Man Swam 30-Mile Across Ocean, Said “Left Shoulder Hurts”

Swimmer Marc Lewis of La Jolla, California, did something that no one had done before: he was the first to swim from Santa Rosa Island to the beach of Goleta (a 30-mile swim):

Lewis completed the swim in 15 hours, 47 minutes. Averaging 56 strokes per minute, he swam approximately 53,032 strokes.

“Maybe that’s why my left shoulder hurts,” he joked. [...]

Swimming in the dark, guided by a boat’s dim lights and glow sticks on the kayak, is not Lewis’ favorite part of a marathon.

“It’s disorienting,” he said. “You don’t have the landmarks you have during the day.”

The lowest point came at 20 miles, realizing he still had 10 miles to go. As motivation, he methodically went through a list of all the people who helped him get to this point, everyone on the boat, the kayakers, support swimmers, members of the La Jolla Cove Swim Cove.

“I remember thinking short-run, long-run,” Lewis said. “In the short run, the pain, the exhaustion is temporary. I can do anything for another seven hours. But I’ve gotta live with getting out of the water possibly for the rest of my life.”

Don Norcross of the San Diego Union-Tribune has the story: Link

(Photo: Scott Linnett/Union-Tribune)

By the way, the record for the longest open ocean swim (without flippers) was set by Australian Susie Maroney, who swam 122 miles (197 km) from Mexico to Cuba. She completed the marathon swim in 38 hours and 33 minutes in 1998.