Channeling her potential

2013-02-20 12:37:36

Tina Neill is already in exclusive company as a member of the small worldwide community of top-level channel swimmers. She's truly in a class all her own, however, in the respect that two of her signature swims have been completed using only the backstroke, a highly unusual undertaking in a sport that overwhelmingly favors freestyle swimming.

"You have to train differently," Neill says. "Most swimmers, especially fitness swimmers, don't like being on their back because they can't see where they're going. There's this fear, but for me it's just very comfortable."

Shortly after completing her first-ever freestyle swim of the English Channel in 2003, Neill's swimming coach inquired if she would ever attempt the feat again.

"I just blurted out, 'Yeah, I'll do it backstroke," Neill said. "Two years later I did. I guess it was meant to be."

Neill's 2005 time was not only a world record for a backstroke crossing of the English Channel, but according to, was faster than the average overall time for completing the swim.

Neill needed three tries to complete this grueling 52-mile swim. She first tried to go around the east end of Catalina to the town of San Clemente, but quit 28 hours in and then from Laguna Beach to San Clemente Island before quitting 24 hours in.

"The East end has these currents that are horrendous," Neill says, "so I just decided to try something different."

In 2012 she finally adjusted her course to go around west end of Catalina to Palos Verdes Peninsula.

"It was my third try, but I feel like things just came together this year," she says.

It takes a special kind of athlete to pursue the challenging and unpredictable sport of open water swimming, an endeavor that by its very nature tests the mettle of the human spirit and pushes the boundaries of physical endurance.

The rewards for conquering an channel swim can be great, whether its in the form of personal glory or the distinction that comes with setting a world record. Laguna Beach resident Tina Neill has a few of those to her name, but has a much simpler motivation for spending dozens of hours at a time and traveling distances of upwards of 50 miles in the untamed ocean battling the elements and challenging her own limitations.

"I do it for the challenge and adventure of it; it's kind of my thing" Neill says. "A lot of people do it for other reasons and that's fine, that's their choice. There are some people that do some events and it's all for charity, and that's wonderful. Some people just do it for the records and the media and that's fine too. I just love the adventure and the challenge of it."

A lifelong swimmer, Neill was turned onto channel swimming by taking part in the Maui Channel relay swim from Lanai to Maui in 1986. Neill has gradually grown in the sport over the years to the point where she is one of the most recognized channel swimmers in the world. She was a nominee for the World Open Water Swimming Association's World Open Water Swimming Woman of the Year in 2012, a year which saw her complete three major swims in different corners of the world.

She began her big year with swimming the Kaulakahi Channel (from Kaui to Niihau) in April, then did the Manhattan Island Marathon Swim, which circumnavigates the Manhattan Island in New York City, in June, followed by a relay swim from San Clemente Island to Palos Verdes Peninsula with five other swimmers in July. She capped it off with the crowning achievement of becoming the first person to complete a solo swim from San Clemente Island to the California mainland in September.

"You look at it from all angles of what you need to do to make it a successful swim and you really can't take any shortcuts," Neill said of training for her adventures. "You just have to do a lot of swimming, have the confidence that you can make it and just be comfortable in the ocean, trust your crew and have the proper fueling – and then obviously a little luck."

During her swims Neill is accompanied by a support crew aboard a small boat to assist with safety and nourishment as well an official observer as to verify safety procedures and the legitimacy of results and times.

Other than that, it's just Neill alone in the vast ocean, allowed no more than one cap, a pair of goggles, and a standard swimsuit. Periodic feeding sessions in which she has 10-20 seconds to ingest as many nutrients as possible, mostly through warm fluids, are what keep her body fueled for the marathon swimming session.

Neill, who remains tight-lipped about what she has in store for 2013, says she gets a sense of peace from being submerged in nature, even when she's swimming off the Channel Islands in areas known for Great White shark sightings or battling relentless currents off the coast of Catalina Island.

"It's beautiful at night," Neill says. "You see all the bioluminescence out there and depending on what the moon's doing, it can be really peaceful and magical out there. You don't think about what's out there."

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