Nantucket across the Pollock Rip Channel

or

“Swimming with Sharks”

It seems a bit strange, but, today, July 27, 2004, is almost two years to the day that I swam the English Channel.  We are up at 3:15 AM, and head to the Chatham Harbor, about a half hour drive.  We arrive a bit late, but a few minutes did not matter too much.  We, Mike Krein, my kayaker, my wife Trina, and my daughter, Jen, load the boat and get underway.  On the way out Chris Smith and Mark Power, the owners of the boat, told us that the water temperature is a lot colder: closer to 55° rather than 65°.  Further, there was a shark attack a few days ago near where the seals swim, north of where we are starting.

At the head of Monomoy Point, I grease up and jump in.  It is a lot colder than I expected.  With the adrenaline rush, I do not have an ice cream headache, but it is close.  I swim breaststroke and backstroke towards the shore to get as used to the water as I can.

At around 5:34 AM, standing on the tip of Monomoy Point, at a spot where the water cannot go behind me, I pick up a small, smooth rock from the shore, as a souvenir, stick it in my bathing suit, and walk into the water and start swimming for Great Point on Nantucket Island.  When we start the water temperature is at 61°, however, the further I swim from the island and out into the deep water, the colder it becomes.  About an hour after the start, we make it to the Green Can #11, a bit more than 2 nautical miles from the start and with a temperature of 56.8°.  There are times when the water temperature seems even cooler as I go through pockets of colder water.  In looking at the marine water temperature map at www.wunderground.com web site on the day that I write this, the buoy that I use to estimate the water temperature, is 53°, so it is quite possible that we were swimming in water in the 54 to 55 degree range at times.  Once we pass the green can #11 we began to swim from north-north east to south-south west.  The wind is also from the same quarter, so we have a nice push.  However after the green can #11 we were in the middle of the Pollock Rip Channel.  The waves/swells average between 3’ and 4’ with some 5’ waves at times.  The water is quite rough and I lose sight of both Mike in the kayak and the boat.  While they can see me most of the time, there is no real danger.  In many ways it’s fun as I am almost surfing the waves.

Also, at the Green Can #11, we run into schools of sharks.  Luckily they are sand sharks, also known as “dogfish.”  They have no teeth and therefore we are in no danger.  As we all know, big sharks eat little sharks so little sharks run away when confronted by the bigger ones.  I think they thought I was a big shark.  At one point the fish are swimming around the kayak and Mike starts beating on one with a kayak paddle.  Chris yells from the boat to stop hitting the sharks.  For the first time we realize that dogfish are sharks.  All I can think about is that Mike is only going to make the fish mad.  I see a few of them swim away from me and I believe I hit one or two of them while I’m pulling through the water.

As we continue to swim towards Nantucket through the Pollock Rip, I am battered about a bit; however, we are making great progress.  According to Chris and Mark, we were traveling between 2 to 2.5 knots per hour.

At the three hour mark, we pass over the tip of the Great Round Shoal.  I stopped for refreshment and ask if we had passed over a shoal about 400 meters back.  Chris says that we did.  I can feel the water temperature change dramatically and now my temperature gage reads 61°.

We continue to make progress and the water continues to get warmer.  After the last feed we estimate that we have 2,000 meters to make it to shore.  At this time the tide was pushing slightly against me and towards the east.  I’m trying to head to the westernmost point on Great Point, but I keep being pushed back towards the center.  While it is frustrating, I end up landing right underneath the lighthouse at Great Point.  At about 10:35 AM, I crawl onto the beach and walk to a point where the water cannot get beyond me.  After 5:01.57 I complete the swim from Cape Cod - Monomoy Island to Nantucket Island, about 11 miles.  

I picked up another rock, this time a bit larger, and bring it back to the kayak as my souvenir of Nantucket Island.  While the initial plan is to swim all the way to the Harbor of Nantucket Town, we don’t see much point in swimming another two to three hours.  Our main goal has been achieved – I have swum from Monomoy Island, through the Pollock Rip, to Nantucket Island.

While they were loading Mike and the kayak, I stayed in the water and started to swim towards the harbor.  Surprisingly, I was getting a push from the tide southwards, probably because of the shape of the beach.  We went into the town where I met a good friend of mine, Bob Flippin, who was vacationing with his boys on the island.  They came down to one of the bars where, after I was interviewed by one of the local, Island TV stations, we had a beer and some food.

Inside Nantucket Harbor, Chris and Mark ran into a friend who asked them why they were escorting a kayaker across the Pollock Rip.  They answered that the kayaker was escorting a swimmer who just completed the swim from Monomoy to Nantucket.

Chris and Mark are quite impressed.  They did not expect me to complete this swim.  They thought the water would be too rough, the temperature too cold, and the distance too long given those conditions.  They were ready to rescue me at any time, but instead, I kept swimming fast and strong.  Now what they are most afraid of is that more people, less well trained, will attempt the swim.

We were successful for these reasons

• I am an experienced, open water swimmer

• I acclimate to cold water each season

• I have swum in difficult conditions in the past

• The wind and waves were coming from the North-North-West; If they had come from the west or south, it would have been a very different and more difficult swim

Recently, I was reminded that life is a journey and that our journeys take many forms.  This is my eleventh journey for charity. Along the way I have met many wonderful people who help us achieve our goals.  This past journey, Trina and I met two wonderful people, Chris Smith and Mark Power.  They are the best of the pilots that we have encountered.  They were constantly vigilant, helpful and funny.  Trina and I hope that we continue to meet such wonderful people on our journeys for Epilepsy Foundation of CT.

What is our next swim Trina and I are not sure.  However, it will probably be another swim to another island, perhaps Block Island and a swim near the head of Long Island Sound called “The Race.”

You can view pictures of this swim in the pictures section of this website under

The Cape to Nantucket Pictures