SWAMPSCOTT — With his completion of the grueling 21-mile English Channel swim last month, Swampscott native Craig Lewin has now accomplished what few people around the world have.
Lewin, 34, of Canton, joined a rare breed of endurance athletes when he completed the Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming on July 30.
As of Oct. 2019, only 239 people had been verified as completing the Triple Crown, which includes the English Channel, Catalina Channel and Manhattan Island Marathon Swim, for a total of nearly 70 miles of open water swimming, according to longswims.com.
But unlike other sporting competitions, Lewin did not get much of a reward beyond the satisfaction of completing such an extraordinary feat when he finished his final leg, the English Channel swim, in 11 hours and 24 minutes.
“You celebrate on land for 30 seconds,” said Lewin. “Then they put you back in the boat for the next person. It was a nice feeling, but it wasn’t what I envisioned it to be.”
For Lewin, the emotional part of the final swim, which stretches from Dover, England to Cap Gris Nez in France, was simply making it there in the first place, given the uncertainty that the coronavirus pandemic has brought to nearly all facets of life.
“I thought I was going to be more excited and emotional than I was,” said Lewin. “I think there was so much stress and anxiety about: is this swim going to happen? When I made it to the start of the English Channel, that was part of the win. A lot of people were saying it was going to be canceled because of COVID.”
When he signed up for the English Channel swim, Lewin had planned for his wife and parents to be in the boat alongside him so they could celebrate together after he finished. But due to the virus restrictions, it was only his father, who ended up doing the job of five people to ensure that Lewin made it across the channel safely, he said.
Despite the change in plans, Lewin said getting to celebrate with his father, who has served as his crew chief for every one of his marathon swims, was one of the more special parts of his last swim.
On the trip back, the father and son were greeted by Lewin’s wife and mother at the airport, who were waiting with celebratory signs and balloons. The family then continued their celebration with a small gathering at home.
But it was not only his completion and subsequent celebration of the swim that was upended by the pandemic. Lewin said the outbreak completely altered his training regimen and extended the length of his trip because he had to quarantine for 14 days upon his arrival in England.
Lewin, who completed the first two legs of the Triple Crown in 2018 and 2019, typically trains in pools and at beaches in Swampscott, where his parents still live, but since the virus forced the closure of pools, he was forced to make some changes.
In March, Lewin asked his parents to open their pool early so he could continue his training, which he said his father did without hesitation. He also asked his parents not to heat the pool, as he was preparing for the cold saltwater that he would encounter.
Instead of tracking his distance, Lewin opted to keep track of his hours spent in the pool. To train, he would get up at 3 or 4 a.m. and tether himself to the stairs of the pool, where he would then swim in place for hours each day.
He would then meet some friends and go swimming in the 36- to 39- degree Fahrenheit waters at Fisherman’s Beach in Swampscott or Devereux Beach in Marblehead. His nine-month training regimen also included some cross-training, with yoga, Pilates and running mixed in, he said.
Lewin said the distance was not the challenging part of the English Channel swim, given his extensive training, but he did have difficulties with the strong currents and tides; the cold water, which started at about 61 degrees and warmed up a bit as he got into France; and the saltiness of the ocean, which caused his eyelids and tongue to swell.
“The currents and tides are so strong and there’s so much water flow that you end up doing an S-pattern,” said Lewin. “It doesn’t matter how good of a swimmer you are. You are basically at the mercy of the tides and currents. You only get credit for 21 miles but I ended up swimming about 25½ miles because of the way the current takes you.”
As for what’s next, Lewin joked that he’s done with swimming, but quickly added that he says that after every major swim.
Now that he has reached his goal, Lewin said he has been able to reflect on how thankful he has felt to receive such support, not only from his family, but from the local community over the past three years.
“It’s a solo sport, but I’ve had so much help and support along the way,” said Lewin. “Everyone who has followed my journey over the last three years and reached out made it special.”
