WA member is open water queen
Mandurah Masters club member Barbara Pellick achieved a milestone in August after completing the 32-kilometre channel swim from Catalina Island to the Californian mainland just south of Los Angeles.
Taking off for the crossing at midnight with calmer currents and winds, Barbara had glow sticks attached to her bathers so the boat crew and support paddlers knew where she was! Barbara’s time for the crossing was a very credible 11 hours 19 minutes and 30 seconds, a time many young swimmers and teams cannot achieve.
A similar distance to the English Channel in distance and difficulty, Barbara is now Western Australia’s first “triple crowner”
having completed the English Channel and the Manhattan Island swims in her 18-year open water swimming history which includes 24 solo Rottnest Channel crossings!
Barbara did most of her training at Doddi’s beach in Halls Head Mandurah,
just south of Perth, where many of her club-mates kept her company during the winter months to ensure she was acclimatized to the colder water temperatures of the Catalina Channel.
Barbara’s feats are extraordinary however another WA member, Maida Vale’s Ceinwen Roberts, will be attempting to complete her own “triple” of the same swims when she crosses the Catalina Channel later in September. Ceinwein was the first female to finish the Manhattan Island swim a few months ago, adding to her triple Rottnest Channel crossing in March this year and her English Channel crossing a few years ago.
We love our open water swimming in WA!
Wendy Holtom Executive Officer