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Channel swim a glowing experience for city employee
by Jason Dietrich
At
8:50 a.m. at a cove just south of the Palos Verdes lighthouse, a shivering,
dripping swimmer shouted to his escort boat over a two-way radio, "Everybody
-- I'm done!"
John York, who runs Seaside Lagoon for the City of Redondo's Parks and Recreation Department, made the 22-mile swim from Catalina Island on the eve of his 40th birthday as a proof to himself that he had fully recovered from a debilitating car accident five years ago.
He had hoped to make the swim in 10 hours. It took him just over eight and a half, starting at 12:17 a.m. This was York's first attempt at a long-distance swim since he crossed the English Channel in 1988.
Long distance swimming is a grueling sport requiring generous amounts of dedication, lots of time in the water and especially, mental discipline. Staying focused on a goal, in the middle of the ocean, in the dead of night, was harder than keeping his arms swinging and legs kicking.
"It's been a long time since I've done anything like this. I try to make sure nothing negative enters my mind. We train our bodies, but we don't really train our minds for something like this. There are times in the middle of the night where you start to wonder 'Why am I doing this?'" York said.
One thing that helped keep his mind off the miles of water left to paddle was the eerie glow undersea objects were taking on. The sliver of a moon was blocked out by haze, and his hands, the paddles of the kayakers who kept an eye on him, and the escort boat's wake gave off a gentle radiance.
Because of the phosphorescence, York could also tell when he wasn't alone in the water. In the course of the swim, the team disturbed a couple of the original long-distance ocean swimmers.
"We were just paddling alongside the boat, when I said to the kayakers 'We have a visitor.' Whatever it was swam around us, came back under the boat and swam under us. Anything that moves would leave this glowing trail behind it," York said.
York and his kayak escorts aren't quite sure what their first encounter was with, but later that night they also disturbed something bigger, which they think was a drowsy dolphin or pilot whale.
York set a world record for crossing the Catalina Channel at the age of 15, and swam from the mainland to Catalina Island and back in 16 hours and 42 minutes, covering a total distance of 48 miles. It was the second of two attempts at a double crossing. The first time he tried it, he was pulled from the water a few hundred yards offshore, suffering from hypothermia.
His aquatic exploits and giving nature have made him a fixture on the local swimming scene, helping generations of swimmers with seemingly boundless enthusiasm. Currently he lives in Manhattan Beach and coaches the Surfside Swim team, training kids from six to 17 years old at Redondo Union and Mira Costa high school pools. His swimmers know that they've got a coach who can walk the walk as well as talk the talk.
"I think it's just amazing. It's great for the kids on the swim team to see their coach do something like this" said Andrea Wagner, whose daughter was coached by York for six years.
"I've never seen anyone I know do anything like this. It's a great example for the kids to see someone who sets a goal, works all year and achieves it," said York's friend Anne Smith, who brought her daughters to watch him come ashore.
York's dedication to swimming crosses over to his high-energy coaching style.
"He helps anyone who wants to learn get better at swimming," said Alice Gibson, a former student. "And kids just love him because he's like a kid himself." ER