Romain Layour swims from St. Barths to St. Maarten

Het oorspronkelijke artikel is te vinden (met foto) op The Daily Herald sinds Sunday, 15 August 2010 22:32

PHILIPSBURG--Swim coach Romain Layour completed a 23-kilometre swim from Colombier, St. Barths, to Great Bay Beach St. Maarten, challenging the elements, Atlantic Ocean and the imaginations of many on Saturday.

He etched his name in the history of St. Maarten as the first recorded person to swim the channel, which took him from Colombier Beach St. Barths, where he started at 6:05am, to Great Bay Beach in seven hours and twenty minutes. During the solo swim Layour was accompanied by two support boats.

He emerged from the water to the hugs and cheers of supporters, who were minutes before marvelling at and questioning the idea of swimming in what they dubbed the shark-infested waters of the Atlantic Ocean. "Swimming is my sport; I love to swim and now I am in the Caribbean, it is only natural to swim in the ocean," Layour said, answering the question why he had undertaken the swim challenge.

He described the swim as very challenging, but he added that he had been aided by perfect conditions. "There were perfect sea conditions, deep blue, it was flat [water] all the way...it looked like glass." He saw no big fish, with the exception of some Jellyfish. The channel is reportedly only that calm three days a year.

When asked about the planning process for the swim, Layour, founder of Caribbean Swim and Sports Academy, said the swim had been decided on only the day before because of the perfectly calm sea conditions.

He thanked Norman and Su Wathey, Randy Attin and Anke Roosens for helping to organise the logistics of the swim.

Recently, a group of swimmers, including Layour, swam the Anguilla/St. Martin channel. Layour said that although he had enjoyed the solo swim, he hoped that he had motivated more people to take up channel swimming. The group of swimmers who did the Anguilla Channel swim will again do the swim in November.

The group will begin training for the November swim soon. Layour invites interested swimmers to join the training.