Surfside Swimmers conquer Catalina Channel
Shortly before midnight, on Monday, August 16, five members of the Surfside Swim Club embarked from Doctor’s Cove on Catalina Island for a relay swim across the Catalina Channel. The following morning, after swimming two, one-hour rotations each, through the night, the team swam ashore together at Sacred Cove, near Terranea Resort in Palos Verdes. They completed the 21.5 mile distance in 10 hours, 20 minutes.
Surfside Swim Club swimmers approach Sacred Cove, after swimming 21.5 miles. Photo by Lynn O’Connell
Surfside coach John York, a member of the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame, jumped in the water for one of the legs. York holds records for the most Catalina Channel swims, and the fastest two-way crossing (16 hours, 42 minutes in 1968). Surfside trains at the Mira Costa High School pool. ER