And Then There Were Three

Darcy Wettersten discovered the link through some means of her own.  Perhaps she snorked it on the internet.  Perhaps she learned of it from one of the cadre of marathon open-water swimmers friends she has at the Dolphin Club.  Regardless of source, she was tracking the steady progress of Craig Lenning on her browser as he attempted to become the third person in history to complete a solo swim from the Farallon Islands to the California mainland.

A little before 10p on April 8, 2014, Darcy realized that Mr. Lenning was due to strike land at Muir Beach in the Marin Headlands.  She immediately emailed an alert to her friend, Jon Rauh, who lives nearby and encouraged him to take advantage of the opportunity to witness a truly historic event.  As it turned out, Jon was attending the Giants home opener at AT&T park when the email came through.  The game was just wrapping up and he hurried back across the Golden Gate bridge to stand on the beach.  His timing was perfect.  He spied the small light affixed to the swimmer's goggles blinking feebly 100 yards off shore.  The light from Jon's electronic torch in turn provided the swimmer a beacon to guide him the final distance to land.

Craig Lenning and Jon Rauh

Operating under standard English Channel swimming rules, Lenning was required to climb onto completely dry land without assistance in order to have the swim officially ratified.  Fearing well-intentioned, but potentially disastrous contact, he emphatically screamed out, "Don't touch me!"  Although he'd been swimming since 6 a.m., Lenning emerged from the sea with a measure of elan and remain untouched all the way to dry sand where he posed for a picture with Rauh before going back to the water and his escort boat.

Although Craig Lenning lives in land-locked Denver, Colorado, he is a supremely accomplished open water swimmer.  He has swum five channels of the Oceans Seven challenge including the English Channel and the North Sea Channel between Ireland and Scotland.  He is also a member of the exclusive club of people who have completed the Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming.

The chalkboard next to the pay phone at the Dolphin Club duly noted Craig's accomplishment and crossing time.  Underneath, some wag wrote, "So close to making it."  This snarky remark was apparently a reference to an arbitrary stipulation by the recently-formed Farallon Islands Swimming Federation.  Their rules identify the Golden Gate Bridge as the official start or finish line.  The amusing thing is that when Ted Erikson, the second  Farallons Channel soloist, was forced to conclude his swim at the bridge boundary in 1967, a fair amount of grumbling ensued that he had failed to reach dry land.  In fact a 1968 relay team of Dolphin Club members achieved the only successful swim crossing from the Farallon Islands to dry land in Aquatic Park Cove.  The team of Ed Duncan, Lew Cook, Conrad Liberty, Stu Evans, Bill Harlan, and Bob Jimenez outraced a crew from the South End Club who failed to reach land.

In any case, someone quickly erased the denigrating remark and Craig Lenning adds his name to the incredibly short list of three individuals and three relay teams to have completed the toughest swim in the world.