Synopsis

On July 14^th, 2022 around 11:15 PM, I began my 32.3 km Catalina Channel swim crossing from Santa Catalina Island to the Southern California mainland and completed in 13 hours 32 minutes. It was a dark night with no visible moon or stars, the sea was calm and the water was cooler than I hoped for with temperatures ranging from 66°F to 62°F.

My initial reaction was this was hard. The cold water was a challenge for much of the swim consuming me both physically and mentally. However, another friend when completing the following week said he was ‘overwhelmed.’ Yes! That more holistically describes how I felt. My training worked, my body was strong, and I was able to hold my stroke rate. I had a great team supporting to include my coach Denis Crean and friend and swim partner Tom Hull, kayakers Steve and Ryland Sutton, observers Roxanne and Robin Hipolito and the Pacific Moon dive boat Captain Harvey and crew. I heard dolphins that swam and protected me along the way. I worked through the cold, maintained a positive mindset and finished this amazing swim!

Video of swim highlights

The Start

As we approached the shore, Coach Denis said take a moment before you jump in. I sat on the edge of the boat and stared into the dark water, then out toward the shore that was lit up by my boat. I told myself ‘you got this’ then counted to 3 and jumped in. The water had a slight chill, but it wasn’t bad. I swam toward the swim rope along the shore, over it and then to the beach. It was rocky, not sure why, but I was expected soft sand. I carefully walked beyond the water line turned around and put my hand up signaling that I was ready. Then slowly walked until my big toe touched the water and put my arm down signaling the start of the swim. Once the water was over my knees, I started the first stroke of the swim. (Averaged 66 strokes / min, so swam approximately 53,000 strokes)

The Swim

When I started, the water felt good. The sky and sea were dark. Occasionally, I noticed the bubbles coming off my fingers. On my right was my kayaker with sparkling lights that rotated through the colors; on the left was the boat with chem lights making both easy to see. I could hear my crew cheering me on. My mind wondered thinking about my stroke, looking for visual signs, wondering what that was that I touched. I felt calm and it was very peaceful.

Every 30 min, the kayaker motioned, using a light at night, communicating that it was time to feed. At each feed I drink 8 oz (1/3 bottle) of warm Hammer Perpetuem. I had used this product in prior swims and trained with it. Since the kayakers were changing every 4 hours, my setup for each kayaker included 3 bottles of Perpetuem.  To keep it interesting, the crew filled the bottles with 3 different flavors and the kayaker randomly selected the order. I keep my feed plan simple with to goal to keep moving to maintain heat.

At the first feed as I restarted swimming both of my legs cramped. I tugged on each of my feet while continuing to swim. No relief, so I continued to swim and thought of oxygen going from my heart to my legs. Eventually the cramps went away.

At the next feed (1 hour) I was starting to shiver. I wasn’t worried. I had planned for this with the goal to feed quickly and keep moving to maintain heat. This approach worked for the next few hours. At 4 hours, as the kayakers switched, I was treading water for over 5 minutes. I became very cold and struggled after to regain heat. Tom swam with me for the next 30 min.  I focused on his lights and could feel a connection to him while swimming.

The rest of the swim was somewhat consumed by being cold and efforts to work though it. As the night ended, I hoped for the sun, but it was a bleak cloudy day. However, I was grateful to have light and enjoyed having clear vision of the boats and crew, I loved the clear blue water was energized observing the salp chains and jellyfish.

It was so amazing hearing squeaks and clicks from dolphins and I’m in awe that they swam and protected me. I was told that as seals approached, the dolphins surrounded me, and the seals moved away. And when two whales showed up one of which breached the dolphins were again there. At one point a dorsal fin was seen approaching, the dolphins remained close and the team monitored closely concerned that it was a shark. The fin waved, and Captain Harvey said - oh that is a massive Mola mola sun fish.

