The 44-year-old from Sutton Heath was part of the six man Warrington Dolphins team which completed the journey in just under 14 hours.

The swim started at 9.40am and with good conditions and Joe was the sixth swimmer in, getting in at 2.40pm at a point just short of The Varne which is a boat/lighthouse at the start of the shipping lane.

Joe said: "The Varne is a very important point on a Channel swim.

"If you get there at the right time it can knock at least one hour off the swim. We got there at the right time.

"After about five minutes a Sea Cat came blasting past and I caught the end of the swell of it. After that the rest of the hour went well. It seemed that I was being called in, in no time. The hour just went so quick."

After getting back in the boat, he was next in the waters just after 8.40pm, just as it was going dark.

"I had to use a 'glow stick', which is an illuminated stick which is stuck between the cap and goggles straps. This was just after we had left the shipping lanes, so there was no problems," Joe said,

After that second stint, it was a case of watching the last two swimmers finish the job off.

"About 200 metres from the end the boat has to stop as the water is too shallow and an inflatable escorted and checked the swimmer landed. All we saw from the boat was the glow sticks then a voice shout: 'We're home'.

"I have a map of the route which is like a big 'S' and if you look at it, it seems we were going backwards at times but everybody did their bit.

"The stroke rate per minute was, within the odd one or two, the same for all swimmers at 60 per minute."

The swim provided plenty of lessons for Joe, who is planning his first solo crossing next year."It was a good day and gave me plenty to think about for when it comes to doing a solo attempt. It's going to be no picnic and there is a lot of training to do during the rest of the summer and in the winter," he said.