend Debbie Fraser are showing Ms Reineke “waterproof text messages” on a whiteboard from friends and family on a group chat, including from her parents, who wrote: “Speechless at your courage. So proud. Mum and Dad”.

She recovered from a bout of seasickness this morning after drinking some flat, warm Coca Cola, and is fed every couple of hours on a line from a bottle of liquid food.

Having a feed at 10:45am, Ms Reineke appeared exhausted and said: "How the f*** did Sarah Thomas swim this four times?" referring to an American cancer survivor who became the first person to swim across the Channel four times non-stop. 

She is followed by pilot boat Anastasia and can be tracked via this link: http://cspf.co.uk/tracking