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Peter 58, who spends every summer in Folkestone, has undergone open heart-bypass surgery. He lost between 3 and 4 stone on a low fat diet since his Aug 7 2007 swim and explained: "I am healthy because of my diet-yet the weight loss makes me much colder in the water."

He admitted he was unsuccessful on the night of 4/5August because of the cold. The experienced swimmer said: "Shortly after 3.00am I realized the initial onset of hypothermia and personally decided to end my swim after four and a half hours."

Jurzynski had high praise for his pilot Michael Oram and even the British weather: "I simply could not fully adjust to cold water by August 4 even though I did a 6 hour training swim in June, but in retrospect I think I was even too cold after that session"

Although unsuccessful, Peter, who has already booked his 2010 swim, remains positive: " Next year I will get out of warm pools by 1 April and do much longer cold water swims in training," he said.

Peter Jurzynski holds the record for the most crossings by an American with a total of fourteen successful swims.