You’ve probably seen him in the water off Alki – and this Saturday, you’ll see Andrew Malinak off Lincoln Park (and points south) if he’s successful in the swim he’s just announced:
On Saturday, 6 June 2015, Seattle resident Andrew Malinak will attempt to swim from Tacoma to West Seattle. This swim, between Old Town Dock and Lincoln Park, covers over 18.8 miles and will follow Marathon Swimming Federation rules for unassisted swims (no wetsuit or outside assistance). The swim is expected to take between seven and nine hours with water temperatures between 52F and 55F.
Tacoma native Bert Thomas swam from West Seattle to Tacoma in 1956, and remains the only person to have ever done so. A year prior, Thomas was the first person to successfully swim the Strait of Juan de Fuca, a swim Malinak attempted in 2013 and will attempt again later this year. The reverse of Thomas’s original route has not been attempted before.
To prepare for the cold water and long distance, Malinak has been training at Alki Beach, West Seattle throughout the winter and spring. He has previously completed a circumnavigation of Manhattan (2012, 28.5 miles), a crossing of the Strait of Gibraltar (2010, 10 miles), and most recently 8 Bridges, a seven-stage swim down the Hudson River in New York (2014, 120 miles). He will be supported on this swim by Peter Ray, local swimmers Wendy Van De Sompele, Melissa Nordquist, Dan Robinson, and Erika Norris, Boston marathon swimmer Elaine Howley, and Citizens for a Healthy Bay of Tacoma.
If all goes according to plan, Malinak expects to arrive at Lincoln Park around 4:30; Twitter updates are planned at twitter.com/andrewswims.
(Photo courtesy Andrew Malinak)
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