Courtesy of Phil White.

Phil White reported on the 2025 season of In Search of Memphre where 13 swimmers and 1 relay completed the 40 km cross-border swim between the U.S. state of Vermont and the Canadian province of Quebec.

He reported, “They swam in 10 separate three-day windows throughout the season, escorted by three pontoon boats, and piloted by a robust corps of trained, experienced and enthusiastic boat pilots, who know this lake by day and by night, in fair weather and foul, like the back of their hands.

Great good spirit was present from June to September and throughout each window. The activities included:

• initial pre-swim dinners, generally hosted by Darcie DeBlois Rivard
• the crossing where tracking services are provided by Kingdom Games in conjunction with Evan Morrison, allowing the community to follow each Search from start to finish
• post-swim celebrations
• nameplate signing and tacking on The Clubhous wall [shown below]
• breakfast at The Brown Cow
• ceiling signing at Jasper’s Tavern [shown below]

We couldn’t be happier to welcome them all to the waters of Mighty Memphremagog.

June 9th, Window 1 and June 16th, Window 2

Four swimmers gathered. They swam. They Searched, finding cold water comfort in the belly of the beast of early June waters of Lake Memphremagog.

Caroline Block (41, USA, MSF bio here) was first, completing the crossing in 17 hours 23 minutes on June 17th under the guidance of escort pilots Gary Coburn, Doug Johnson, Kit Kinne, and Bill Brown. Her crew for the crossing were Susan Knight, Carol Wortman, and Anita Hartsock.  A second support boat, Lucky was piloted by Phil White and Kathleene Marcil.

After six minutes on the shore, Block returned to the water to attempt a double crossing. But her speed slowed and the head winds picked up, as night fell. She pulled herself at 9:56 pm for an elapsed time on her return of 4 hours 21 minutes. Her record-breaking single crossing should not, in any way, be tarnished by a DNF attached to her attempt of a double crossing.

She set a new record for the earliest and coldest single crossing. Starting at 12:01 am from Newport City Dock she cleared the water at the beach in Magog, Quebec, at 5:28 pm while water temperatures ran between 62°F and 64°F, occasionally rising to 66°F. Wind speed generally ranged from 5 to 8 mph with gusts of 10 mph and lulls of variable speeds. Air temperature fell to the mid 50°F’s at night, rising to the mid 60°F’s during the day. Skies were overcast most of the crossing, with occasional light showers.

This water was fresh and cold and presented an extraordinary challenge to even the best open water swimmers in the world. Block and the other three June swimmers have opened the way for colder water crossings in June and possibly even in May.

On June 16th, three other Swimmer Scouts completed In Search of Memphre. All three had completed the Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming with the Triple Crown of Lake Monster Swims in their sights. Miranda Wingfield (29, USA, MSF bio here) started from Newport, Vermont at 12:21 am and exited the water on to the beach in Magog at 12:58 pm for an elapsed time of 12 hours 37 minutes piloted by Phil White, Kathleene Marcil and Ben Bryant with support crew member Edward Wingfield. Carol Wortman (58, USA, MSF bio here, shown above) started from Newport at 12:11 am and cleared the water in Magog at 3:13 pm for an elapsed time of 15 hours 2 minutes, piloted by Kit Kinne and Margaret Rivard with crew members Carol-Lynn Swol and Diana Corbi. Anita Hartsock (51, USA, MSF bio here) started from Newport at 12:01 am and exited the water in Magog at 5:57 pm for an elapsed time of 17 hours 56 minutes, piloted by Gary Coburn and Doug Johnson with crew members Susan McKay and Emily McGee. Water temperatures generally ran between 63°F and 65°F, dropping to 60°F at night under Owls Head where the lake gets close to 400 feet deep. Winds ran at 4 to 8 mph most of the way. Nighttime temperatures dropped to the upper 50°F’s at night rising to the mid 70°F’s during the day.

June 25th 2025, Window 3 Thomas Heyerdahl (62, Canada, MSF bio here) of Ottawa, ON was on antibiotics and pulled himself just short of Georgeville after facing some moderate headwinds most of the way on June 25th. This was the longest time in the water and his longest nighttime swim of his career, piloted by Gary Coburn and Margaret Rivard with crew members Nadine Bennett and  Sarah Dobbin.

July 8th 2025, Window 4 Two solo Swimmer Scouts, Polly Madding (45, USA, MSF bio here, shown above) and Lisa Yamamoto (32, USA, MSF bio here), and the Mighty Mermaids relay set off on Window 4 on July 8th. Yamamoto was the first to enter the water at Newport City Docks and Boat Ramp at 4:00 am, clearing the water at Magog Bay Park at 6:51 pm for an elapsed time of 14 hours 51 minutes, piloted by Kit Kinne and Rob Andersen with support crew member  Ryan DeWane. This was the longest swim of her life.  Madding entered the water in Newport at 4:10 am and exited in Magog at 9:55 pm for an elapsed time of 17 hours 45 minutes, piloted by Phil White and Margaret Rivard, and crewed by Laurie Craigen and Carol Pearl. Madding has grown as a swimmer here in the lakes of the Northeast Kingdom.  In 2024, she completed the Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming with a gnarly crossing of the English Channel.  The Mighty Mermaids [shown below] – that have been doing annual relay swims for the past 17 years – included 68-year-old Tracy Best Grilli, 71-year-old Christie Ciraulo, 71-year-old Nancy Martin, 71-year-old Karen Einsidler, 69-year-old Veronica Hibben, and 47-year-old Elaine Kornbau Howley, piloted by Gary Coburn and Douglas Johnson with support crew member David Grilli started in Newport at 4:20 am and cleared the water in Magog at 6:34 pm for an elapsed time of 14 hours 14 minutes.  Water temperature ranged from 68°F to 72°F while the air temperature dropped to 64°F during the night and rose to 69°F during the day and into the lower 70°F/s in the late afternoon and evening. At the beginning of the swim, winds ran between 2 and 6 mph, but. shortly before 5 pm, shifted to a southerly tail wind of about 4 mph. Skies were overcast for most of the crossing, but cleared to a cloudless, sunny sky shortly before 5 pm. The evening warmed, the winds died altogether, and the moon was two days past full, making for one of the most stunningly beautiful returns to Newport, ever. Memphre smiled brightly for us.

