Englishman Completes Marathon Swim
from Santa Cruz Island to Leadbetter Beach

COLBY FRAZIER, NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER

September 8, 2006 7:15 AM

Paul Lewis celebrates with daughter Emma on Thursday, immediately after stepping off the boat
following a 13-hour, 16-minute solo swim across the Santa Barbara Channel. It was the first successful attempt in more than two decades. STEVE MALONE/NEWS-PRESS PHOTOS

Englishman Paul Lewis became the first person in more than two decades -- and the third person ever -- to successfully complete a solo swim across the Santa Barbara Channel when he stepped ashore north of Leadbetter Beach on Thursday.

Mr. Lewis, 45, began his journey at 1:20 a.m. Thursday, about an hour later than anticipated because of strong winds and rough water near Cueva Valdez on Santa Cruz Island.

"It was a little bit rough for the first seven hours, but after then it was really perfect conditions," Mr. Lewis said.

The 26-mile journey took at total of 13 hours, 16 minutes. Mr. Lewis' stroke rate was monitored throughout the swim and increased from 46 to an average of 50 as time went on.

On Wednesday, before leaving the Sailing Center in Santa Barbara, Mr. Lewis, who has swum many channels including the English Channel and North Channel, said the sense of accomplishment is what drives him to do marathon swimming.

"It's just one bad day out of your life, and you've got the rest of your life to enjoy the achievement," Mr. Lewis said.

Kayaker Rob Almy unloads his gear after guiding Paul Lewis through the
Santa Barbara Channel for more than 13 hours.

He said he decided to come to Santa Barbara after he trained for months to be the first to swim from England to the Isles of Scilly, but couldn't make an attempt due to bad weather.

Mr. Lewis said he swam the equivalent of 12 English Channels in the open water near his home outside of London, and spent about nine hours in the pool each week to train for the grueling swim.

In order to fight off the chilly 60-degree average water temperature here, Mr. Lewis said he gained 25 pounds, but added that he had lost up to 16 pounds during a previous swim.

He said one of his scariest moments in the water came the first time he attempted to swim the North Channel from Scotland to Ireland.

After being in the water for 141/2 hours, and only 100 meters from the finish, he lost consciousness and drifted beneath the boat.

He was unconscious for 15 minutes, and once at the hospital, he had a core body temperature of 28 degrees, which is on par with that of a corpse.

The first person to make a solo crossing of the Santa Barbara Channel was Cambria resident David Yudovin, who did so on Aug. 17, 1983, in 15 hours, 15 minutes.

However, Mr. Yudovin's course was different from Mr. Lewis', beginning on San Pedro Point and finishing somewhere between Ventura and Oxnard.

"It's an amazing accomplishment for Paul," Mr. Yudovin said. "It's one of the major human accomplishments in athletics history, and he just did it -- and tremendously well in very rough conditions."

The second person to make the crossing was Ashby Harper, on Aug. 18, 1984.

Marathon swimmers like Mr. Lewis prefer to get the toughest parts of the swim out of the way at night, before afternoon winds create slow, choppy water.

During his swim, Mr. Lewis had the accompaniment of a full moon -- as well as local kayaker Rob Almy, who remained six to 10 feet away to keep him on course.

Emilio Casanueva, founder of the Santa Barbara Channel Swimming Association, helped Mr. Lewis coordinate the event, and said he would like to see the Santa Barbara Channel become a more common destination for marathon swimmers. "This guy's English and there's a lot of people that swim the English Channel, so those people are going to say, 'Hey, there's something in America.' "