Special to Black Press Media
When Susan Simmons steps off the beach on Aug. 1 for an epic attempt to swim across Juan de Fuca strait from Victoria to Port Angeles and back, the feat will be as much about brains as it is about brawn.
The date of the swim is weather dependent, and conditions must be exactly right if she is to have a chance at success B次元官网网址� warm with very little wind and down-to-the-minute timing with the tides.
Simmons has spent hundreds of hours training for this event, along with her husband Ray Este paddling alongside her in a kayak.
But behind the scenes, local sailor Gordon Higgins has also spent hundreds of hours on the quest; painstakingly planning the course, reading tide and current tables so that Simmons can use the power of the moon to help propel her to Washington State and back again.
B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 called a neap tide,B次元官网网址� Higgins says. B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 one of the weakest tides of the year with the smallest difference between high-water and low-water.B次元官网网址�
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Higgins sounds very much like the computer scientist he is when reciting weather forecast stats off the top of his head.
B次元官网网址淟ong-range forecasts are 50% accurate,B次元官网网址� he says. B次元官网网址淔ive-day forecasts are 80% accurate, and 48-hour forecasts are 95% accurate. ItB次元官网网址檚 really all about the wind.B次元官网网址�
And in the hours leading up to the decisive decision-making part of the swim, Simmons will bring herself to a place of peace.
B次元官网网址淚 listen to Ziggy Marley,B次元官网网址� she says. B次元官网网址淗e sings about love and lifting ourselves up. These are things that are important to me.B次元官网网址�
ItB次元官网网址檚 about 33-kilometres as the crow flies from the small beach near the Ogden Point breakwater to Dungeness Spit near Port Angeles, but if Simmons left at the wrong time, she would be fighting a current most of the way and chances are she would never make it.
At 11 a.m., if conditions are right, Simmons will swim past the breakwater and aim for Race Rocks. At that point, about four hours later, she hopes to catch the tide change, and have the Pacific OceanB次元官网网址檚 enormous flood tide push her to Dungeness Spit.
If she arrives successfully at Dungeness Spit before 11 p.m., sheB次元官网网址檒l then swim toward Royal Roads University, being pulled by the current back to Ogden Point.
B次元官网网址淭he plan is to have the tide behind her at all times, pushing her toward her objective,B次元官网网址� says Higgins. B次元官网网址淭iming is critical.B次元官网网址�
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Besides the incredible effort of swimming a minimum of 66 km in open ocean, there are innumerable problems to solve and details to consider.
Higgins has rigged his boat B次元官网网址� a Beneteau 34 called Synapse B次元官网网址� with lights and spotlights, both to illuminate SimmonsB次元官网网址� course throughout the night and to fend off other boats. The Beneteau has a 30-horsepower engine, so Higgins will be constantly on the look-out for SimmonsB次元官网网址� two safety boats, whales, deadheads, logs and crab traps, engaging and disengaging the engine as she swims at a little less than 3 kilometres per hour.
Higgins will be in radio contact with U.S. and Canadian marine shipping authorities, warning freighters in the area to steer clear.
Simmons has permission from U.S. authorities to step out of the water up to her knees at Dungeness Spit. The rest of the 10 support crew do not. SheB次元官网网址檒l have only 10 minutes before she must depart again, if the plan works, at about 11 p.m., Higgins and the support crew carefully following in her wake.
B次元官网网址淢y support crew is my family,B次元官网网址� Simmons says. B次元官网网址淭hey are the people who really get me from shore to shore and truly do the most work. All B次元官网网址� or most of B次元官网网址� my crew are public servants. They all want to make the world a better place.B次元官网网址�
By Paul Bucci
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