Welcome to my 2016 swim website. For those of you who don't know me, I swam Lake Ontario the easy way in 1983 and the hard way in 1984. I “came out of retirement" to swim the English Channel (oldest Canadian woman) in 2011. In 2013, I was the oldest Canadian to swim the Catalina strait in California. After swimming around Manhattan Island (oldest Canadian) in 2014, I became the first Canadian to complete the Triple Crown of open water swimming (English Channel, Catalina Strait and Manhattan.) Last year I was the first to swim between three provinces: from Nova Scotia north to New Brunswick and across the Northumberland Strait to Prince Edward Island (34 kms). This year on March 18, I became the first Canadian and the oldest woman ever to swim the icy and turbulent Cook Strait between the south and north islands in New Zealand. (See links below for more detail.)

On August 11, 2016, I hope to become the first Canadian to swim from Plymouth to Provincetown, Massachusetts, across Cape Cod Bay. This “P2P” swim has only been accomplished by 6 people (all American), although the swim has been attempted numerous times since 1915. The swim from Manomet Beach in Plymouth to Herring Cove Beach in Provincetown is about 32 kilometers. The biggest challenge is the current which circulates in a counter-clockwise direction around the relatively shallow bay. The water temperature is expected to be between 16 and 21 degrees Celsius. The swim is officiated by the Massachusetts Open Water Swimming Association (MOWSA), whose rules are based on the English Channel rules. https://massopenwaterswimming.com/

I am pleased to be able to use this opportunity to raise money for Sashbear, an organization founded by Lynn Courey, whose daughter, Sasha, a swimmer with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD), died by suicide in 2011. Sashbear funds education programs for therapists, families and in schools. I have dedicated my psychiatric career to the treatment and research of BPD, which has a suicide rate of 10%. More treatment programs and support for families are desperately needed in Canada. Please support my swim by donating to Sashbear. Thank you. http://sashbear.org/en/

Across Cape Cod Bay:

Across Cape Cod Bay:
Across Cape Cod Bay: Plymouth to Provincetown

Tuesday, 9 February 2016

My Crew

  I am only taking 2 crew with me to New Zealand. In addition to it being very expensive, it is a huge time commitment. The flights there take 2 days as you are crossing the International Dateline and the crew needs a few days to adjust to the time change of 18 hours. Then the swim window is 5-7 days and the flights back take about a day. So that is a minimum total of 13 days. Most of the crew from my previous swims could not be absent from work for such a long period.

Fortunately, my good friend and fellow marathon swimmer Colleen Shields was able to get the time off work. Between Colleen and my husband I don't need more crew. Colleen is able to do every job on the swim: swimming beside me (pacing), coaching my stroke, monitoring my feedings, measuring my core temperature with the CorTemp® monitor, minding the Spot Tracker, and cheer leading. She is also an official (Swim Master) and board member with Solo Swims of Ontario. She can also do a number of other jobs that are going to be Philip Rush's responsibility on this swim, such as driving the Zodiac, navigating, weather forecasting and being in charge of the safety of the swim . But rest assured that my husband and Colleen will be watching me with their experienced eyes and will make sure Philip doesn't miss anything important. My husband, of course, has been on all my swims and can do every job except swim fast.

I have been on 5 of Colleen's swims, including her successful 1990 crossing of Lake Ontario. Colleen is an amazing marathon swimmer. It has been my honour to do every job on her swims for her. Colleen has crossed Lake Ontario 3 times and has the record for oldest swimmer. She is also the only person to have swum from Tobermory to Manitoulin Island. Her bio is on the Solo Swims of Ontario website. www.soloswims.com
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)