Scott Zornig, President of theSanta Barbara Channel Swimming Association issued a new challenge to the open water community last week called the “Southern California Eight”. The eight islands, which comprise the southern California “Channel Islands”, are not as well-known outside of Santa Catalina island (Catalina Channel starting point) yet offer a fantastic opportunity to swim in the beautiful southern California waters! The islands vary in distance from mainland California, including two (San Clemente & San Nicolas) which have never been “solo’d” from to date – both San Clemente & San Nicolas would be extreme swims, as they are 54.4 and 69.3-miles in distance from California! David Yudovin andPenny Palfrey are the only two swimmers in the world who have completed three of the eight islands, and only 17 people have completed two of the island swims. Scott is claiming that it might be 40-50 years in the making before we see all eight completed. When asked about the 40+ year timeline, Scott replied:
“As for the 40-50 years, many local marathon swimmers believe it will be that long before the one “Michael Jordan” comes along that is able to do this. Remember, this series includes 55.4-mile San Clemente, and 69.3-mile San Nicolas. These are both virgin islands. The longest non-stop marathon swim in history was Penny Palfrey’s Cayman Island swim last summer which was 68-miles in warmer, flat water. It is going to take a super human effort by a super human to do this series.”
So Cal native, both-way Catalina Channel swimmer and Sport Psychology consultantJen Schumacher said this of the challenge:
“I was so excited to hear that announcement! It was something I’d thought about a lot, since I’m local here and would love to eventually do all of the channel islands. I’ve kind of had that in the back of my mind as something I may like to eventually do over the course of my swimming life. And since the Island of the Blue Dolphins was my all-time favorite novel growing up as a kid, I feel compelled to do a swim involving San Nicholas in one way or another at some point!”
Check out the January-February 2012 edition of SWIMMER magazine for a double-page article on Jen, her accomplishments in the open water and her advice for those who desire to challenge themselves in the open water!