Today is the 87th anniversary of the first successful crossing by a woman of the Catalina Channel.

On February 5th 1927, Myrtle Huddleston swam the Catalina Channel in 20 hours 42 minutes about 3 weeks after lasting 7 hours in her first attempt during the Wrigley Ocean Marathon in January 15th 1927 and less than a year after taking up swimming.

She was a remarkable woman with indescribable stamina. In 1928 in Florida, she swam for 31 hours 18 minutes and followed that up with a 60 hour 2 minute pool swim in New York and a 22 hour 53 minute sojourn across Lake Tahoe in 1931 for which she earned US$700. Her swim across Lake Tahoe was so impressive it took after 21 years for the swim to be replicated.

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