Former West Coast man swims English channel

The Kiwi man swam solo across the channel in just under 16 hours. Photo / Thinkstock

A West Coast man swam the English Channel early this morning, the latest highlight of a swimming career that began in the Whataroa River when he was a child.

Dan Kennedy, 51, swam solo across the channel in 15 hours and 49 minutes, leaving Dover at 3.56am local time and arriving in France at 7.45pm (6.45am NZ time today).

Niece Jen Kennedy said his family in Whataroa had been up all night following his progress on a live tracking website.

"Everyone's pretty excited," she said. "Dad was jumping up and down."

Mr Kennedy started swimming as a child in the Whataroa River and has been training ever since. In March 2007 he became the 66th person to swim Cook Strait, finishing in 11 hours.

He now lives in Melbourne with his wife and two daughters and trains with a local swimming club.

Ms Kennedy said he had good conditions for the crossing.

"Fifteen degrees, the water was. Apparently that's the big thing about the Channel swim, if you can stand the cold. But he had a beautiful clear sunny day."

He had no complications during the swim, though his family experienced some confusion when the live feed cut out for a few minutes halfway through. "No one knew what was happening."

She did not know if he had another swimming goal in mind.

"Probably a good sleep is a goal. But I'm sure there will be something on the horizon."

- The Greymouth Star