The Bristol Channel Swim

On 29 July 1982, Kaye Daniels completed a Bristol Channel crossing in 11 hours 24 minutes 10 seconds. The BLDSA’s contemporary recorder’s report lists the swimmer as Kay Daniels and includes the result among its ratified individual swims. The modern BCSA register agrees on the date and duration [1, 2].

A second account in the same annual report gives the achievement a local setting. Its West Wales correspondent congratulates Kay on swimming from Lynmouth Cove to Porthcawl and describes her as the first Welsh girl to complete that course. That is contemporary recognition of the swim; the priority claim remains attributed to the report rather than extended to every Bristol Channel route [2].

The recognition table gives a nominal distance of sixteen miles, or 25.7 kilometres. It does not provide a measured tidal track. Neither entry supplies the escort vessel, full crew, observer’s clock times, feeding arrangements or a detailed narrative of conditions during her crossing. Those parts of the story still need her original papers and recollections [2].

Discrepancies in the Historical Record

The departure point needs clarification. The contemporary West Wales report says Lynmouth Cove; the later BCSA register places the swim on its Glenthorne–Porthcawl route. The recorder’s table itself says only Bristol Channel. Until an original log, chart or certificate identifies the shore, the differing descriptions should remain visible [1, 2].

The name also varies. The original BLDSA material uses Kay, while the current project and Bristol register use Kaye. Later Kay Daniels and K. Daniels race entries are plausible career matches, but the preferred spelling, full name and continuity of those results still need direct confirmation [1–4].

Other Swimming Achievements

The surrounding Welsh swimming records provide promising evidence of a wider career. In the 1984 report, Kay Daniels of Swansea is ninth in the women’s one-mile freestyle championship in 26 minutes 34 seconds. The West Wales account also records a Kay Daniels English Channel attempt stopped after eight hours when fog developed [3].

The 1988 results place Kay second behind Alison Streeter in the seven-mile Mumbles–Aberavon swim, in 3 hours 35 minutes. These entries have been checked in the original scans, but should remain possible matches until Kaye confirms that they are hers. Further coastal results and exact page references are preserved in the separate research dossier [3–5].

Personal Life

The contemporary account places the Bristol achievement within West Wales’s organised swimming community. A fuller life chronology has not yet been established. Tom Chapman’s project notes record that he spoke with Kaye in autumn 2026 and that she intended to look for material about the crossing. Her papers could give the ratified result a much fuller personal setting [2, 5].

Legacy

Kaye’s crossing is supported by contemporary ratification as well as the later register. Recovering the original entry restores a secure date and exact time to the archive. The next task is to connect that achievement with its route, support team and the swimmer’s own account, while resolving the career matches rather than assuming them [1–5].