Chris Cook Crosses Catalina – All For One, One For All

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Tim Denyer traveled with three Red Top Performance swimmers (@redtopperformance) to Southern California for their Catalina Channel crossings.

All crossings by the trio (Dr. Tessa Garside, Will Smith, and Chris Cook) were ultimately different and became successful under three different conditions and situations, all during the same week.

Earlier this week Dr. Garside faced finishing as the Catalina Channel kept mysteriously shrouded in heavy fog and decreasing water temperatures.

Next up was Smith who battled a strong eastward current that pushed him well off the beaten path of Catalina Channel swimmers.

This morning, former sprint specialist showed he has effectively transformed from a drop-dead sprinter to an endurance athlete in extreme conditions by finishing the Catalina Channel in 11 hours 9 minutes.

They all supported each other and appreciated what the others had to face.

Coach Denyer explained, “Chris really suffered with nausea due to some choppy seas in the dark [as the Catalina Channel crossings start well before midnight]. A weirdly strong 10-knot wind from the east, pushing into the swells, caused some larger conditions than predicted for Chris. Fortunately, the currents were not as strong as on Will’s crossing, but they were still unhelpful coming from the Northwest.

It was an interesting week out here in Southern California in the Catalina Channel, all the Red Top swimmers experienced three completely different conditions. The current strength, wind speed, wind direction, etc. No swim conditions help completely tru to the forecast.”

Expect the unexpected is an old adage in the sport of open water swimming. The certainty of the uncertainty principle also held true for the trio as did Murphy’s Law and Yhprum’s Law that took control of the Catalina Channel crossings this week

Cook, Smith and Dr. Garside were all escorted by captain Dave Harvey and coached by Tim Denyer.

For information about Dr. Garside’s crossing, visit here [see photo below on riht]. For information about Smith’s crossing, visit here [see photo below on left]. For information about the Red Top Performance athletes, visit here.