ENGLISHMAN COMPLETES MARATHON SWIM FROM SANTA CRUZ ISLAND TO LEADBETTER BEACH COLBY FRAZIER
Paul Lewis celebrates with daughter Emma
on Thursday, immediately after stepping off
the boat following a 13-hour, 16-minute
solo swim across the Santa Barbara
Channel. It was the first successful attempt
in more than two decades.
September 8, 2006 7:15 AM
Englishman Paul Lewis became the first person in more
than two decades -- and the third person ever -- to
successfully complete a solo swim across the Santa
Barbara Channel when he stepped ashore north of
Leadbetter Beach on Thursday. Mr. Lewis, 45, began
his journey at 1:20 a.m. Thursday, about an hour later
than anticipated because of strong winds and rough water
near Cueva Valdez on Santa Cruz Island. "It was a little
bit rough for the first seven hours, but after then it
was really perfect conditions," Mr. Lewis said. The
26-mile journey took at total of 13 hours, 16 minutes.
Mr. Lewis' stroke rate was monitored throughout the swim
and increased from 46 to an average of 50 as time went
on.
On Wednesday, before leaving the Sailing Center in Santa
Barbara, Mr. Lewis, who has swum many channels including
the English Channel and North Channel, said the sense of
accomplishment is what drives him to do marathon
swimming. "It's just one bad day out of your life, and
you've got the rest of your life to enjoy the
achievement," Mr. Lewis said.
He said he decided to come to Santa Barbara after he
trained for months to be the first to swim from England
to the Isles of Scilly, but couldn't make an attempt due
to bad weather. Mr. Lewis said he swam the
equivalent of 12 English Channels in the open water near
his home outside of London, and spent about nine hours
in the pool each week to train for the grueling swim. In
order to fight off the chilly 60-degree average water
temperature here, Mr. Lewis said he gained 25 pounds,
but added that he had lost up to 16 pounds during a
previous swim. He said one of his scariest moments
in the water came the first time he
attempted to swim the North Channel from Scotland to
Ireland. After being in the water for 141/2 hours, and
only 100 meters from the finish, he lost consciousness
and drifted beneath the boat. He was unconscious for 15
minutes, and once at the hospital, he had a core body
temperature of 28 degrees, which is on par with that of
a corpse.
The first person to make a solo crossing of the Santa
Barbara Channel was Cambria resident David Yudovin, who
did so on Aug. 17, 1983, in 15 hours, 15 minutes.
However, Mr. Yudovin's course was different from Mr.
Lewis', beginning on San Pedro Point and finishing
somewhere between Ventura and Oxnard.
"It's an amazing accomplishment for Paul," Mr. Yudovin
said. "It's one of the major human accomplishments in
athletics history, and he just did it -- and
tremendously well in very rough conditions. "The second
person to make the crossing was Ashby Harper, on Aug.
18, 1984.
Marathon swimmers like Mr. Lewis prefer to get the
toughest parts of the swim out of the way at night,
before afternoon winds create slow, choppy water. During
his swim, Mr. Lewis had the accompaniment of a full moon
-- as well as local kayaker Rob Almy, who remained six
to 10 feet away to keep him on course.
Emilio Casanueva, founder of the Santa Barbara Channel
Swimming Association, helped Mr. Lewis coordinate the
event, and said he would like to see the Santa Barbara
Channel become a more common destination for marathon
swimmers. "This guy's English and there's a lot of
people that swim the English Channel, so those people
are going to say, 'Hey, there's something in America.' "
Kayaker Rob Almy unloads his gear after
guiding Paul Lewis through the Santa
Barbara Channel for more than 13 hours.
http://www.justgiving.com/paulalanlewis
"now let's see, should I have a go at it the
other way or go down the pub"
Watford's Paul Lewis swims from Scotland to Ireland
On
the 26th July 1999, WSC member and "Club Person of the Year for 2000",
Paul Lewis successfully swam from Scotland to Ireland becoming only the third
person ever to do this swim in this direction. Paul had very good conditions for
the swim but with a sea temp of only 58 and jelly fish all the way made this no
easy swim and he wouldn't recommend this one to anyone! It took Paul 14.28 hours
mainly because he didn't get the big pushes in from the tide that he expected.
Paul's wife Janet swam in with Paul for the last 25mins making this an even more
special occasion and she can confirm it was freezing with lots of jellies
about.
Very well done Paul on this swim which keeps him up with the very best at long
distance swimming.
Report in Swimming Times by Alison Streeter MBE
Congratulations to Paul Lewis (38) from Hemel Hempstead who became only the third person ever to swim from Scotland to Ireland on 27th July in 14 hours and 28 mins. Conditions were perfect, the only problems were jelly-fish stings, which are more of a problem after the swim than during it. Three years ago, Paul was pulled out of the water hypothermic just 200 metres from the finish after a grueling 14¼ hour swim, but he was determined to return and finish it, so well done Paul.
For other members who wish to do the same journey Stena Line UK do very some very good rates from Stranraer - Belfast and you will find this is a lot quicker way and is the recommended method of travel.