Courtesy of WOWSA, Huntington Beach, California.

Dr. Steve Minaglia from Honolulu, Hawaii was heading to Puerto Rico on another medical business trip and had a plan to gain back his mojo.

Since he just flew from Hawaii to Puerto Rico in order to teach a surgery course at the local medical school, he is planning a swim from Isla Culebra to the mainland Puerto Rico this weekend.

When he was investigating possible swims in the area, he stumbled across Matthew Moseley‘s 38 km Cruce y Nado por los Arrecifes de Coral swim from Culebra to Fajardo in 2015 in 12 hours 1 minute.

Dr. Minaglia needed a win. “It has been a long road to recovery. I had torn some tendons in a fall and had so much pain during the Tsugaru Channel [attempt in Japan that] I had to quit after 2 hours. Previously in March 2015, I swam the first 10 km in a fast 2 hours 19 minutes across the Cook Strait [in New Zealand], but I succumbed to hypothermia at 5 hours 20 minutes with less than 7 km to go. S.C.A.R. [in Arizona] did go well, but again I experienced hypothermia on Day 3 around 6 hours.”

Living in Hawaii is brutal on a channel swimmer challenging himself in cold water. “I think warm water is the way to go unless I move from Hawaii.”

With his confidence lagging, the good doctor was looking for a success. “Last week I swam five 12 km [training] swims within 8 days with and without current – all under 3 hours 30 minutes, so I feel I am ready for PR if time allows.”

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