I recalled advice from Coach Denis before my first ultra-marathon swim (12 mile Swim around Charleston) a few years ago to “Just keep swimming!”. That is what I did, my mind wondered thinking about family, friends and fellow swimmers; checked my stroke; worked through the cold; heard chatter from the dolphins; heard cheers and encouragement from the support team; occasionally I looked up and saw that that shore was getting closer; and enjoyed swimming.  It seemed like I was in a repeating dream, and then I heard 1500 to shore and was stuck with a sense of time passing quickly and felt both excited and sadness as I picked up my pace. I could clearly see land. After 30 min, it was time for a feed. Confused, I thought I should be done. However, the end point changed and now it was 1500 more to go. I took a deep breath, and put head down and kept charging forward. When I reached shore, I was so excited and once my feet were stable, I ran to clear the water line and as I heard the finishing siren, I threw both hands in the air in excitement. I finished!

I had hoped for warmer water, sunshine and to finish faster, but in hindsight this was what I needed to set the focus of my training for the English Channel swim in July 2023.  I will focus training on cold water acclimation over the next year to prepare. I’m super stoked to continue my ultra-marathon swimming journey and the following day signed up for WaveOne Open Water Swim Camp and the 20.5 mile DC Marathon Swim in October 2022.

So many helped me prepare for this swim. This next section runs through some of the knowledge gained

Work through the Cold

Dealing with the cold was my concern going into the swim. Given the east coast water temperatures are in the 80s it was hard to do cold water training the last couple months. A group of us went to Connecticut to find cold water and instead had hot days and 68-70 degree water. I arrived a few days early to acclimate and was shivering each day after an hour in the water. I was hopeful that I could keep moving to maintain heat.

I was never in any danger; the support team monitored my health. I had great support from my kayaker Ryland Sutton who said, “You need to work through the cold” and offered suggestions during feeds. Some things that helped:

· I deepened my breathing and envisioned my core sending heat to my limbs

· I did short bursts of faster more aggressive swimming that temporary helped with warming

· I used mantras for encouragement and to relax me: ‘I’m ok, I can do this”, ‘Be strong and courageous’, ‘I can and I will’

· The short time the sun was out I felt its energy warming me.

· I pondered long, slow, deep (LSD) that I learned from Oxygen Advantage instructor Bob Soulliere – really hard to apply in when swimming but that kept me occupied for a while.

· I redirected my mind to focus on other things

Cold water acclimation will be a focus area for my training for the English Channel. I plan to consult with other similar build experienced cold water swimmers, complete the 10 week Wim Hof Fundamentals course, travel to locations with colder water temperatures and work through the cold when I have the opportunity.

Swim Lights

(Recommended by Steve Sutton, Kayaker)
Adventure Lights Guardian Expedition Light, Green on Goggles; Red on back connected to swim strap.

Using two lights helps the support team to see the direction that I was swimming.

Feed Plan and System

My plan was very simple, with the priority on feeding quickly to maintain heat.

Two sets of the feed system, one for each kayaker, included 3 x 24oz water bottles for Perpetuem (one single packet and warm water) with loops on them for a carabiner, 1 bottle of water, 1 flask of Listerine mixed with water (used Hammer Gel bottles), and a pill tube (used Hammer Capsule Dispenser) with 1 Advil and 1 Excedrin Migraine. I used silicone water bottle carriers on the flask and pill tube in order to connect them with a carabiner.

I was consistent with taking 8 oz (1/3 bottle) of warm Hammer Perpetuem every 30 min. My energy was good throughout the swim and the warm feeds helped with the cold. My favorite flavor is Orange Vanilla but rotated with both Strawberry Vanilla and Caffe Latte (has caffeine). I don’t use the chocolate since I have a hard time shallowing it.

My plan was to take 1xAdvil and 1xExcedrin Migraine every 3 hours to stay ahead of the pain and potential caffeine withdraw symptoms (over the last several months I reduce drinking coffee from 3 cups a day to one but was still concerned about getting a headache). This went great at hour 3; at hour 6 I lost the Advil to the sea (hard to take pills and shiver); then since I wasn’t in pain, I discontinued additional medication.

