Tiny Mermaid’s Challenge : Real-Life Ariel, 4, Will Be Taking on the Mighty Pacific in a Feat for Daddy and Herself

At first glance, you get the impression that 4-year-old Ariel Krespi’s only swimming is done in her dad’s bathtub.

Not the Pacific Ocean.

But on Sunday, tiny Ariel will don a wet suit, swim fins, pick up a kick board and attempt to butterfly and flutter kick from Newport Beach Pier to Balboa Pier, a distance of nearly two miles.

Her father, Irv Krespi, 61, of Costa Mesa has been training her eight weeks for the ocean swim, as a farewell present.

“It’s my legacy to her,” Krespi said, explaining that he has been diagnosed with malignant melanoma, a terminal cancer that has developed in his left eye.

“I couldn’t give her money, because I don’t have any,” said the father, who is an accomplished swimmer. “But we can do this together.” He plans to have someone videotape the feat and will leave his daughter the tape, so she will remember “when we did something big together.”

Six days a week, Ariel, her dad and, sometimes, Rishi Singh, 19, Krespi’s adopted grandson, head over to the clubhouse swimming pool at the Harbor Greens apartments.

It is here that Krespi, a former international-level competitive swimmer in the 1,500-meter freestyle, puts Ariel through her paces.

It’s not an easy workout.

With her father as her coach, life can be tough for Ariel, ironically the same name used for the principal character in a Disney movie titled “The Little Mermaid,” which is one of her favorite movies.

“Ariel is a mermaid,” her father said. To which his daughter corrected, “I am not. I’m a grown-up.”

“OK Ariel, now I want you to do two laps, butterfly kick,” her father said, psyching her up for a speed workout. “I want a personal best. OK! Get ready to push hard. Legs together. I want to see smoke!”

Ariel hurriedly grabbed her blue kick board, lowered her head and set her eyes on the opposite end of the pool.

Her father then launched her with a loud, “Ready! Go !”

The girl exploded off the wall, flutter kicking down one lane of the pool as she mustered all the energy her 45-pound body could metabolize.

“That’s it! That’s it” her dad coaxed as he walked alongside the pool decking. “You’re doing fine.”

Time: 13 seconds to kick 22 yards.

Although the workouts are arduous, ask Ariel what she thinks of her father and her answer may surprise you: “He’s my best friend. Daddy is my best friend.”

She swims about 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 miles, six days a week. Enough laps in the clubhouse pool to make other children in the apartment complex envious.

“She’s always here with her dad,” a young boy said.

With the use of a blue kick board, which swimmers use during practice, she will kick, rather than swim in the pier-to-pier ocean swim.

How does Krespi know which day not to workout?

“When Ariel says, ‘Daddy, I don’t want to work out today.’ We quit. We go do some fun things like eat ice cream instead. We eat ice cream everyday anyway,” Krespi said.

As to critics concerned about Ariel being pushed too far at such a young age, her father said, “She loves it.”

During a recent practice run, his daughter completed the two-mile swim successfully. She then told Dad, “Let’s try and swim back.” He agreed, but called a halt when her lips started to turn blue and she complained of being too cold.

Age 4 is young to encourage such athletic performance, said Robin Willia, coach of the Los Caballeros Swim Team in Fountain Valley.

According to U.S. amateur swimming rules, the youngest an individual can swim competitively is age 5, Willia said.

“Four-year-olds can train and be a part of a team,” Willia said. “But it is just basically for training and learning and not for competing. There are some leagues that allow 4-year-olds to compete, but really the youngest is the 5- to 6-year age group according to the U.S. Swimming Inc., the governing body for amateur swimming.”

Sometimes swimmers who are too young can be traumatized when switched from a swimming pool to the ocean, which can be rough with pounding surf and strong currents, she said.

“But there are 4-year-olds out there who can do it,” Willia added. “My daughter entered competitive swimming at that age. She likes to go to the swimming meets, and do the training, and liked the pizza parties. There are always exceptions. . . .”

Ariel has enjoyed the ocean ventures so far, saying she likes “all the bumps” or waves.

Ariel’s father and Singh will accompany Ariel when she attempts the feat, scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. Sunday. They will follow alongside her and help her follow a straight line.

“She’s young, and if we let her go by herself she’ll be all over the ocean,” her father said.