Memorable Swims…..Memorable Summer
When I launched our first event in 2014 I had no idea that it would become a firm favourite in the island’s Summer calendar, or that it would raise over £250k for Les Bourgs Hospice. Since then I have shared the concept with Jersey Hospice and The National Trust of Jersey and in 2023 helped to launch a smaller 5 bays in 5 days event in the Bailiwick’s most Northern Isle to raise money for Alderney Cancer Relief and also the Alderney Wildlife Trust.
It has been overwhelming and very humbling to have had so much support over the years and I have loved hearing the many stories about how it has helped people to rediscover, or start, a love of sea swimming but also hear how it has helped you explore our beautiful island. We are so incredibly lucky to have so many different swim spots on our doorstep and I think it is this, plus the ever changing tides, weather and company that makes each swim so special.
Whether you are a regular 30 bayer or first timer I hope that you can join us to make the most of Summer and importantly raise funds for Les Bourgs Hospice.
Liz Stonebridge, founder of 30 bays in 30 days
30 Bays in 30 Days
Monday 1st July 2024, 6.30pm followed by a 30 bays in 30 days launch event at Vistas. This will be a ticketed event due to numbers to please keep an eye on your inbox and the 30 bays in 30 days social media for more details
A great way to get involved in a big group swim to celebrate the launch of the 30baysin30days event. It is always a brilliant atmosphere and an opportunity to meet fellow swimmers. The Hospice team will be by the surf school hut to answer any queries or take any last-minute registrations. Flags will signify the meeting point for the swim which will be started with a countdown and horn.
Once you have registered for the event you will receive a pack in the post with all of the information about the event. This will be sent out in the week leading up to 1st July 2024. This will include a beautifully designed map for the 30baysin30days event by the talented local illustrator Caroline Cummins of the Little Paper Gallery (www.littlepapergallery.com) so you can tick off the bays as you swim them! We are incredibly grateful for the continued support of Rocq Capital and Guernsey Post in making it possible for us to provide these registration packs.
What is the event?
A chance to make the most of your Summer in Guernsey (especially if you would normally be travelling off-island when the schools break up) by swimming at least 30 strokes in 30 bays around the island during the month of July. You do not have to swim every day if you don't want to so you can bank the swims on weekends when you may have more time and you can choose to swim the bays on the list in whichever order, whenever you like. The event provides the perfect opportunity to discover new places on the island that you've never been to before and if you've taken part before we guarantee that each swim will be different depending on tide, weather, time of day or who you're swimming with. If you cannot complete the challenge during the month or miss time through being away, please feel free to it continue into August.
Registration fee is:
£35 for a family (maximum of 5)
£15 for an adult
£5 for a child
£35 Team entry (maximum of 5)
Team option - complete the challenge of ticking the 30 bays off between you in whichever way works best for you. For some, it may mean that a core of the team swims in every bay and is occasionally joined by the other members, or, it could be that you split the bays between you. You choose. This is designed to be completely flexible for those that don't have the time to complete the whole challenge individually.
Alternatively, we also run the smaller 9baysin30days version which is designed for younger families, those with less time or perhaps anyone who would like to try it out but would find the full 30 too much of a challenge.
Registration packs
Our volunteers will be busy putting together a registration pack that will include key information about the event and either a map and sticker set for the 9baysin30days event (kindly designed by local artist Ginny Morgan) or a new map for the 30baysin30days event (kindly designed by local illustrator Caroline Cummins of the Little Paper Gallery). We hope that these will provide you with a useful tick list to keep track of your swims and we are very grateful to the support of our sponsor Rocq Capital and Guernsey Post in being able to get these sent out.
30 Bays in 30 Days Map
This year Caroline Cummins from the 'Little Paper Gallery' has done a map that will be sent out with with your registration pack 🙂
Proud to be supporting Plastic Free Guernsey
This year we are again proud to be supporting Plastic Free Guernsey in their fight to reduce the use of single use plastics and plastic pollution. We are also very excited to be linking up with the Clean Earth Trust to promote the projects that you can get involved in to help protect our shores.
The List
Your safety is very important to us therefore when you are ticking off your bays for this event please, please only swim in the ones on our list. We are excited to have Petit Port back on the list for this year! We know that it is a challenge to walk back up all those steps but at low tide we think that it is most definitely worth it.
