STUNG BY JELLY-FISH U.S. Swimmer Sets Two-Way Record

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30862, 22 September 1965, Page 19

STUNG BY JELLY-FISH U.S. Swimmer Sets Two-Way Record

Press Association—Copyright) ST. MARGARET’S BAY, September 21. A 07-y ear-old Chicago physiotherapist, Ted Erikson, clambered ashore beneath England’s white cliffs *! *i? r e r completing a record-breaking, two-way swim ° the English Channel, Associated Press reported. Erikson, the first channel swimmer to set his course by computer, finished 30hr lOmin after leaving Dover on Sunday.

Only one other per- . son has ever made the I two-way swim—Antonio Abertondo. (Ar- I gentina), in 1961. His time was 43hr ! smin. i i i After completing his j i marathon effort, Erikson i revealed that he had swum I I for almost 12 hours in | extreme pain from jelly-fish | stings, Reuter reported. He said he had swum i through a shoal of jelly-fish which stung him on his legs, arms and part of his chest. | In spite of the pain. Erik-1 son broke the record for the' two-way trip by 13 hours.’ battling against adverse tides; for the last few hours. “This makes all the efforts of the previous swims in the last two years worthwhile.” Erikson commented as he clambered ashore, United Press International reported. “It has proved my faith in the computer calculations of my course.”

After he failed last year in a similar attempt details of the swim were fed into a computer which plotted a course for him.