PORT ANGELES — The worst part of the 12.5-mile swim across the Strait of Juan de Fuca was the cold.
But even to the very end, each of the three swimmers could say the word “yellow.”
That was a test for hypothermia none was sure he would pass, even while wearing a wet suit.
“An hour in, we were all wondering if we were going to make it because of the cold,” said Paul Webber, who swam the Strait with fellow Bainbridge Island residents Orlando Boleda and Ken Goodman on Friday.
They struck out from Freshwater Bay west of Port Angeles at 6:55 a.m. and didn’t touch the ground again until they reached Canada about seven hours later.
They came ashore slightly west of Beechy Head on Vancouver Island.
Boleda was the first in at 1:53 p.m., accomplishing the long-distance swim in 6 hours and 58 minutes, according to Heather Burger, who was in the lead support boat, the 32-foot Isle of Shoals.
Webber arrived 12 minutes later, at 2:05 p.m., and Goodman reached shore at about 2:40 p.m.
They returned to Port Angeles on support boats; posed for photos on the deck of the Isle of Shoals, owned by Kristin Capaccioli and George Fleischfresser of Port Angeles; and cracked geezer jokes.
Webber is 56, Boleda is 59, and Goodman is 60.
“Is it true you’re calling this the ‘geezer swim?’” one asked. When asked if they were calling it by that name, they all shook their heads vigorously.
“We’re the young Turks,” Boleda said.
“We’re showing the youngsters how to do it,” Goodman added.
“Tell them we found a video game about this and it was boring so we decided to swim across instead,” Webber said.
All three are experienced long-distance swimmers who have done open-water swims around Bainbridge Island since 2005.
Boleda is vice president of operations for KP LLC in Seattle. Webber is a financial adviser, and Goodman is an attorney.
In 2007, they organized a swim from Bainbridge Island to west Seattle, a distance of 5¼ miles, and in 2008 did it as a round trip, Goodman said.
The three men, along with four other people, formed a charity in 2007 called Arms Around Bainbridge to raise money to give financial assistance to people with serious illnesses.
“The signature event is a swim around Bainbridge Island every August,” said Goodman, who serves with Boleda and Burger on the board.
Last year, Goodman, Boleda and Burger completed a 10¼-mile swim in the Willamette River near Portland, Ore.
Friday’s swim was the longest any of the men had attempted — and the coldest.
While the water around Bainbridge Island is generally between 55 and 58 degrees this time of year, the Strait temperature varied between 51 and 53 degrees — until the last couple of miles.
Then the water temperature dropped to 50 degrees, Burger said.
Chillier seas, combined with strong currents and masses of kelp, made the end of their journey the hardest, the three swimmers said.
But the intervening miles were no picnic.
“You try to shut your brain off,” Boleda said. “If you think about how tired and cold and miserable you are, you want to go home.”
So why do it?
“I joke that as you get older, you can’t go faster, so you go farther,” Webber said.
“As you get older, you like to challenge yourself.”
All said they couldn’t have done it without the support crew pouring warm soup and water into them, encouraging them and checking on their progress.
“One of the things I felt today was gratitude for all you people, the kayakers, the people on the boats,” Webber said.
Each swimmer was accompanied by a kayaker. Capaccioli watched over Goodman, Chris Houck accompanied Webber, and Michael Silves stayed close to Boleda.
Silves, the three pointed out with laughter, is 71. The youngest member of the group was Capaccioli, 27.
John Pope sailed the Solh, a 37-foot sailboat that paced the swimmers. Chris Simmons piloted the lone power boat in the entourage.
Among those who contributed to the swim was Andrew Malinak, a Seattle civil engineer who came within 2 miles of swimming from Vancouver Island to the North Olympic Peninsula in July 2013 without wearing a wet suit.
Malinak helped with the planning and gave them the use of a transponder, a piece of navigation equipment.
Along with a sense of accomplishment, the group — most from Bainbridge Island with some from Port Angeles — received sustenance.
A Canadian fisherman who told Burger his name was Raymond Martin gave them a large silver salmon after they reached the shores of his country.
They planned to grill it during a potluck today when all could relax.
In the meantime on Friday, they headed into Port Angeles for a celebration dinner at Michael’s.
Their next open-water swim?
Manzanita Bay on Bainbridge Island — New Year’s Day.
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Managing Editor/News Leah Leach can be reached at 360-417-3531 or at leah.leach@peninsuladailynews.com.
