CATALINA CHANNEL SWIM
Catalina Channel crossed! Swimming for 8 hours in the darkness, feeling all the ocean creatures on my body without knowing what was going on below me, was a different massive challenge for me. On top dealing in the darkness with my dark thoughts was the biggest challenge. Everything is mindset, and we can transform our thoughts to create magic out of our comfort zone💫
Some facts about Catalina Channel:
Also known as the San Pedro Channel, is a 32.5km swim between Santa Catalina Island and Southern California, USA. It is part of the Oceans Seven and Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming challenges. It is one of the World's Top 100 Open Water Swims and one of the World's Top 100 Island Swims.
This swim has 6 challenges:
1. The distance: 32.5 kilometers, but because of the currents, the distance can become longer.
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2. The currents: the unpredictable currents are a big obstacle, and swimmers can keep swimming without making big progress because of them. Swimmers can be slowed down to the point that they need to endure in the water 50% longer than the estimated time for swimming.
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3. Temperature: It fluctuates tremendously and usually changes from one day to another. The surface temperature also changes throughout the day. Another factor is that in the kilometers nearer to the California mainland, the temperature drops dramatically, as much as 5 degrees.
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4. Midnight start: It is necessary to start at midnight to avoid the afternoon winds. A great part of the swim will be in total darkness.
5. Nausea: the swim starts from the island, so to arrive at it, the swimmers have to go first through a two-hour boat ride and would have to confront the possibility of sea sickness.
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6. Sharks: this is probably the most daring of the challenges. The swimmers have to swim through sharks. They can use a shark protector magnet that sends a frequency that sharks tend to avoid.
