Calais calling

Scott is all set for his Channel encounter

Scott Ragsdale, who heads Naseba will make his attempt on 3 September. The 39-year-old American lives in Dubai but works out of Monaco during the summer months. He founded his company Naseba in Monaco in 2002 and it has since gone global, with the company boasting seven offices worldwide and now floating on the Paris stock market.

In preparation for the event Scott spends a minimum of two to three hours every day, swimming in the Mediterranean Sea. "It’s just a ten minute drive to the beach, so it’s convenient for me," he explains. He has planned out a nine-hour swim, between Castel Plage and Nice Cote d’Azur airport, as one of the final stages of preparation for his daunting challenge.

Only around a quarter of those who attempt to swim the channel make it across to the other side and Scott is determined to join this exclusive group. "I’m confident I’m physically in the right condition to complete the distance, I just don’t know if my body will be able to cope with the cold," he said.

In addition to daily swimming in the Mediterranean, Scott has taken time out his busy work schedule to put in some cold weather training, including a six-hour swim in the coldest lake in Austria as well as a four-hour swim in Dover harbour.

Scott hopes that by taking on this challenge he will inspire his employees at Naseba and also his 15-year-old daughter: "I just want to show them that there is more to life that wasting your time sat in front of the TV or on Facebook. Obviously it’s not easy to swim the English Channel, if it was everybody would do it, but at the same time I’m not different from anybody else. I’m just a normal human being and I want to see if I can master this challenge."

It was the economic crisis in 2008 that opened Scott’s eyes to the possibility of making the most out of life. "It gave me the opportunity to look back and reflect," he recalls. "Before the crisis I was so focussed on the business, then when it hit home, and we had to lay off 40 per cent of the staff just to stay afloat, it made me think that there is more to life than this. I’d always said I’d do an Iron Man (long distance triathlon) and never got around to it because the business got in the way. Already this year, however, I have done two and have a third planned."

It was whilst training for his first Iron Man in New Zealand that Scott came across a British Iron Man triathlon club called The Pirate Ship of Fools. And it will be the pirates who will be forming Scott’s support crew during his channel crossing.

As far as Scott’s concerned, this is his one and only chance to complete the channel crossing: the hours he has to commit to his training interfere too much with his family life. "Some days I can train for eight hours a day, that’s eight hours I could be with my family."

Not that Scott’s lost his thirst for adventure and challenge: in October he is planning a seven day 250km jungle run through the Amazon rainforest and this will be followed by his third Iron Man of the year in December.

Scott’s attitude reflects his personal dogma of “broader horizons”. Each summer he takes his daughter to a different country allowing her to experience new places and cultures. This September she will, of course, be onboard Scott’s support boat as he attempts to join the Channel crossing elite.

You can track Scott throughout his swim on the tracker on his website www.Scottragsdale.com

TD