Swimmers challenge channel…and win

When asked why he decided to climb Mount Everest, George Mallory replied simply, “Because it’s there.” The same can be said for an intrepid group of water goers who recently braved what many believe to be the most dangerous waters in the Marianas chain.

On the morning of Sunday, June 12, a team of Saipan and Guam residents took the plunge off of the southern tip of Saipan en route to the rocky shores of Tinian through shark-infested waters, but the first leg of the trip started years ago.

After years of hearing how well-known swimmers like Bill Sakovich had braved the blue, Carruth said that he first planned to do the swim three years ago with several swimmers whom have since departed Saipan, but the group never made the journey due to ocean conditions deemed to be unsafe.

After comple-ting Escape from Managaha and the Cocos Crossing on Guam the month prior, Carruth started chatting with former Olympic swimmer Dan O’Keefe and strong swimmer Ellen Argo about the risk-laden swim from Saipan to Tinian. The trio mulled over the possibility of the crossing and decided on a couple of dates, and started to monitor the marine forecasts, eye the waves from Agingan Point, and even conferred with a “salty group of boat captains” about the currents and conditions in the channel.

“They told me there is almost always a seven- to eight-knot current in the channel from east to west and to watch out for the washing machine in the middle of the channel where currents come together,” said Carruth.

The veterans of the sea also asked Carruth, “Do you know how many people have died in that channel?”

After sizing up the challenge, the group decided to attempt the crossing as long as the waters were willing to let them. Not long after professing their intentions to their friends, some signed on to join them in the water while others began to volunteer their support to the unlikely venture.

As word spread about the swim, a voice from the Pacific’s past came calling from Guam as Jeff Burke vowed to repeat his crossing some 20 years earlier on his 40th birthday. Fellow swimmers Kristy Gregg and Carol Lynn Pierce also caught the channel bug, while Josh Berger and Steve Pixley volunteered their support from the safety of a boat.

With a mixture of nerves and excitement, and minds racing with thoughts of tiger sharks and tales of lost fishermen, the group started from ocean side along Coral Ocean Point known as “Shark Bite” at 6am with five kayakers and a pair of support boats leading the way through the crystal-clear waters.

“The water really was beautiful and clear and the swell moderate for the first third of the swim,” said Carruth, but when they neared the middle of channel, they began to understand the power of Mother Nature’s washing machine.

“The chop and swell grew from six to eight feet and became very uneven and hard to swim through. After 20-30 minutes of hard choppy swimming the chop subsided and the swell became more consistent.”

Once through the rough waters, the swimmers got a little reprieve when they began to make out some of the features and trees on the Tinian shore. Rather than experiencing an easy end to their approximately 3.5-mile journey, the chop picked up again as the waves crashed against the shore and water slapped back against the incoming swell.

The first to arrive were O’Keefe, Argo, and Gregg in about 1:45, followed by the 60-year-young Burke, Pierce, and Carruth at the 1:50 mark.

“We had talked about grouping on the shore for a quick photo but the rough waters and cliffs would only allow us to swim in quick for a touch of Tinian and then make a safe retreat.”

Once safely aboard the supports boats, the exhausted swimmers came to life when they started swapping stories of menacing shadows from the deep, a run in with jellyfish, and appreciation of the support crew.

“I’m still real psyched about having swum it, and proud to be apart of the group that did it. I’ve coordinated some swims before and realize the effort that goes into it. That’s a great feat! We don’t have to make it an annual thing, but maybe once again,” said O’Keefe.

Carruth said that he is open to the idea of challenging the water again with the right group of friends, but that the course might change a bit.

“Next time we might try and swim around the northwest side of Tinian and come in at the U.S. invasion beach, a distance of about five or six miles, but maybe that’s just post-swim bravado talking”