I did not use the water. It was available in case the Perpetuem was to filling or making me sick.

Listerine/water rinse was available if needed since salty water can make your mouth inflamed and your tongue swell up. I had no issues with the salt water. I keep my mouth closed when I swim and expect this helped. I did use the Listerine/water rinse once as the suggested by my kayaker as stimulus before increasing pace to work through the cold.

Training

I started training for this swim in January 2022. My training was focused on three areas.

Swimming: Coach Denis Crean, head coach of WaveOne Open Water in Washington DC, worked collaboratively with me on my training plan. The plan consisted of both pool and open water workouts that started at 5K and went up to 20K in length. My longest week was 34 miles. I always took one day off each week to recover. I felt strong and consistent throughout the swim.

Technique: I train 3 times a month with technique Coach Dominic Latella at SwimBox in Arlington VA. Swimming correctly reduces strain on my shoulders and back. Some of the chafing was caused by dropping my elbow on my right side. The support team took several videos that we will use to further improve my stroke.

Staying Healthy: I did weekly chiropractor and physical therapy (PT) session with Dr. Erik Korzen at Elevate Health in Annapolis, MD to monitor my health, make corrective adjustments and establish a daily PT routine to avoid injury. Collaboration with Coach Dominic identified areas of concern leading the stroke correction.

Peeing While Swimming

I’m covering this because it comes up often in conversation. What do you do when you have to go?

This is a fun story. Coach Dominic, after the joking suggestion of a fellow swimmer, at swim camp in Key West before the 12.5 mile Swim Around Key West last year, gave me instructions on how to pee while swimming. Breathe deeply into my diaphragm, apply pressure, repeat until it starts. I’m super proficient in this now. This is for open water only - Please do not do this in a pool! And Yes, I did think of Coach Dominic, at his request, while peeing.

Of interest, you must notify the support team when you go, and they track it on the observer sheet.

I have never had to poop while swimming. So, nothing to share there.

Some things did not go so well. This next section runs through some things I will do differently.

Kayaker Change Out

The first time the kayakers changed out it was dark; they first did my feed (about 1 ½ min) then they told me to tread water during changed out (at least 5 minutes). This ended up becoming a turning point in the swim. I lost a lot of heat and was very cold when we restarted.

At the next change out, they told me to keep swimming. I did not resume my pace, given I was nervous being in the sea without an escort, but movement helped.

In the future, I will arrange the following:
(1) Start the kayaker change out while I’m feeding.
(2) Once done feeding, drop the bottle for the kayaker to pick up and restart swimming at pace. For safety have my support team keep an eye on me (use light at night).

For the English Channel, there are no kayakers. I plan to feed from a rope off the boat. The benefit of the rope is the feeds can be thrown it in front of me. When I run into the rope, I can grab the bottle and feed. When done drop the bottle and keep swimming.

Chafing

I underestimated and was not prepared for the chafing. I had initially planned to use a newer swimsuit and after swimming in Connecticut and chafing I decided to use the suit I wore last fall in my 20 Bridges (swim around Manhattan) in brackish water where I didn’t chaf at all. I learned that salt water causes more chafing – the problem was not the suit. Since, several people have recommended Bag Balm for anti chafing.

On the bright side, I now have a bunch of products to recover from chafing (thanks again to Steve Sutton) to include:

· Aloe Life - Skin Gel & Herbs Ultimate Skin Treatment, 99% Certified Organic Whole Leaf Aloe Vera, Vitamins C, A, & E

· Nexcare Tegaderm Waterproof Transparent Dressing, Dirtproof, Germproof

· Now Foods Lanolin Pure

· Vermont's Original Bag Balm for Dry Chapped Skin Conditions

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Open Water Swimming

Catalina Channel Swim July 14-15th, 2022