We know some of you love to head off-island so we have not only included the 3 Herm beaches as an option to swap with the Guernsey bays on the list but we are excited to add 5 options in Alderney too! The Northern Isle offers up some stunning bays to swim in. You can choose the bays you want to do and make up the numbers in Herm or with duplicate swims in your favorite bays (ideally at a different time of day or state of tide to experience it in a new way). If, however, you are up for the challenge of all 30 then we hope that you discover some new favorites!
Herm Trident ticket offer of Adults £14 (normally £17) and children (4-14 incl.) £7 (normally £8). Please book at the Herm Trident Office and show proof of your 30 bays in 30 days registration. Offer valid for on return journey only, between 1stand 30th July 2024.
VAZON
Albecq
Grandes Rocques (Saline Bay)
Port Soif
Portinfer
Baie de Port Grat
Rousse
Le Grand Havre
Les Amarreurs
Ladies Bay
Baie de la Jaonneuse
Pembroke Bay
L’Ancresse Bay
Fontenelle Bay
Bordeaux
La Vallette Bathing Pools
Fermain Bay
Marble Bay
Petit Port
Moulin Huet
La Jaonnet
Saints Bay
Petit Bot Bay
Portelet
Rocquaine Bay
L’Eree Bay
Perelle Bay
Crocq Bay (behind Fort Richmond and accessed via the slipway)
Richmond
Cobo
HERM:
Hotel Beach
Shell Beach
Belvoir Beach
OPTION FOR THOSE WITH A DISABILITY OR HAVE MOBILITY ISSUES - we are lucky to have so many amazing places to swim off Guernsey but some of them present a challenge to get to. If you would like to get involved but think that you will be unable to swim at every bay on the list please still sign up then choose which bays work for you & complete 30 swims at those to complete the challenge.
WHERE ARE THEY?
“We are incredibly grateful to our sponsors Rocq Capital for introducing us to the brilliant team at digimap who have worked hard to create this link that you can access on your phones while out and about or on your laptop at home to plan which bays you are going to tick off when (or to help you find them if you get a little lost – we know that some of them are hidden gems!). There is also a photo of the beach and information about amenities such as parking, toilets, kiosks.”
Click to view the 30 Bays on Digi Map
FAMILY EVENT 9baysin30days
The 9baysin30days event was established as an easier and less time consuming version of the 30baysin30days event. Initially designed for those with younger families it includes those bays which are easy to access and have amenities such as toilets and a kiosk close by but it could equally be ideal for those short on time or new to the event. A free map with stickers of pirates, mermaids and beach scenes, all beautifully illustrated by talented local artist Ginny Morgan will be posted out with your registration pack (and extra copies can also be purchased if sharing is not an option!).
9baysin30days
Petit Bot
Portelet
L'Eree
Vazon
Cobo
Grandes Rocques
Port Soif
Ladies Bay
Pembroke
Registration fee is:
£25 for a family
£15 for an adult
£5 for a child (U18)
WHEN IS BEST TO SWIM WHERE?
Some of the bays are equally enjoyable to swim at any time of day but others definitely have an optimum tide to experience it at its best. Guernsey has one of the biggest tidal ranges in the World and some of the beach landscapes can be completely transformed from pebbles to sand and back again within hours.
The very clever website Seeker has a section for Beaches and Sea Swimming with the 30 bays and 9 bays listed separately on a map indicating which beach may have the best conditions for that point in time based on tide and wind direction.
BEACH CLEANS
Please help us in supporting the Plastic Free Guernsey charity in their fight to reduce plastic pollution on the island (especially on our beautiful beaches).
An option for those of you who don't venture into the sea, or for you to get involved with as you complete the swim challenge. This is designed to be as flexible as you need it to be so you can visit all 30 bays on the list or choose your favourite beaches to visit on 30 occasions anytime between 1st to 30th July.
Register for the beach clean and you will receive a free bag to collect any litter in that has been very kindly supported by yakwax (www.yakwax.com) which will be posted out with your registration pack.
GROUP SWIMS
Where your money will go
Liz Stonebridge set up this event as a volunteer in 2014 following first-hand experience of the incredible facilities, care and support that Les Bourgs Hospice provides to patients and their families. It was the care given to her Mum and 17 years later a close family member which sparked a desire to create a fundraising event.
Les Bourgs Hospice provides free, specialist care to any resident of the Bailiwick with a life-limiting condition.
To give you a bit of background the Hospice was founded in 1990 by Greville Mitchell OBE and Lisa Mitchell who purchased a property and converted it into the old hospice which opened in 1991. This underwent redevelopment to bring it up to a high standard for nursing care and was officially re-opened in July 2012 by HRH Prince Charles and has since been given Royal Patronage.
