Caroline Block, PhD mind started to wander.
She was in a beautiful body of water: Lake Memphremagog in northern Vermont.
She was making good headway in the 40 km cross-border crossing between Newport, Vermont, USA and Magog, Québec, Canada.
The 40-year-old from Alexandria, Virginia was surrounded by good friends on her two escort boats: captains Phil White, Gary Coburn, and Robert Roberge, together with feeders Janine Serell and Shelly Roberge, and support crew members Vera Rivard, Margaret Rivard, Cynthia Needham, Benjamin Bryant, and Kathleene Marcil.
But, the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame Honor Swimmer got bored with her feeding routine and let Serell prepare different feeds to her surprise, according to Captain White of the Northeast Kingdom Open Water Swimming Association.
Initially during the first part of her crossing, Dr. Block enjoyed Infinit with flavors chocolate and grape with hot chocolate; flat Coca-Cola, root beer, and blue Gatorade mixed in with calories including maple syrup. But different solids – maple brown sugar oatmeal, Goldfish snacks, Oreos, cheese and crackers, pretzels, and peanuts came out in force during the last third of the crossing.
17 hours 23 minutes after starting on the American side of Lake Memphremagog at 12:03 am on June 17th, she walked onshore at Parc de la Baie-de-Magog in the province of Québec in Canada later that evening at 5:26 pm.
Captain White recalls the details of the swim, “Caroline swam steady throughout the swim. Her stroke speed was a generally around 46 strokes per minute throughout. Her speed was about 1.5 mph throughout with a little bump when the tail wind picked up. The swimming community sent Caroline messages throughout the swim, which were conveyed to Caroline via a white board.
Caroline’s swim was conducted in full compliance with traditional channel crossing rules as published by Marathon Swimmers Federation and has been ratified by the Northeast Kingdom Open Water Swimming Association on June 18th.
Caroline’s swim was the earliest crossing the length of Lake Memphremagog in history – the water temperature varied between 65° to 67°F.
A tail wind picked up between Ile Ronde and Lord’s Island, as if Memphre was giving Caroline a gentle push.
The swim completed the training for a growing group of Memphre escort boat pilots: Gary Coburn, Robert Roberge, Benjamin Bryant, Kathleene Marcil, and Cynthia Needham. Vera Rivard and Margaret Rivard joined the ranks last year. Rob Andersen has served as a Memphre escort boat pilot for many years. They will be available as pilots and co-pilots for the 14 more Memphre Swims scheduled this summer. The expanded corps of Memphre Boat Pilots is made possible by a VOREC grant obtained by Newport City Downtown Development Corporation.“
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