2nd Time’s the Charm for Channel Swimmer

A determined Canadian marathon swimmer Saturday succeeded in her second attempt to swim from Santa Catalina Island to the mainland for charity, arriving five hours earlier than planned.

Vicki Keith was greeted by about 25 people when she waded ashore at Cabrillo Beach about 4:30 p.m., spokeswoman Lori Pyne said.

“She’s just doing great,” Pyne said.

Under 15 Hours

She made the swim in just under 15 hours. She had hoped to make it in less than 20 hours.

Keith cracked jokes about sharks and dodged ship traffic Saturday during her marathon swim from the resort island to the mainland, using only the butterfly stroke.

“I’m just watching the ships go by, actually,” Keith shouted from the water nine hours and 11 miles into her 22-mile swim.

Skies were overcast and the seas calm as Keith sought to become the first person ever to make the crossing using the butterfly stroke.

Charity Events

Saturday’s attempt was the last in a series of marathon swims to raise money for Variety Children’s Charities. Those swims included a 31-hour trek across Lake Ontario on Sept. 4.

“It’s a lot saltier and not as long,” Keith quipped as she compared the channel swim to her Lake Ontario crossing.

Keith left Santa Catalina Island at 1:33 a.m. and established a brisk pace of 29 strokes per minute. By 11 a.m., she was averaging 27 strokes, stopping every two hours or so to take in food.

“It’s amazing. She treads water long enough to drink some chocolate milk and water and fruit cups, then shouts, ‘Let’s Go! Let’s Go!’ and the boat has to catch up with her,” said Bill Petrasich, a director of Variety Children’s Charities of Southern California.

Petrasich and the crew of the support vessel, “The Cold Spaghetti,” expected Keith to reach Cabrillo Beach under her original 20-hour estimate.

It was Keith’s second attempt at the channel crossing.

On July 28, she called it quits about six miles from Cabrillo Beach after gaining less than half a mile in eight hours in a powerful current. Keith, who spent 19 hours in the water, had begun hallucinating.

Just two weeks later, she became the first person to swim the frigid waters of the Juan de Fuca Strait in 33 years, organizers said.

Swam Great Lakes

In 1988, the Canadian mastered all five of the Great Lakes to raise more than $550,000 for a Toronto sports training and fitness center.

This summer she crossed the 42-mile-wide English Channel and swam 14 miles across Australia’s Sidney Harbor in marathons promoting children’s charities.

Keith hoped to raise up to $30,000 with Saturday’s swim to support the pediatric AIDS Clinic at County-USC Medical Center and the UCLA Children’s Artificial Limb Bank, Petrasich said.

The Variety Children’s Charities sponsors fund-raising events for children’s philanthropic programs in the Los Angeles area.