They are back at it again. After tides and weather interrupted plans last year, eight swimmers are attempting to swim the 18-mile open water stretch of Nantucket Sound from Nantucket to the Vineyard.
The relay is being led by English Channel swimmer and open-ocean endurance athlete Doug McConnell.
McConnell is the co-founder of A Long Swim, a nonprofit that designs and manages open-water swimming events to raise funds to research amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS. McConnell lost his father, Dr. David McConnell, and sister, Ellen, to the disease.
The summer Island resident, who started open-water swimming in 2009 after years at the pool and a successful career on the University of Illinois swim team, has crossed the English Channel, the Catalina Channel, swum from Molokai to Oahu in Hawaii, and also circled Manhattan.
This will be his fourth time trying the Nantucket to Vineyard swim. McConnell’s first attempt in August 2019, he encountered jellyfish and was as close as 300 strokes from Chappaquiddick when rip currents overpowered him. A current that would’ve landed him on the Cape thwarted his next attempt in 2021. In 2022, McConnell hit a wall about three-quarters of the way through the swim. Last year, it was the elements that stopped plans.
The relay is expected to begin on Monday. Joining McConnell on the team are fellow Vineyard open water swimmers Josh Thomson, Greg Mason, John Chatinover, Rainy Goodale, Noah Froh, John Chatinover, and Jason Snow.
This is not the first time someone has swam around the island.
The swim is not around the Island but from Nantucket to Martha’s Vineyard
– Editor
Comments are closed.