Swimming To Infinity (and possibly beyond)

Gulp&Go Open Water Swimming

Stephen Clendenin

English 202, Writing About Sports

03/20/11

Blog Post #6

Swimming to Infinity (and possibly beyond)

            When you walk up to the middle aged man wearing a jammer, goggles, a number on his shoulder, and a huge smile on his face, and ask him why on earth he is about to go jumping into water that is seventy degrees or lower, he will probably give you answer you by asking you the same question. People do it because they love it. Many open water swimmers will speak about that feeling of being totally limitless. When they are in the ocean they can go anywhere. There is a sort of freedom that comes with the challenge of getting out there and swimming against the current. Another swimmer with longer hair and a couple of tattoos might tell you that they’re ‘bonding with nature.’ No harm in that. The ocean is wild and very much untamed. While other swimmers stick to their puddles built into concrete holes, and other athletes compete on manicured squares of grass, open water swimmers, like the dog-sledders of Alaska, are out in the elements. Fighting for breath against the crashing dark green waves, these athletes know how it is to live. Some will tell you that they have grown tired of the safe yet numb environment of the gym. They see them as limitations. I prefer to see them as training trials that must be overcome to truly succeed and break into the ocean waters.

For many other swimmers it is also a way to escape. They go diving out into the water to find for themselves a place to focus. In many ways, the raging and crashing of the ocean waves forces the swimmer to hold their calm. It is like chaos breeding serenity within the mind. Hearing the constant hum of the ocean in the ear and feeling the water ripple across the skin is an unforgettable experience. There are no membership cards, no sweat-stained locker rooms, and no smelly gear bags to drag around. There is only the open horizon and a sea of possibility.

Featured Record Holder:

            On June 1^st, 1998, Susie Maroney swam from Mexico to Cuba in thirty-eight hours and thirty-three minutes. She covered one hundred and twenty two miles without flippers, out in the open ocean, making her the record holder for longest distance ever swum without flippers. She holds the fastest two-way English Channel Crossing (England à France à England) with a time of seventeen hours and fourteen minutes. She was seventeen when she achieved that. She hold numerous other records, and is a fantastic swimmer in her own right. Now a mother, her time as a swimmer is over, but her name still stands as one of the greatest open water swimmers of all time.