Not this time

By mauprieto on June 6, 2014 • ( 2 )

From left to right: Luane Rowe, Richard Ernst, Mauricio Prieto, Shannon Navarro, Susan Moody, David Ogden

We’re back on land after swimming for 22 hours and making it almost half way through the Sea of Cortez before high waves and strong winds cut our attempt short. It’s ringing in our mind Paul Lundgren’s conclusion after his own attempt a few years back: “I met that body of water that is the Sea of Cortez and I learned. There is nothing in her nature that reflects the name of a conquistador like Cortez, nobody can conquer her, and there is nothing for her to conquer”.

We got a lot of support from friends and family. Big thanks to all of you. Below read the account from our swim’s leader, Vito Bialla. Susan will write the swimmer’s perspective in a couple of days.

“Back on shore. In brief we left under perfect conditions at 9 am making great speed. Wind filled in for normal evening breeze at 10 knots that night. The sun set and we had 20 knots by 10 pm. Everybody got stung by jelly fish multiple times per one hour shift. The entire team was beyond belief in bravery and performance. Not a moment of fear or anticipation about getting in the water. By midnight 25 knots and seas with white caps breaking. We worked through stings and tough weather all night. A little after sunrise we had 25 to 30 knots and forecast called for more bad conditions ahead all day and the second night. The waves came from the side so the boat rolled back and forth. It was a huge challenge to go below to the rooms– much less sleep. Everything not nailed down fell on the floor. A water cooler slid across the back deck and landed on my head while laying down. The TV crashed and landed on the floor and so on. The boat was great but the conditions required great caution to prevent injury just moving about. At 7:30 am we considered all our input and chose the option to abandon swim. We swam 22 hours covered 48 miles. We swam just about half way. That day we celebrated Luane’s 25th birthday and agreed to all come back next year. We could have completed this swim barring bad weather. Susan’s swim report coming soon within 48 hours– Vito’s video by next weekend.”

Vito