French swimmer beaten by currents in failed Lihou swim
UNAWARE of the strength of the tides around Guernsey, a French visitor had to be rescued by a fisherman after trying to swim to Lihou.
Guillaume Crassard, 40, said that while he was a confident swimmer, the strength of the current between L’Eree headland and Lihou had been too much for him to handle.
‘I thought I was fine to swim to [Lihou] but when I was about two-thirds of the way across there was a strong current taking me right out to sea.’
High tide was at 11.30am yesterday, just 40 minutes before Mr Crassard set foot in the water, meaning the tide was moving at its quickest.
‘I saw a floating buoy that I tried to grab onto, but the current was too strong – I couldn’t hold on,’ he said.
Getting carried by the water, Mr Crassard ended up on the far right-hand side of Lihou, as you look at it from Guernsey.
‘I had to swim very hard to get out of the current stream and I could hardly get back to the beachy area.’
Exhausted and worried, he decided it would not be possible to swim back.
‘I was going to wait on the beach until the tide went low enough for me to walk,’ he said.
‘Fortunately a fisherman was around and I called to him for help and he took me back to shore on Guernsey.’
Guernsey Police and the St John Ambulance were called as a precaution, although the swimmer did not require treatment.
‘Everyone was so nice to me and I feel ashamed I tried to swim there,’ Mr Crassard said. ‘I hope no one else tries something like this.
‘I am comfortable in the water, otherwise I would have had even more trouble, but the current was far stronger than I imagined.’
The St Peter Port inshore lifeboat was launched at 1.15pm.
Lihou warden Steve Sarre said Mr Crassard was very lucky not to have been carried beyond the island by the current.
‘The water is very dangerous around Lihou anyway, but at the time he swam the tide was moving at its quickest.
‘There’s a sign at the bottom of the slip-way with times that you can walk across, other than those times it’s not safe to cross, not even in a kayak.’
Islanders and visitors are encouraged to check the sign, even if the causeway is visible, because there may not be enough time to get there and back safely.
‘The water can look lovely and inviting sometimes, but often you can see how fast the water moves so I urge people not to attempt to swim to the island,’ Mr Sarre said.
Due to neap tides, the causeway has been closed since Tuesday and will not reopen until Tuesday next week.
