My Two Sons. The Sutton’s Ongoing Ocean Adventures

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Tyler Sutton, an 18-year-old high school student from Southern California, is carrying on the traditions of his father Steve and older brother Ryland in the oceans, seas, and lakes of the world.

Father Steve has completed the Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming and a number of swims from the SCAR Swim to the Palos Verdes Peninsula Swim (one of only two people to complete this swim). He also serves as an escort kayaker, Catalina Channel Swimming Federation observer, and support crew member to many – including those who he meets during his travels to Dover and the Cork Distance Week in Ireland.

Brother Ryland has long been an escort kayaker for his father and other marathon swimmers, and has participated in an English Channel relay with his father, Andy Thomas, Neil Chambers, Steve Whitmore, and his father.

This week, it was Tyler’s time to shine.

“I swam the English Channel in support The Alexa Trust, which helps parents of premature babies stay close to their children while the babies are in the hospital. As a former premature baby like my brother, I’m continuing our family’s tradition of giving back,” announced on his Alexa Trust page (see here).

And giving back is what all three Sutton’s do. They all serve as observers and kayakers for their closest channels near their home: for the Catalina Channel Swimming Federation and the Santa Barbara Channel Swimming Association. Their home is a testament to their passion for adventure, channel crossings, and marathon swimming.

Swimsuits, caps, goggles, kayaks, lanolin jars, edible goodies of all types, gloves, fins, kickboards, KAATSU equipment, Vasa Swim Erg, yoga mats, backpacks, drink mixes, glow sticks, chemical lights, hypothermia blankets, inspirational books…you name it, they have it. Talk about tides and tidal charts, currents and waves, bodysurfing and swimming at night, The Sutton’s are prepared. And if a swim is new or an open body of water is yet to be attempted, they will study it and consider it.

In preparation for his 13 hour 15 minute English Channel crossing on August 14th, Tyler participated in the Cork Distance Week and completed his first channel swim from Anacapa Island to the California mainland. He used escort pilot Andy King – who had also guided the Sutton’s 14 hour 35 minute English Channel relay crossing in 2021 and father Steve’s solo 12 hour 9 minute English Channel crossing in 2022.

With his father on his boat with Tyler, his brother Ryland was holding down the fort at home – getting ready for his junior college year.

Steve recalls the catalyst for Tyler’s crossings, “During the COVID lockdown, Tyler, Ryland, and I were talking about life and goals and project management. Each of us picked a big goal. Tyler picked crossing Anacapa in California. He made a plan and executed it. Then, while he was swimming back to boat after swimming from the island to Oxnard on the mainland, he said, “I want to swim the English Channel. I told him to make a plan and execute it.

And The Alexa Trust people were great. They took photos of us, met us at the boat at 2:45 am before Tyler’s attempt, and greeted us at the end. They took care of any issues that came up.”

Tyler talked about his crossing, “…when I did the Anacapa Channel, I ran up the beach and did some push-ups. This time, when I was swimming towards France, I was thinking about doing the same – running up the beach and doing push-ups. But towards the end, we were not quite sure where we would land. There was a rocky coast. As I came closer to shore and swam in, I paused and looked for a good spot. I let a wave push me up on the rocks, and stood up. But as soon as I hit the rock, my arms themselves turned to rock … so I did jumping jack instead.

I felt solid all the way through across the Channel. I went out at a nice pace on the first half, but I paid close attention when I was told to, picking up the pace as necessary. Overall, it was pretty good. It was a lot calmer on the day that I swam, compared to the other days. I started swimming the Channel on the left side of the boat, but when the whitecaps, then I switched to the right side of the boat.

All my training prepared me very well for the Channel. My last 10-hour 16-mile training swim helped me mentally the most. On that swim, I wasn’t really tracking the time. I was in the moment and got into the rhythm, which made time go by quickly. In the English Channel, time seemed to go from hour 3 to hour 9 and then I was I was on the boat returning to England. It was fast, I was in the moment.

My feeds every 30 minutes went smoothly, My father is a good feeder and I used the Andy Donaldson style; he would throw me out the bottle, and I would role over on my back to feed, and then start swimming again.

We started at 3:54 am and I swam in the dark. It was pitch black in the beginning, but with every feed it got lighter.

I did not get any stings, but there were some massive jellyfish with huge tentacles, about as big as me. Swimming into the French coast, I also saw hundreds of jellyfish that greeted me, but I avoided getting stung.

My summer travels? I went to Ireland and England and did some swimming.”

And that he did.

Below are photos of Tyler on his first channel crossing in California: