Clearwater man makes a rare try for the triple crown of open water swimming

ST. PETERSBURG — Just talking about the water temperature off the California coast was enough to make Ron Collins shiver.

"I'm a little worried," the open-water swimmer confessed late last week, warm and dry in a downtown St. Petersburg coffee shop. "They have had one of the coolest summers on record. It's a little hard to train for cold water when you live in Florida."

After a morning workout with the St. Pete Masters Swim team, with his chlorine-bleached hair wild and unkempt, Collins had the uncertain look of a soldier heading to combat overseas.

"I don't know about this," the 48-year-old Clearwater resident said. "I think I'm ready … but with this stuff you never know. Anything can happen out there."

Collins, the first man to swim the 24-mile length of Tampa Bay, was just days away from attempting the third leg of the coveted triple crown of marathon swimming, the 20-mile crossing from Catalina Island to the California coast.

He had completed longer swims — 28 miles around Manhattan — and more famous swims — the English Channel. But this would be the most dangerous. His planned route would put him right in the path of migrating great white sharks. At night.

"I don't even want to think about it," he said. "I can't let it into my head."

America's channel

People began to think differently about the ocean and swimming on Aug. 23, 1875, when Capt. Matthew Webb stumbled ashore at Calais, France, 21 hours and 45 minutes after leaving his native England.

Webb's historic crossing of the 22-mile wide English Channel made him an international celebrity. In 1926, when American Gertrude Ederle became the first woman to equal Webb's feat, marathon swimming became the rage.

Chewing gum heir William Wrigley Jr. had a resort on Catalina Island, about 20 miles off the California coast. He hoped the publicity from a similar swim would help business.

So in January 1927, he staged the Wrigley Catalina Island Swim with a winner-take-all prize of $25,000. On a cold winter's day, 102 men and women hit the water off Catalina and headed to California. Only one finished: 17-year-old Canadian George Young.

In the decades that followed, more than 100 people successfully completed the treacherous crossing. A few even swam to California and then back to Catalina.

But only 40 have ever swum the English Channel, Manhattan Island and Catalina.

"It's a small club," said Collins, who hoped to become number 41. "There aren't a lot of people who want to do this kind of stuff."

Sharks and seaweed

Ocean swimming is one part physical and nine parts psychological. It takes a strong mind to keep going hour after hour, stroke after stroke, all alone in the numbing cold.

A month before Collins' big swim, the National Park Service issued a warning for the islands off California. Great white sharks had killed several sea lions, and officials told swimmers to proceed at their own risk.

It is said that most great white attacks occur when the sharks mistake a swimmer, surfer or scuba diver for a seal. The danger is highest when sharks can't clearly see their prey.

"The problem is, I'll be doing most of my swimming at night," Collins said. "You try to get the bulk of the swim done when there is not a lot of boat traffic."

Still, the cold and the saltwater were bigger concerns. When he crossed the English Channel, Collins chafed so badly that he bled from his armpits.

"I'd hate to leave a trail of blood in the water, especially out there," he said.

Collins swam 25 to 30 miles a week to prepare for the swim, and dropped 20 pounds in about three months.

"I thought that if I were a little leaner, I would go faster," he said. "Now I'm a little worried. That layer of fat would have insulated me from the cold."

Shortly before midnight on Wednesday, Collins started swimming toward the California coast in waters that hovered between 59 and 61 degrees.

At around 8 a.m. — just a couple of hours before he planned to hit land — his support crew noticed his stroke count dropping. From a strong 58 strokes per minute, he steadily dropped to 54, 48, 41. He veered into the kayak off to one side, then the support boat on the other.

At 8:35 a.m., two miles short of his goal, his crew pulled the plug.

"You're done," the captain said. A paramedic on board diagnosed Collins with severe hypothermia. Rushed to the hospital, even after three hours his body temperature was still just 91 degrees.

"It didn't seem that cold,'' he said over the phone Thursday evening. "I don't even remember being pulled from the water."

He's expected to make a full recovery.

"I'm not giving up," said Collins. "I'll try again. But next time I will wait until the water is a little warmer."

Terry Tomalin can be reached at tomalin@sptimes.com.