So to the money. The annual running cost of Les Bourgs Hospice is £1.75m and the biggest percentage of this ensures that we can pay our incredible team of nursing staff to deliver specialist care 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. It also means that we can support our patients and their loved ones with respite care and a Day Hospice facility as well as end of life care.
Please, please encourage as many people to sponsor you and remember that any donation, big or small really will make a big difference;
£85 Could help cover the cost of heating & lighting Andrew Mitchell House for a 24 hour working day, 365 days a year*
£1k Could help cover the cost of insurance premiums for a month
£3k Could help cover the cost of 24 hours of nursing care
If you would like to know more about how you can support the Hospice on a more regular basis please visit their website www.lesbourgshospice.org.gg
WHY?
- Raises money for a cause that touches the lives of lots of islanders
- A fun and different way of making the most of living on this amazing little rock of ours
- Feeling of having achieved something in the Summer rather than it just flying by.
- Visiting new places you’ve never been to before or haven’t visited for years
- Sea swimming makes you feel alive and loving life!
WHEN?
- The challenge runs between 1st and 30th July but if you need extra time to tick off your bays please carry it on into the Summer. It would really help in the organisation of the event if you could register as soon as possible and ideally by 30th June (see the How? section for details).
- Swim before work, lunchtimes, daytime, after work, before a picnic tea, by moonlight…….basically anytime you can fit it in. Be organised with your swim stuff in a bag or your car and within the time it would have taken you to make and drink a cuppa you will have ticked another one off the list.
- We guarantee every swim will be different depending on tides, weather, who you’re with, time of day……the list goes on, so even if you did it last year what are you waiting for? Go get signed up!
HOW?
Sponsorship Form
Registration
To register for this event click the button below to go to the Les Bourgs Hospice website and choose either 30baysin30days 2023 or 9baysin30days 2023 from the “Select Event” bar.
Register online for 9 Bays
The Serious Bit
Enjoy and please spread the good word!
Guernsey Community Foundation
30 Bays in 30 Days was shortlisted for the ‘The Community Awards 2014’
Contact information
If you have any queries or feedback on the event please do not hesitate
to get in contact;
Email: 30baysin30days@gmail.com
Website: www.30bays.org
Telephone or text: 07781 122914
Address: 3 Bon Air, Route de Carteret, Castel, GY5 7YS
Please note that this event is being run on behalf of Les Bourgs Hospice but if you would like to find out more about this incredible place please see their contact details below;
Email: info@lesbourgs.com
Website: www.lesbourgshospice.org.gg
Telephone: 01481 251111
BEACH SAFETY & TIDETABLE
Beach Restrictions For Dogs
1st May – 30th September Closed to dog walkers From the 1st May to 30th September inclusive dogs are not allowed on seven Guernsey beaches; Fermain, Petit Bot, L’Erée, Vazon, Cobo, Port Soif, L’Ancresse/Pembroke. Herm’s Shell Beach, Belvoir Bay, Fisherman’s Beach, and the area of beach in front of the White House Hotel to the Herm Harbour Jetty are also out of bounds to dogs.
Dealing with a Weaver Fish sting
Weaver Fish are normally found around the low tide mark. These small fish raise sharp spine needles on their backs in self-defence if trodden on and these can be extremely painful. Place the affected area in water as hot as you can stand. Test the water first so as not to scald the person who has been stung.
Dealing with a Jellyfish sting
Do not rub the affected area but remove the remains of any tentacle if present. Lightly spray or slowly pour sea water over the area with and apply a cold compress if available. Watch for severe and/or life-threatening symptoms such as confusion, chest pain or weakness seek emergency medical attention immediately.
RNLI – Beach safety advice
Link to RNLI Beach Safety Guide
A big thanks to
The Potting Shed and in particular Ed Prow
Tim Gaudion
Ian Brown for the use of the 30/30 concept
Ollie at Network Insurance
Patricia Montgomery
Aimee Brehaut
Paul Wiggins for the use of the tidetable information
Coast Media Design Agency for the use of the map
All the friends and family who have sat patiently listening to my ideas, given feedback and most of all the encouragement to make it all happen.
Yakwax and Guernsey Surf School for helping lifeguard the group swims
Debs Hunter for joining me for all those swims last Summer which planted the seed of the idea. Les Bourgs Hospice and the amazing staff who work there… …the inspiration for this event.