July 15th 2025, Window 5 On July 15th, Amanda Smith Dakowicz (39, USA) and Erica Mertz (41, USA, MSF bio here) are both Border Buster veterans, but the In Search of Memphre was their longest swims of their careers. Dakowicz entered the water at Newport City Docks and Boat Ramp at 12:01 am and cleared the water at Magog Bay Park at 2:08 pm for an elapsed time of 14 hours 7 minutes, piloted by Kit Kinne and  Bill Brown and crewed by husband Gabe Dakowicz and sister Stephanie Smith. Mertz entered the water in Newport at 12:11 am and exited in Magog at 1:20 pm for an elapsed time of 13 hours 9 minutes, piloted by Phil White and Kathleene Marcil and crewed by Peter Mertz. The water temperature was 72°F while the wind speed varied from 4 mph to calm and then about 6 mph as Memphre was giving a gentle push to finish the swim. Air temperature varied from mid-60°F’s during the night to 80°F mid-day.

August 12th 2025, Window 6 On August 12th, Tracy Knight (53, USA, MSF bio here) completed an impressive Search for Memphre. She entered the water at Newport City Dock and Boat Ramp at 12:11 am and exited at Magog Bay Park at 1:38 pm for an elapsed time of 13 hours 27 minutes. Water temperature varied from the mid-70°F’s during the night to 80°F during the afternoon. Air temperature reached a high of 90°F when she enjoyed a slight tail wind through most of the swim of 2 to 4 mph. She was piloted by Vera Rivard and Phil White, crewed with Stephen Rouch and Janine Serell with support from Darcie DeBlois-Rivard, Kathleene Marcil,  Margaret Rivard,  Geneve Channell, and Peter Channell. Eric Schall (64, USA, MSF bio here) had been suffering from a parasitic infection since a swim in July. He pulled himself after 6 miles when he lost his energy and could not maintain his pace.

August 19th 2025, Window 7 On August 18th, Anke Höhne (54, Germany, shown above) entered the water at the Newport City Docks and Boat Ramp at 12:01 am and exited on the beach at Magog Bay Park at 6:45 pm for an elapsed time of 18 hours 44 minutes, piloted by Gary Coburn and Douglas Johnson with Peter Wortelker and Eri Utsunomiya as support crew members. Fellow Triple Crowner, Heather Roka (39, USA, MSF bio here), entered the water in Newport at 12:21 am and exited in Magog at 1:19 pm for an elapsed time of 12 hours 58 minutes, piloted by Vera Rivard and Phil White with support by her mother Cynthia Roka. Water temperature dropped to about 71°F with the air temperature dropping to 45°F at night.  There was a light tail wind most of the way. After two weeks of heat wave, water was losing heat. In the morning, mist spirals appeared reflecting this loss. Skies were clear for a while, with a wonderful crescent moon, becoming overcast during the night, with a brilliant sunrise. Morning was overcast, but cleared during the afternoon.  Also swimming was Jeffrey Breen (57, USA, MSF bio here) who swam 16 miles before he pulled himself. He was piloted by Kit Kinne and Margaret Rivard and crewed by Karina Palmorino. His swim past Georgeville was his longest time in the water and his longest night swim.

August 27-28th 2025, Window 8 Shannon House Keegan (50, USA, MSF bio here) undertook a double crossing, but unrelenting headwinds that rose from 4 mph to 13 mph forced her to pull herself after completing 35 miles [she talks about her attempt in an upcoming episode here]. She entered the water at 3 pm on August 27th at the Newport City Docks and Boat Ramp, swam through the night, and landed at Magog Bay Park at 6:57 am on August 28th for an elapsed single crossing time of 15 hours 57 minutes. After 3 minutes on the beach, she re-entered the water at 7:00 am and swam approximately 10 more miles before pulling herself at 5:01 pm swimming the last 10 miles at a rate of approximately 1 mph. Total time in the water was 26 hours 1 minute where she was piloted by Gary Coburn, Kit Kinne, and Vera Rivard, and crew were Nadine Bennett, Janine Serell, and Justine Beauchesne as well as ground support provided by Phil White, Kathleene Marcil, and Darcie Rivard. Shannon’s first competitive open water swim was a 1-mile wetsuit swim at the 2009 Kingdom Swim. She worked the Kingdom Swim Ladder, swam the length of Lake Memphremagog in 2019. She has since completed the length of Lake Tahoe and Loch Ness to complete the Triple Crown of Lake Monster Swims.

September 1st-2nd 2025, Window 9 On the evening of September 1st, at 7 pm Paula Yankauskas (70, USA, MSF bio here), began her attempt to double cross Lake Memphremagog. In Search of Memphre, she entered the water from Magog Bay Park, planning to swim through the night while she was still fresh. She had a slight tail wind at the start with water temperatures in the mid 60°F’s with night time temperatures falling into the mid 40°F’s. She expected to swim slowly, piloted by Kit Kinne between 18 to 20 hours for the first crossing. and she was meeting or exceeding her expectations, but after about 18 miles, she began to experience shortness of breath. She could breath, but not deeply. At the 20-mile mark, just as she got to the US Border she pulled herself.

© 2025 Daily News of Open Water Swimming

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