Page 8 - Kimberly Hunt and daughter

Woman of Distinction

I started swimming in the ocean regularly with the group. My next attempt at a Channel swim was the warm 10 mile
One day Bob asked in his big booming baritone voice, ‘So Maui Channel which is from Lanai to Maui. I was successful
Anne, when are you going to swim your first channel?’” Anne in this attempt and completed the swim in 4 hours. However,
was ready for the challenge, “That was what really kicked it Anne was determined not to give up on the Catalina Channel
off for me. I was going to do a channel swim, so I booked swim.
the Catalina Channel swim, which is where most of us chan-
nel swimmers cut our teeth.” Catalina is close to home so it For her second Catalina attempt the conditions were not
is cheaper to get too, the distance is about the same as the cooperative, and the waters were so rough that the officials
English channel, (21 miles from Catalina to Point Vincente debated letting Anne attempt the swim, but at that point she
on the mainland.) The England Channel swim is a 22 mile would have had to pay the escort boat the full fee so they
swim. The ocean temperature in Catalina is warmer than the decided to let her give it a try. She was seasick from the ride
English Channel swim. The water is usually in the high 60’s over to Catalina, but determined to succeed this time. After
to low 70’s. In the English Channel it is high 50’s to low 60’s. four hours of swimming in these conditions, Anne couldn’t
help but admit to herself that this was harder than she
The outcome of this first swim in September of 1999 was not thought it would be. It gave her a new respect for channel
great for Anne. She failed to follow the advice to put on a swimmers. She continued on valiantly wondering in her mind
few pounds before she attempted the swim. “I was too vain if she truly could pull this off. At the time not realizing that
to gain and I paid for it. The extra body fat helps insulate what she was swimming in was so much worse than normal
the body Channel condi-
against tions. As it
the cold; turned out she
without had a 10 hour
this barrier and 15 minute
against the swim, a great
cold the time for the
swim be- conditions in
comes im- which she was
8 possible.” swimming, but
We had most impor-
a la nina tantly she had
weather done it. She
pattern had mastered
that year a Channel
so the tem- swim. “I can
peratures still recall
were cold- reaching the
er, in the mainland and
low 60’s touching the
and by ground under
the end it the beautiful
was in the light house at
high 50’s, Point Vincen-
and Anne te.”
wasn’t
expecting water that cold. After about 6 hours in the water The Catalina Channel swim starts around midnight, because
and only 6 miles from the finish point, she passed out from the swimmers want to be done around ten o’clock in the
hypothermia. Luckily she woke up, feeling like she had just morning to avoid the wind chop. I couldn’t help but ask how
blinked, but suddenly she started swimming erratically and a swimmer can successfully swim in the dark, considering
was headed for the propeller of her escort boat. She felt like possible ocean friends and simply the inability to see in what
she had died and gone to hell, and hell was so very cold. direction you are headed. The answer seemed simple after
She tried valiantly to continue “I wasn’t about to quit…all Anne explained, “You have a boat that escorts you, we have
my friends were on the boat offering support, but no matter a larger boat and a kayak that works off of the escort boat.
how strong minded you are, you can’t beat hypothermia. In They keep you going in the right direction and look out for
my humiliation of defeat, I was passing through the galley of your safety. They also provide meal feeds of a warm carbo-
the support boat, on my way to the hot shower, when one of hydrate drink every 30 minutes to keep the swimmers alert
my friends anxiously inquired, ‘So, you are going to try this and strong to make it through the length of their swim.”
again? My response was a resounding ‘Hell No!.’ And I hid
in the hot shower for as long as I could get away with it.”
Issue 1, 2009