OLYMPIC NATIONAL PARK — A cancer survivor is taking on the largest lakes on the Olympic Peninsula in preparation for an August swim across the Strait of Juan de Fuca.
Erik Spellman, 37, of Hoodsport swam the 8.5 mile length of Lake Crescent on July 18, from East Beach to Fairholme, and plans to tackle the 9-mile Lake Ozette on Aug. 8 or Aug. 9.
After Spellman’s right kidney was removed two years ago due to cancer — his ankles were already damaged after playing rugby in the United Kingdom — he turned to swimming for fitness and athletic challenge.
As a former mountaineer and kayaker, swimming laps in a pool wasn’t going to satisfy his thirst for adventure.
“With cancer, you have to do something in nature to reaffirm life,” he said Monday.
His attention turned toward the challenge of distance swimming, and he decided his goal is to swim a 12.5 mile-wide route across the Strait between Crescent Bay or Freshwater Bay west of Port Angeles, and Beechy Head, Victoria.
He is planning to attempt the swim between Aug. 20 and Aug. 25, weather permitting, and the try will be dedicated to bringing attention to Lolita, an L-Pod orca who has been kept at the Miami Seaquarium in Florida since her capture in 1970.
The dates he selected for the swim represent the next neap tide — the smallest change in tides of the year — which reduces the force of the tides that pull swimmers off course.
Fog, rain, strong winds and overcast days are all weather events that could delay or cancel the swim.
Wet suits are not allowed by the rules of the Santa Barbara Channel Swimming Association, which records major open water swimming achievements.
Other rules include not touching land or a boat during the swim, though swimmers can be given food and water during the swim.
He has been training in the region’s cold lakes and in Hood Canal under those rules to acclimate to the temperatures as much as possible, he said.
On Monday, the water temperature in the Strait was 55.9 degrees.
“I want to have the sun on my back,” Spellman said, noting that wind alone can be enough to end a swim.
Two earlier attempts to swim Lake Crescent ended when the bottleneck in the middle of Lake Crescent proved to be too windy, he said.
Spellman began his open-water training with the 4-mile Lake Quinault and worked his way through larger lakes until reaching Lake Crescent, he said.
He has now completed swims of all of the area’s lakes except Lake Ozette — the longest of the lakes and the final test.
Lake Cushman, Lake Crescent and Lake Ozette are all between 8 and 9 miles long — about 70 percent of the distance of the planned Strait swim.
Open-water swimming techniques recommend training at about 70 percent of the distance of the target swim, Spellman said.
Spellman’s girlfriend, Megan Hart, a Hoodsport resident and Port Angeles native, stayed alongside him in a kayak during his lake swims, feeding him every 20 minutes during the swims to maintain the energy levels needed to keep warm and continue.
“My first job was on Lake Crescent, at the Log Cabin Resort. I spent a lot of time out there in my teenage years, but never time spent like this last weekend. It was a wonderful trip,” Hart said in an email.
Certified open-water swims of the Strait are rare, and only seven people have succeeded under open-water swim rules.
Bert Thomas, a 29-year-old former Marine combat swimmer who fought in World War II, was the first person in recorded history to swim across the Strait on July 8, 1955.
He completed the 18.3-mile crossing from Ediz Hook to Victoria without a wet suit in just over 11 hours.
Six other swimmers have since completed the swim, along with many who have attempted the swim unsuccessfully.
The last attempt to swim the Strait without a wet suit was in July 2013, when Andrew Malinak, a 26-year-old civil engineer from Seattle, gave up on his attempt to swim from the southern tip of Vancouver Island to U.S. shores with less than a mile to go.
Malinak said tides drew him off course, and after 6 hours, 10 minutes, he voluntarily climbed into a support boat for a ride to Port Angeles.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5070, or at arice@peninsuladailynews.com.
