Mark Sowerby made the most of his time in Southern California before and after crossing the Catalina Channel in 10 hours 43 minutes in October 2022.
The 52-year-old Aussie said afterwards, “It’s been a wonderful experience in Southern California. We met some great people and happily managed to get the swim done which is never a given. There really is nowhere to hide out there when things don’t go according to plan and it was somewhat rewarding to still find a way to the finish line.”
On a day and night when the winds died down, Sowerby faced relatively tranquil conditions from start to finish, but he did get “bumped” by something an hour half in. He surmised, “It was probably a dolphin they tell me.”
The personable Australian swam to a finish at Smugglers/Sacred Cove, observed by Steve Chase and Bob Needham and coached by Tim Denyer of Red Top Swim [shown below].
Coach Denyer also accompanied Sowerby to crossing both the 35 km North Channel (in 12 hours 12 minutes) and also to his most recent crossing of the 23 km Cook Strait with Joanne Norman (in 8 hours 3 minutes) on January 31st. “The strait took a lot out of me – it was colder than expected: 12-13°C to start off and didn’t get above 15°C.”
Sowerby now has completed six of the seven Oceans Seven channels – and he is one last crossing of the Tsugaru Channel in northern California with escort pilot Yoshimi Kawayama.
Six down. One to go.
Photo of Sowerby in the North Channel by Sebastian Lang.
© 2024 Daily News of Open Water Swimming
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