Channel Crossing In The Caribbean
Courtesy of WOWSA, Huntington Beach, California. If you want to be a channel swimmer, you do not always have to head over to England to join the English Channel fraternity. You do not have to attempt the Oceans Seven. There are plenty of channels – many relatively short and all with clear, warm waters with plenty of colorful saline in the Caribbean Sea.
The Nevis to St Kitts Cross Channel Swim in the Lesser Antilles in the Caribbean was the latest cross-channel challenge.
The 2015 StarMile2.5 Nevis-St. Kitts Cross-Channel Swim also serves the 13th annual Bente Weber Memorial Swim. The 4 km channel swim across the Narrows offers both a race and a challenge to the 168 open water swim enthusists and adventurers who did it today.
“It was a great swim!” said Erwin Ruijsink [shown above] who was the first man and second overall to winner Valeria Gregorie of Nevis who finished in 1 hour 3 minutes. “I must say there is a challenging current from the north which sets you to the south. I ended up swimming almost 4.6 km instead of 4 km. But I saw several turtles swimming underneath me which gave a great motivation.”
Swimmers were free to use fins or snorkels to help them cross the ‘Narrows‘ while raising awareness and funds for the St Kitts Turtle Monitoring Group.
Copyright © 2015 by World Open Water Swimming Association
Southern California native, born 1962, is the creator of the WOWSA Awards, Oceans Seven, Openwaterpedia, Citrus Corps, World Open Water Swimming Association, Daily News of Open Water Swimming, Global Open Water Swimming Conference. He is Chief Executive Officer of KAATSU Global and KAATSU Research Institute. Inductee in the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame (Honor Swimmer, Class of 2001) and Ice Swimming Hall of Fame (Honor Contributor - Media, Class of 2019), recipient of the International Swimming Hall of Fame's Poseidon Award (2016), International Swimming Hall of Fame's Irving Davids-Captain Roger Wheeler Memorial Award (2010), USA Swimming's Glen S. Hummer Award (2007, 2010) and Harvard University's John B. Imrie Award (1984). Served on the FINA Technical Open Water Swimming Committee and as Technical Delegate with the 2011 Special Olympics World Summer Games, and 9-time USA Swimming coaching staff. Note: WOWSA only recommends products or services used or recommended by the community. WOWSA does not receive compensation for links or products mentioned on this site or in blog posts. If it does, it will be indicated clearly on that specific post. See WOWSA's privacy policy for more information.
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