Jaimie Monahan became the 64th person to complete the Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming when she completed the Catalina Channel in 13 hours 28 minutes from Catalina Island to the California mainland.
The active open water swimmer (Swim Around the Rock, SwimArt Bay Bridge to Golden Gate, Alcatraz Swims, most of the NYC Swims, English Channel, Swim Around the Rock, Swim Around Key West, Turkish Hellespont, Manhattan Island Marathon Swim, Rose Pitonov Centennial Swim, 8 Bridges Stage 1, Strait of Gibraltar, UrbanSwim’s Inaugural Verrazano Bridge Swim, Rose Pitonov Swim, and Catalina Channel) is ranked 16th on the Oceans Seven list and talks with the Daily News of Open Water Swimming about her career:
Q1. What prompted or motivated you to swim the Catalina Channel?
A1. It sounded like a beautiful and historic open water swim, which are my top two criteria for choosing swims. Southern California is really beautiful, and I love the colors of the water there. Also, having done thee Manhattan Island Marathon Swim and the English Channel a few years ago, I didn’t want to leave the Triple Crown incomplete.
Q2. How was your swim: tough, fun, memorable, painful?
A2. The swim was great under perfect conditions with a wonderful crew including terrific kayakers and observers. The Outrider crew took great care of everyone. I had the great fortune to have the amazing Tina Neill and “FreshwaterSwimmer” Evan Morrison as my observers. My kayakers, Adam Moine and Monica Bender were two awesome young swimmers who both did Catalina earlier this year and did a great job guiding me along with the Outrider team on the main boat.
Q3. Did you run into any problems?
A3. No problems, just jellyfish. I don’t typically see much wildlife on my swims so it was a bit of a surprise to see a flock of sunfish below me at one point and have fish jumping at my feet and legs starting out in the dark. I also got to listen to dolphins during part of my swim which was very cool.
Q4. How did you feel when you walked onshore?
A4. It felt great. I had been seeing the shore for a few hours so I was very ready to be done. It was great to have my partner Arik Thormahlen swim in with me to celebrate the finish after crewing for me through the night and day. He is a continuous source of support for me before and during all my swims so it was great to share the thrill of coming up on shore with him. Back on the boat, he had hung a Congratulations banner for me and hidden three fun party crowns to celebrate finishing the Triple Crown.
It was so much fun.
Copyright © 2012 by Open Water Source