Rosemary George Talks Open Water Swimming History On WOWSA Live

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Rosemary George was not only an active open water swimmer in the 1950s and 1960s, but she was also an eyewitness and enabler of historic English Channel swims.

The 81-year-old International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame Honor Swimmer from Dover covered a number of wide-ranging topics during today’s WOWSA Live interview with Ned Denison.

Known as the Queen on the Serpentine grew up in Dover, she recalled a number of topics:

* swimming with Ted Erikson at The Point in Chicago’s Lake Michigan
* giving tea and helping Abou-Heif across the English Channel in 1955
* remembering her 1960 attempt of the English Channel when only 400 yards from shore, she lost sight of her escort boat and was later found 9 miles away
* being inspired by the Egyptians including Abou-Heif and Nabil ElShazly in Dover
* meeting wonderful people in Maratona del Golfo Capri-Napoli and Suez Canal
* looking at Mount Vesuvius throughout her swim from Capri to Napoli
* coaching Jon Erikson on his first English Channel crossing, on his record-setting two-way crossing with Captain Hutchinson when they barely missed a tanker by 3 minutes in a close call, and during his record-setting three-way crossing
* coaching Father Robert Manning, the Catholic priest, and Michael Read on their English Channel swims
* getting around London in a Vespa and Honda 90 and marveling at the contemporary growth of open water swimming

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