CS&PF Committee 

President: Mike Ball - mikeball@talktalk.net
After a life time in the water firstly as a competitive swimmer reaching national and international level, many years of waterpolo followed. 37 years as London Police Officer, working in high profile roles retirement came. In 2009 Mike conquered the English Channel and other swims. Wanting to give something back to the sport, he offered to become an Observer. Having observed over 200 crossings and acting as a support swimmer, he was elected onto the CSPF committee. He then became the Observer Liaison Officer a position he held for three years. He then became a crew member on the escort boats. This he finds rewarding as he knows exactly what the swimmer in the water is going through!

Vice President: Michael Oram - michael.oram@btinternet.com
RYA Yachtmaster with commercial endorsement, Principal of Dover Sea School & RYA motor cruiser instructor, RYA instructor for practical and theory courses, First Aid instructor, VHF & GMDSS instructor, Radar instructor. British Sub Aqua Club Advanced Diver (30 years plus). RYA/DoT examiner, RYA Powerboat Instructor. Channel swim and unorthodox crossing pilot since 1982 (30 years). He has been involved in the organisation of Channel swims for 30 years, serving various positions on the committees involved. He has escorted in excess of 500 Channel crossings (74% success rate to date). 

Chairman: Eddie Spelling - esdrain@aol.com

Vice Chairman: Simon Ellis - channelpilot@ellismarineservices.com
RYA Yachtmaster Ocean with commercial endorsement, MCA 200gt certificate of competence unlimited.
RYA Yachtmaster instructor, 2^nd deputy coxswain Ramsgate lifeboat (RNLI).
Generally just love going boating

Honorary Secretary: Kevin Murphy - secretary@cspf.co.uk
Kevin is the official holder of "King of the English Channel" title at the moment, with 34 successful swims including three 2-way swims to date. He has been involved in Channel swimming for 45 years (since 1968) when he had his first successful crossing. He has successfully completed many other long distance open water swims around the world.

Treasurer: Kathy Batts - kathybatts1@hotmail.com
Kathy came into Long distance swimming some 38 years ago as a junior. In 1975 she was a member of the youngest mixed team to swim the English Channel and subsequently went on to do another 13 relays including the first 2 way relay by a British Ladies team. In 2011 Kathy was a member of the first Ladies team to swim around the Isle of Wight. Over the years Kathy has competed at County, Regional and National level in Lifesaving and Life guarding and won several National Championships as a team member and an individual. Kathy completed a Channel solo in 2013.

Committee: Nick Adams - nickthefishadams@gmail.com
Nick is a teacher at Eton college and a well-known member of the Channel Swimming fraternity. Nick first crossed the Channel at 16 years of age. Two years later he completed a solo two-way swim of the English Channel. As well as seventieen solo English Channel crossings to date, he has successfully completed many other long distance open water swims around the world. Nick commits a lot of his time helping other swimmers make their dreams come true.

Committee: Jim Boucher - jboucher.esys@googlemail.com
Jim is a former competitive swimmer who represented NI and still holds a number of NI Masters records. From Masters he moved to the Channel with the first of his seven relays in 2005. His second solo in 2011 made him Ireland's oldest man to cross the Channel. He keeps up his sprinting, albeit in icy winter conditions, and is a three times finalist at the World Winter Swimming Championships. An enthusiastic water polo player, he coaches at Charterhouse School and at Surrey University, where he will complete a Phd in Navigation in Geostationary Orbits (call it Rocket Science) in early 2017. Also Financially qualified, Jim brings a background in financial and commercial management to the CS&PF Committee.

Committee: Marcus Teixeira - marcus.teixeira72@googlemail.com 
Marcus is a English Channel soloist and a English Channel relay swimmer. Based in Bournemouth, he was involved in the creation of Durley Sea Swims, a swim group created to help train marathon swimmers. The group was created in 2013, has a 90%+ success rate on all swims, with swimmers supported having raised over £1.5m for charity. Marcus is passionate about the sport and is happy to dedicate his free time to swimming or helping others.  

Committee: Paul Foreman - paul.r.foreman@googlemail.com
I have held a RYA Yachtmaster certificate with a commercial endorsement for over forty years and operated a charter fishing boat as a commercial fisherman before I became a pilot. I operated the Medway Cruising Club rescue boat for several years on a voluntary basis and I served an apprenticeship as a shipwright boat builder in Chatham Dockyard. Ultimately my passion from birth has been the water and I was almost born aboard my father's boat.

Committee: Tony Kenyon - apkenyon@gmail.com
Tony has been an Observer since the 2019 season, and since winding down from full time work in an offshore energy engineering company, has increased his number of crossings per year. Living locally makes it a quick trip to Dover to join boats. A keen swimmer from an early age, taking opportunities to swim in rivers, lakes and the sea, he was a competitive swimmer in his youth, and was a swim team president in Saudi Arabia. He was mad enough to do an Arctic dip off Northern Norway last year. As an Observer, Tony has the privilege to be a small part in cross channel swimmers' challenges, meeting many interesting people who are raising monies for charities and achieving their dream of swimming The Channel.

Committee: Cliff Golding - cliffgolding@btinternet.com

Cliff has been involved in Channel swimming for more than 30 years.  He has two solo English Channel swims to his name and has also been part of several Channel relay swims. In addition, he has swum around Jersey, Jersey to France, Lake Zurich and Lake Windermere. Cliff has observed or crewed on over 100 Channel swims and other swims and says his greatest delight on a swim is when the pilot says to the swimmer, “This is your last feed, head down and claim your prize."   

For most of the last three decades, Cliff been ever present in Dover on Swimmers Beach and involved in the wider Channel scene.  He is a founder member of the CS&PF and has previously served on the CS&PF Committee. He looks forward to furthering the interests of CS&PF and Channel swimming in general. 

Committee: Stève Stievenart

I am 46 and I live in Wimereux, France. I have successfully swum the English Channel in 3 relays, the last being in January 2024, as well as 3 solos, one being swum on 11^th November 2011 and a 2 way in 2020. I became the first person to complete a three-way crossing of the Catalina Channel, setting a world record with a time of 51 hours, 18 minutes, and 3 seconds.

My passion is open water swimming, "I like swimming in the sea for the connection with marine life, such as seals and especially dolphins, and I am an ambassador for stopping plastic pollution. I have a deep appreciation for the swimming community, and I consider it to be my family, for all these reasons I believe I would be a good member to have on the CS&PF Committee, especially with my links within France.