JUST five miles from France, Naomi Wakeford was forced to abandon her bid to become the island’s first female Channel swimmer. Hopes were high when she set off from Dover at 4.15am on Friday but after 15 hours in the water, 19-knot winds signalled the end.

‘In Dover, it was nice. The water was very calm and it was going fine,’ Miss Wakeford, 44, said yesterday.

‘I felt good. I was stopping every hour for the first six for food and drink and from then on every 45 minutes.

‘When you’re swimming you don’t notice how rough it is but about one hour before I decided to stop, I wasn’t going forward at all.’

The banking administrator said the winds were against her and the tide had been dragging her sideways.

‘It was my decision to stop because if I had kept swimming, it might have taken me about 10 more hours before I touched land.’

Miss Wakeford was set to make her first attempt at the 23-mile crossing on 19 July but had to endure the frustration of 11 days of poor weather in Dover.

She made her second attempt in August but again the weather prevented her starting the swim.

‘Friday was the first time the weather had been good enough for me to get in the water,’ she said.

Miss Wakeford was philosophical – and back in the sea – yesterday.

‘You have to be, you can’t be heartbroken. I just could not do it on that day.

‘I know I can do it, but it’s just a matter of the right conditions. I know what open water

swimming is like,’ she said.

‘It’s just one of those things, unfortunately.’

Miss Wakeford, believed to have been the first Guernsey woman to attempt the crossing, said she was determined to complete the swim and was in the water at Cobo yesterday.

‘I don’t know when I’ll make the next attempt. I wasn’t going to do it again next year, but I have got time to think about it.

‘I think there are a couple of people living here who have swum the Channel but I believe I’m the first Guernsey woman to try.’

She said she had remained focused throughout.

‘You just have to empty your mind and concentrate on your strokes – there isn’t room for much else,’ she said.

Miss Wakeford said the sea temperature had been between 16 and 17C.

‘The water was nice, but I was a little bit cold when I got out.

‘I swim nearly every day all year round and have done for about 10 years.

‘The training is the hardest bit.

‘I did an awful lot in the lead-up to July and have continued with the training since,’ she said.

Miss Wakeford received a call on Wednesday night to tell her a slot was available for Friday morning’s attempt.

‘I quickly booked the tickets that night, was on the plane on Thursday, drove down from Gatwick with Evelyn and Mike Banfield and my brother, David, and was in the water on Friday morning.

‘Normally I would go a day before and get plenty of rest, but this was short notice – that’s the way it is,’ she said.

‘I could not do all this without the support of family and friends, which is really important.’

Miss Wakeford has so far raised £2,000 for medical research charity Hope for Guernsey.

‘I was asked to do the swim for Hope and I was very happy to do so because it is such a good cause,’ she said.

Retired surgeon Roger Allsopp, who swam the channel in 15 hours last August and trained with Miss Wakeford, said she had made a superb effort.

‘She has shown great courage – there was just no way anybody could have done it in those conditions,’ he said.

‘She was dragged west and there’s just no hope when that happens.

‘I was lucky, I was pulled east and when that happens at least you can head towards a rather large bay.

‘She did not give up. It was simply unachievable in those conditions,’ he said.