This was the first time I have actually gone on the boat to support a channel swimmer. (I'm going again next month for Lynn Kubasek's swim =) This experience solidified my goal to swim from Catalina Island to the California coast. check it out!
Paul Lundgren swims across the Catalina Channel
Distance: 19 miles, Time: 10:19:48
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqFNttVYUds
"The most common question I hear in the final weeks leading to this night, mostly from myself, is, ‘Why?’ Why would I want to swim nineteen miles across an ocean channel at night? I think the process of taking on something new, unknown and of great risk creates a path to a closer understanding of one’s true self. I don’t think of the Channel as a physical risk, but rather as the goal itself, and the sacrifice to achieve the goal is a risk. To make this swim, at this stage in my life, and to invest the time and energy would be at a great cost. To fail would be devastating. The process of approaching a goal with the self-imposed weight of its importance is revealing. As a coach I have witnessed it hundreds of times. When the big event grows near the weight of the risks sheds the multiple layers of protective skin around one’s trueself. Eventually the moment comes and nothing is left but the truth. Athletes either learn to explore the truth or mentally break down. I was hoping to explore the depths of my mind through extreme circumstances."
-Paul Lundgren
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