Carlos André Nascimento Harada, Mauricio Fernando Rodrigues Garcia Complete Travessia do Leme ao Pontal
Adherbal de Oliveira, President of Leme to Pontal Swimming Association (LPSA), reported about two successful crossings of the 36 km Travessia do Leme ao Pontal in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. “After a period of two months without attempts at the Travessia do Leme ao Pontal due to the several cold fronts that brought many climatic instabilities to the southeastern region of Brazil, two solo swims were successfully completed on April 19th.
Due to the long period without swimming, there was great anxiety on the part of 53-year-old Mauricio Fernando Rodrigues Garcia (shown below) and his support team who had to make adjustments to their preparations so that they could arrive in their best physical and mental states for their long-awaited day of challenging themselves in the 36 km popular South American crossing.
The first to start was Garcia who a year ago had abandoned his attempt to swim from Leme to Pontal after feeling great discomfort with the water temperature. He started at 4:03 am on April 19th on a night with a full moon with 1.5 meter ocean swells and light winds.
The swimmer carried out his preparation with his experienced coach Samir Barel who accompanied him during the swim aboard the Ferrari escort boat of Commander Tiago Alberto da Silva. The Association’s observer Ricardo Patrick Lima Silva was also present.
Minutes later at 4:20 am, 44-year-old Carlos André Nascimento Harada (shown below) challenged himself to swim from Leme to Pontal for the first time. He had prepared well under the guidance of his coaches Wanderley Santos and Carlos Valença who accompanied him aboard the escort boat Otto Magalhães Jr., piloted by Commander Ary da Conceição with LPSA observer José Eduardo do Amaral Ferreira.
Both swimmers quickly adapted to the large 1.5 meter swells during the night and were able to orient themselves well by the escort boat. To the delight of the two swimmers, the predicted countercurrent against them did not occur during the course, making the work of the swimmers a little easier.
During the late afternoon of April 19th, the two swimmers arrived on the sands of Pontal beach.
Harada was first in a time of 10 hours 48 minutes followed by Garcia who completed his swim in 12 hours 53 minutes.“
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