Courtesy of WOWSA, Huntington Beach, California.
Matthew Moseley set off to a 76.4 km (50-mile) 3-day swim between four islands in the Caribbean Sea called the Swim Across The Caribbean.
His first leg, a 4-mile swim from St. John to St. Thomas was trouble-free as he finished in 2 hours 16 minutes feeding on electrolytes, gel, water, Bobo bars, and scrambled eggs.
But his second leg from St. Thomas was anything but.
After reaching St. Thomas, Moseley and his team would start the second leg to Vieques in less than 10 hours in order to avoid a beating from the equatorial sun.
Starting before dawn, Moseley and his escort kayaker Mark Williams faced 20 mph winds that kept the two dangerously separated in the dark. Williams sent an ominous warning to coach Randy Soler on his escort boat with a support crew of 12, “The swells are really big out here, so if I capsize, you guys need to be closer.”
But with the swells and turbulence, captain Michael Feduccia was hesitant to bring the catamaran too close to Moseley and Williams. 7.6 miles in 7 hours simply was not a reasonable pace for success as this would mean that the second leg would take him over 24 hours. “He should be covering at least two miles in an hour,” Soler said in order to reach Vieques as planned.
Soler, Feduccia and crew discussed the possible options. Isla Culebra was a possibility 13 miles away as their Plan B. During this contingency planning, the conditions had slowed Moseley to 500 meters per hour. They came to the conclusion that it was better to end a swim on any island than to quit the unprecedented sea swim.
But objections continued. “The plan was always to go to Vieques. Those three hours of sleep some crew wanted cost us cleaner water,” said Soler. Charlie Moseley said of his father, “Dad is going to be pissed if we show up on an island other than Vieques.”
Isla Culebra was the ultimate destination under the inhospitable conditions and currents.
However, even that island became impossible to reach. Plan C was decided upon as Moseley and team headed to Isla Culebrita instead. After 15 hours 12 minutes across 24.5 miles, a sunburned Moseley walked upon the deserted sands of Isla Culebrita.
Tropical Storm Don was heading in their direction as the team spent a restless night on Culebrita.
When they woke, swells upwards of nine feet led to a decision to cancel the final leg. But Moseley still forged a new swim from the U.S. Virgin Islands to Puerto Rico. “I did it because I love the water and to bring awareness to plastics in the ocean,” recalled the 50-year-old swimmer from Colorado. “To paraphrase The Rolling Stones, ‘You can’t always get what you want, but sometimes you get what you need.'”
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