What is the CS&PF 

The Channel Swimming and Piloting Federation (CS&PF) has achieved worldwide recognition as a club able to facilitate and adjudicate attempts for its members to swim across the English Channel under the rules of English Channel swimming, being a set of rules which have been universally applied and recognised since the sport of English Channel-swimming commenced.

The CS&PF has permission to oversee English Channel Swimming from the British Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA), and the French coastguards (Centre RègionalOpèrational de Surveillance et de Sauvetage (CROSS) Gris Nez) and is currently one of the two organisations currently accompanying attempts to swim the English Channel.

The CS&PF is a members’ club managed by volunteers and conducted on a not-for-profit basis. Membership of the CS&PF is open to anyone, especially those with an interest in taking part or supporting long-distance, open-water swimming. CS&PF is particularly focused on providing guidance and assistance in training for an attempt, as well as attempting, to swim the English Channel as a solo swimmer or as part of a relay team.

Members also include anyone who wishes to volunteer as observers of attempts to swim across the English Channel. Part of the CS&PF activity is to organise and train observers so that they are able to oversee Channel crossing attempts and to report to the CS&PF Committee for it to determine whether or not a swim was made successfully under English Channel swimming rules.

Part of the CS&PF Committee duties is to recognise and provide a list of commercially certificated pilots who have the required MCA commercial certification and hold the qualifications to operate within the parameters required for Channel swimming. The escort vessels used are also required to be commercially certificated to operate in UK and EU waters.

Once swimmers have made their own arrangements with one of these pilots, the CS&PF then provides assistance for each English Channel swim-attempt by registering it with both the British and French authorities and by supplying an official CS&PF observer.

The CS&PF also extends its guidance and assistance to members wishing to participate in open water swimming-training groups for all types of distance open-water swimming, as well as providing direct assistance to the training activities of not-for-profit swim training groups.

The CS&PF is a member of the UK Sport and the Sport and Recreation Alliance - formerly known as the “Central Council for Physical Recreation".