Santa Barbara is about 100 miles North of Los Angeles and the warmer, more famous Catalina Channel. The Santa Barbara Channel is between the coast and several islands of which the closest is Acapana followed by Santa Cruz followed by a few others well out of my swimming distance! Four swimmers had completed the solo Acapana swim (16 or so miles) and two in the early 1980s had swum from the nearest point on Santa Cruz (20 or so miles).
For those of you who read the Lynne Cox book (Swimming to Antarctica), David Yudovin’s swim from Acapana is covered in her forward. David went down near the beach and nearly drowned. David later completed this crossing plus the 20 mile Santa Cruz Island crossing, the English Channel, multiple Catalina crossings, Cook Strait, etc., and is in the Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame.
As part of my process of inching towards the swim that Emilio had penciled me in for, I phoned David and Penny Lee Dean (women's record holder for the English Channel for many years). It was to be the beginning of rubbing shoulders with some of the open water swimming royalty! They were generous with their time but told me that the first swimmer, indeed the first ten swimmers, to try the 26 mile channel would be learning the swim and its lessons the hard way!
My training was being hampered by injuries and a new job – which wiped out my morning pool sessions. I did manage to get in three big swims in the late summer:
- 8 miles of open ocean in the Atlantic to Inisbofin Island in Mayo, Ireland
- 8 miles across Lake Champlain, Vermont (USA)
- 16 mile swim around the Island of Cobh in Cork, Ireland
Two months prior to the swim, I received a call from Kevin Murphy, King of the English Channel, with 34 crossings, who wanted to bring a group to a Cork Ireland swim. After our conversation he suggested to Paul Lewis (one of eight to swim the North Channel between Scotland and Ireland) that he consider Santa Barbara as his desire to do a first swim in the British Scilly Isles was being thwarted by weather. Paul, being a gentleman, phoned to try and work out a schedule to allow me to be the first. It was a quick call and I was delighted to get him to volunteer to go first – in exchange for a full debrief! He and his family were on a plane within the week and Paul completed the swim. His first half was in force 5 wind from the West with a seasick boat crew and the second half in beautiful calm seas. Total time was just over 13 hours.
My wife and I (and 92 other Irish swimmers) flew to San Francisco for the Alcatraz swim where I met Emilio for the first time. I also had one last call with David Yudovin who volunteered that he and his wife Beth (one of the most experienced open water boat crew in the world) would fly in from Hawaii to be part of my crew. Just to complete the set of royalty, the Streeter gals (Alison Streeter, 43 English Channel swims and Freda Streeter - both in Swimming Hall of Fame) were guests of the Alcatraz swim and added their royal encouragement.
Santa Barbara is a fantastic place to visit (we want to move there!) and the local swimmers and kayakers hosted us very well. The channel association is new and Paul and I were the first swimmers – so call it a honeymoon period for visiting swimmers!
My plan was to attempt the 26 mile crossing and I fantasized about beating Paul's time! When we reached Santa Cruz Island at 11 pm a force 5 wind was blowing from the west (left). Even though Paul had started in similar conditions, I opted to wait two hours. There was a reason that I had been telling everyone that Paul was a much more accomplished open water swimmer!
Conditions then worsened and the boat captain would not let me get in the water. I didn’t get a choice, but I don’t think I would have started. Ok, let’s be serious there was NO WAY I was getting into that! Paul had opted to use a local crew in a sail boat – but I went for an experienced Catalina crew/boat which came up from Los Angeles. That North Channel crossing of Paul’s gave him a bit of extra confidence which I have yet to find!
David then suggested that we move to the 20 mile crossing – which would offer some protection from the wind. Now, the swim from Santa Cruz Island to Santa Barbara begins!
About the Author: Ned Denison played water polo goalie in the USA and England for twenty years before taking up open water swimming in 2000. His move to Cork Ireland allows all year sea training (no wet suit) in temperatures ranging from 7C to 17C (45F to 63F). Active in Cork Masters, and up to 200 local open water swims annually in Ireland keeps him fit. Ned swam the English Channel in 2005, Santa Barbara in 2006 and has been accepted for the 2007 28.5 mile swim around Manhattan Island.
