BY PEPPER FISHER
Port Angeles – John Curley, an endurance swimmer from Ireland, is celebrating today after completing the brutal swim across the Strait of Juan de Fuca on Tuesday.
Curley is attempting to be the first swimmer to complete what’s known among open water swimmers as The Toughest Thirteen, a group of 13 swims that span the globe.
For this leg of the challenge, Curley started at Twin Rivers Beach in Clallam County and made the crossing to Harrison Point in British Columbia with an official time of 8 hours and 13 minutes.
We spoke with Curley’s coach, Ger Kennedy, riding aboard the escort boat, when Curley was about two-thirds of the way across the strait in frigid 52 degree water.
“He’s on target. Now, we started further west so we could use the flood tide in our favor. And so, in fact, the shortest distance of the swim would be approximately, I think it’s about 12 miles. That’s the shortest distance. Of course, you have to factor in the tide. So we’ve added more miles on to the swim and we’re actually using the tide in his favor. Now, that’s why we’re actually having a pretty good day. Look, he’s doing pretty good. It’s not over till it’s over, cause cold water can hit you very hard, you know.”
The Toughest 13 Challenge takes swimmers to the distant waters of Hawaii, South Africa, Australia, Lake Titicaca in South America, the famed Loch Ness in Scotland and, of course, the exotic Strait of Juan de Fuca.
Along the way across the strait, Curley stopped every 30 minutes for a quick break to drink some hot carbohydrates and eat some “porridge”, or his favorite when in the States, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
With the completion of Tuesday’s swim, Kennedy says the 42-year-old Curley has completed his tenth segment of the challenge, at least 4 segments ahead of his closest rival, American Andrew Packer.
(Pictured: John Curley and Ger Kennedy)