This past August, 2010 Miguel Vadillo of Mexico, a nominee for the World Open Water Swimming Performance of the Year, swam a bone-chilling 18 hours and 4 minutes across one of the most unpredictable and wonderful bodies of fresh water on the planet: Lake Ontario.

He became the 44th person to successfully conquer the lake while raising C$12,000 for swim and water safety programs in Ontario, trying to do something to avoid preventable drownings among young immigrants.

“When I wanted to quit, it wasn’t because I was tired,” Miguel explaind. “It was because a big ship passed in front of us and its propelers brought up cold water from the lower layers up to the surface. I spent four hours in the lake that that dropped from a high of 17°C (62.6°F) to a low of 9°C (48.2°F) while it never went up above 12°C (53.6°F). Later, when we got out of the ship’s path, the water warmed up again up to 16°C (60.8°F). So I was very cold, sore and very scared of not being able to pee for a couple of hours.”

This is the story of Miguel Vadillo’s Lake Ontario Swim on Vimeo.
Copyright © 2010 by Open Water Source