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

Wednesday 10 August 2016

Swim is on for tomorrow

The swim is on for tomorrow morning starting at 4:30.
The weather isn't the greatest. A thunderstorm is ending at midnight. Then the winds are dying down to 5 to 10 knots from the Southwest. Southwest is going to push me. Waves will be 1 to 4 feet, building as we get close to the end. The tide will hopefully also push me in to shore. The last kilometer will be the toughest right into shore, with the tide speeding up there. The biggest weather issue will be the fog. If it is too thick, the swim will have to be called off due to boat traffic.
Massachusetts Open Water Swimming Association, MOWSA, will be providing 2 shark shields to give me continuous protection. I am honoured to have Greg O'Connor, the president of MOWSA as my official observer.
The best news of all is that Marilyn Bell Dilascio drove down especially to see me off. We had a lovely dinner this evening. She will also be waiting to see me come in. "I want to see your glowstick leaving the beach instead if watching the tracker from my couch".
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