PORT ANGELES — A man who has swum the English Channel, Catalina Channel and the Strait of Gibraltar will attempt to swim across the Strait of Juan de Fuca today.
Steve Walker, 48, of San Francisco, will attempt to become the eighth person to complete a solo, unassisted, non-stop swim across the Strait.
“I’m old, fat and bald,” he said Wednesday.
Walker — who is the CEO of Cobaltix, a technology consulting company in San Francisco — swam the English Channel in 1996 before taking a 15-year break from marathon swimming.
He swam the Straits of Gibraltar last April, he said, and the Catalina Channel in November.
Today’s 10.4-mile swim — which will be without a wetsuit — is expected to begin at about 9 a.m. at Beechey Head, west of Victoria on Vancouver Island and end between five and seven hours later on a beach near Crescent Bay, west of Port Angeles, said Andrew Malinak of Seattle, swim manager.
Malinak completed the Strait swim in September 2015. He is president of the Northwest Open Water Swimming Association (NOWSA), a 501(c)(3) that observes, documents and records marathon swims in the Pacific Northwest.
Also on board for the swim will be Capt. Charles Martin of the Water Limousine in Sequim; Scott Lautman, NOWSA official observer; and Erika Norris, swim support.
To track the swimmer’s progress, see http://tinyurl.com/PDN-straitswimmer.
Tweets will go out during the day at @andrewswims.
Following in the spirit of marathon swimming tradition, Walker will attempt the swim with nothing more than a standard bathing suit, single swim cap, goggles and safety support boat.
Water temperatures are anticipated to be between 48 degrees and 50 degrees.
If successful, Walker will continue a tradition of swimming from Vancouver Island to the Olympic Peninsula that began with Bert Thomas in 1955, Malinak said.
Walker has been in Port Angeles since Monday night, undertaking short swims and resting before his crossing attempt.
“It is so beautiful up here,” he said Wednesday.
“I swam yesterday at Tongue Sanctuary [near Salt Creek Recreation Area]. It was so beautiful.
“It’s hard to compete with this,” he said. “Everywhere you look there are trees.”
Walker said the Gibraltar swim was easier than he expects today’s to be.
“It’s a little shorter — about 9 miles — and warmer,” with water temperature at about 70 degrees, he said.
Walker, who trains in San Francisco Bay at the South End Rowing Club, aims to complete the Oceans 7 challenge by swimming the North Channel between Ireland and Scotland in August.
That one is the hardest swim in the Oceans 7 challenge, which does not include the Strait of Juan de Fuca, “although it should,” Walker said.
Today’s swim will follow rules set forth by the Marathon Swimmers Federation.
The rules prohibit the swimmer from receiving any assistance in the form of heat retention, buoyancy or speed.
The swim will be sanctioned by NOWSA, Malinak said.
More information on the Northwest Open Water Swimming Association is available at northwestopenwater.org.
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Executive Editor Leah Leach can be reached at 360-417-3530 or at lleach@peninsuladailynews.com.
