photo credit Catalina Channel Swimming Federation
Ridgewood teen Charlotte Samuels completes second leg of open water swimming Triple Crown
AUGUST 4, 2014, 11:08 PM LAST UPDATED: MONDAY, AUGUST 4, 2014, 11:49 PM
BY ABBOTT KOLOFF
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD
Charlotte Samuels, a 16-year-old from Ridgewood, swam through powerful currents and multiple jellyfish bites to complete a 20.2-mile swim from Catalina Island to a Southern California beach in a little less than 20 hours Monday night.
Her arrival on the beach at Rancho Palos Verdes, about eight hours after she had anticipated, took her one giant step closer to her dream of becoming the youngest person ever to swim the so-called Triple Crown of open water swimming, leaving only an English Channel crossing. She completed her first leg when she swam around Manhattan in June.
At about 7:45 p.m. Pacific time, Charlotte staggered onto the beach, her arms red with welts from jellyfish bites, and made her way to touch dry rocks before an observer from the Catalina Channel Swimming Federation declared the crossing to be official. She had spent about 19 hours and 45 minutes in the water, almost twice as much time as her previous longest swim of 10 hours.
“It’s an overwhelming thing,” her mother, Suzanne Samuels, said in a telephone interview. “That’s incredible. That’s a long time in the water.”
– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/ridgewood-teen-charlotte-samuels-completes-second-leg-of-open-water-swimming-triple-crown-1.1062199#sthash.tvHxovoT.dpuf
Congratulations Charlotte!