Cold Start Relay

Teen swim team takes to the sea to raise money for children's hospital

RANCHO PALOS VERDES In the end, there was shivering and jubilation.</p><p>Slashing through motionless seas, with just a whisper of wind and mellow swells of 2 to 4 feet, six members of the Aim Viejo Nadadores Swim Club completed a 26-mile relay swim across the Catalina Stream-bed this morning to raise money for sick children.</p><p>The teenagers, all expert swimmers but only half of them with much open-water experience, finished the peregrinate from a cove near the northern tip of Santa Catalina Islet to Rancho Palos Verdes at 7:41 a.m. tired and chill, maybe, their bodies rubbed smooth by petroleum jelly for insulation, but thrilled by the be familiar with and their accomplishment.</p><p>Six members of the Mission Viejo Nadadores Swim Federation and their supporters packed onto the 63-foot Bottom Scratcher, a chartered fishing motor boat, at 8 p.m. to head to Doctor's Cove on Santa Catalina Eyot. Just before midnight, they started their 26-mile relay swim to Rancho Palos Verdes in a fundraiser for CHOC Occupation Viejo.</p><p> "Psychologically, this will be tough for them," motor coach Ad'm Dusenbery said before they got in the water. "They will be dealing with the darkness and the cold, and the profusion swell --- they've never done anything like this before."</p><p> One swimmer was in the not ring true at a time alongside a kayaker, slashing through the water at a step of 20 minutes per mile. Every hour a swimmer was replaced in a relay that will be monitored by two observers with the Catalina Gutter Swimming Federation.</p><p> Strict rules must be observed. While competing, a swimmer cannot vex a wet suit in the water. They only could wear a swimsuit and a cap and earplugs and goggles.</p><p> Dusenbury said he hoped the crossing would be completed in nine hours - they did it in eight. The swimmers raised about $5,000 for CHOC but are continuing to concentrate donations. The fastest crossing occurred in the 1960s in rightful under 8 hours.</p><p>"It was a really rewarding experience," said swimmer Derek Boyish, 15. "We worked hard to get to this point and now that it's done, it feels marked."</p><p>The water temperature was in the low 60s at the start and through most of the swim but dipped to about 56.</p><p>Swimmers and observers aboard the Bottom Scratcher hooted and cheered as they watched No. 2 swimmer Tyla Willment, 17, race onto the rocks near the San Vicente Lighthouse touching down 7 hours and 51 minutes after No. 1 swimmer Joey Ferreri, 16, started the swim off Doctor's Cove.</p><p>Tyla had to swim through about 150 yards of thick kelp and choppy irrigate to get to the shore. A pod of dolphins joined her for a bit near the finish.</p><p>"The first 10 minutes in the dishwater were a shock," she said. "I felt like I could only breathe. But then I got used to it.</p><p>"We couldn't have asked for a bigger day. The conditions were great."</p><p>The swim was the idea of relay associate Sasha Westberg, 15, who was inspired by a trip to Catalina and also by several of the swimmers' ties to CHOC Trade Viejo. The wants to make the swim an annual service perquisites for the hospital.</p><p>"It was awesome," said Mallory Mosk, at 19 the oldest of the six-colleague team. "I whacked my hand hard on the kayak oar, but I'm OK. It was fun."

Source: Kansas City Star