Courtesy of WOWSA, Huntington Beach, California.
“Oh, the water is like a bath here,” was Julieanne Goode‘s first impression when she arrived in Los Angeles from her native Australia. After training diligently in 10-12°C water for her Catalina Channel crossing back home, the water in the Pacific Ocean along the California coast felt so warm.
Goode cruised to a 10 hour 49 minute crossing and seemed to enjoy the entire experience.
“Here is another swim ticked off the list. Mother Nature definitely looked after us today so my time was a bit quicker than I expected.
Without the awesome crew on the Outrider, none of this would have come off so massive thanks to the Captain John Pittman and his crew, as well as kayaker John Steed and observers from the Catalina Channel Swim Federation Jax Cole and Linda Bamford. Massive thanks also to all the people I’ve met over the past few days including Tower 26 head coach Gerry Rodrigues, Eddie, Erick, Lizzie and Selwyn, Rebecca, Kirsty Spraggon, Peter and Filomena Peyton, Mary, Andrew, Wayne and coach Shelley Taylor-Smith. They rock and I would not have got through it without you. A special mention also goes to Kevin Cassidy who was our welcoming party when we returned to the dock.”
But she also acknowledged the effort that went into her first step of her Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming journey. “I am tired, sore and ready to go back to sleep.”
Photos courtesy of Shelley Taylor-Smith.
Copyright © 2016 by World Open Water Swimming Association