
By Melissa Berkay, Swimming World College Intern
Charlotte Samuels, a recent graduate of Ridgewood High School, has made her mark in the worlds of marathon swimming and community service. In 2015, she became the first person to swim a course of more than 20 miles from Long Island to the Jersey Shore through an area known as the New York Bight.
Samuels also became the youngest person in the world to complete the “Triple Crown” of open water swimming. She conquered the feat in 2014 when she mastered the English Channel, theManhattan Island Marathon Swim, and the Catalina Channel. The previous record had been held by an 18-year-old Australian swimmer.
Samuels’ swimming career launched at age 12 when a friend encouraged her to participate in a mile-long swim in the Potomac River in Maryland; it was then that she discovered her love for open water swimming.