Channel Swimmer Foiled by Tides
In the latest man-against-the-elements news, Henri Kaarma on Sunday came up short in his bid to become the first Estonian to swim across the English Channel.
Just two days after an Estonian swam the length of a river at home, Kaarma had to throw in the towel with about four kilometers left in his 34-km swim. The outing lasted around 13 hours.
"It was cooler than it usually is - a degree or two. As for waves, they were the usual - about three feet," said Kaarma.
The ebb tide near the French coast may have proved his undoing.
"The tides were very strong. I had been swimming toward what I thought was shore for the last two hours but it didn't get any closer, the tide was against me. And my strokes per minute had also decreased. They could see that I didn't have much left and the captain decided to help me."