SUCCESS! A Recap of this year’s Swim for Shelter
Hi all,
Remember that beautifully intriguing interview with Mrs. Joanne Allum from last week? Well, you might recall that she along with 18 other brave, ocean-crazed souls were taking on this year’s annual Swim for Shelter, an open water swim across Colvos Passage to raise funds for the New Phoebe House. The event took place on Saturday, July 29th, and it was a smashing success.
As the swimmers mentally and physically prepared for this daunting adventure, community members gathered on the beach near the finish line, antsy for the outcome. At 5pm, this group of high schoolers, moms, dads, and grandparents took to the sea - battling the cold as they raced across this stretch of the Puget Sound.
Open-water swimming across Colvos Passage is no walk in the park. This stretch of Puget Sound is more than a mile wide and 400-feet deep, with strong tidal flows that generate unpredictable and freezing upwellings along with fierce, swirling currents. Oh, and it’s also home to a healthy and abundant population of the world’s largest jellyfish, the Lion’s Mane... Some might say you have to be a little crazy to want to participate. This event started 17 years ago when a group of friends decided they wanted to turn their love for open-water swimming into something more, a way to give back to their community. Now, this annual, fund-raising swim challenge is the open-water swimming event of the summer for Gig Harbor.
The event has grown exponentially over the years, both in participants and donations. This year was no exception.
Here are a few highlights from this year:
Highschooler, Jonah Bergerson, won first place, absolutely smoking everyone else with a time of 22:29. A new record.
Joanne Allum, our interviewee, came in second with a time of 29:37 - luckily, without the brutal sting of any jellies ;)
Drew Kellerman completed the swim WITHOUT a wetsuit... a feat nobody had accomplished in all 17 years. He survived, without hypothermia, leg cramps, jelly-stings, or anything else uncomfortable.
And maybe the most important highlight of all: they raised $52,931, all donated to the New Phoebe House in Tacoma. How incredible. This year is the highest grossing year in all 17-years by more than $15,000.
It's obvious that each of these swimmers has something unique about them. No matter the age, gender, race, class, or anything else we put boxes around, each person swam because they love to swim. They especially love the feeling after they come out of the water, like you've been reborn. Like “all your sins have been warshed away” (sorry, I've seen Brother, Where Art Thou too many times). This feeling of connection and reconnection to oneself and the sea is undoubtedly a unique one. We people of the sea know this, and take every chance we can get to experience this magic.
Thank you to everyone who supported this event this year.
That's all for now, happy Friday.
Cheers,
Malia
Cold Water Women