American Molly Nance Is First Woman To Swim Across St.Lucia Channel

Molly Nance, hailing from Lincoln, Nebraska, is the first woman to swim across the St.Lucia Channel.

The 52-year old marathon swimmer completed the 21.2 mile swim on May 16. The American was in the water for nearly 14 hours

The Saint Lucia Channel is a strait in the Caribbean, that separates Martinique, an insular region of France and Saint Lucia, a sovereign island country in the eastern Caribbean sea. Its length, 21 miles, is the same as that of the English Channel.

The Preparation

Nance had attempted the English Channel in 2014 but couldn’t complete it. She was held back by severe nausea. The defeat had been haunting her for years and this time she wanted to give it her all.

As a part of her preparation, Nance trained at the Lincoln YMCA. She swam from 90 minutes to two hours on weekdays and from four to eight hours on weekends. She travelled, too, completing river and open-water swims from Arizona to North Dakota to Florida.

Nance said she decided to swim across St.Lucia last year when they were planning a vacation to the Caribbean. While looking at it on the globe, she saw this little island (St.Lucia) right above it.

Soon, her mind started turning and she began making arrangements. In addition to sending out a bunch of formal e-mails, she found a boat captain and crew and a small group of swim supporters.

Her husband, Paul, is her biggest supporter and accompanies her on all her open-swims. They both had arrived at St.Lucia four days prior to the swim and began preparing for the task.

A difficult swim

Nance said she was thrilled to be the first woman to do so and also that it was the hardest thing she’s ever done. She was so exhausted after the swim that she would jokingly tell Paul that she's never going to attempt something like that again!

She recalls how she couldn't see the island any closer and at many times wanted to give up, but simply couldn’t. Her husband, wearing a bright yellow T-shirt to be easily spotted, kept waving to her from the island, encouraging her to not lose it

Nance is only the third person to accomplish this feat.

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Picture Credit:  Lincoln Journal Star

Malvika Bansal is an intern with SheThePeople.Tv