By Prior Beharry
ABOUT ten swimmers will attempt to reach Trinidad from Tobago in September.
It is being planned by Trinity Masters Swim Club based at St Mary’s Pool in St James.
President of the club Gordon Borde, 83, told AZP News on Sunday that members usually participate in cross-harbour events from the Five Islands to the Carenage Jetty, around Gasparee Island and at Maracas every year.
He said a bunch of club members including coach Edward Tuberoso and his son Issac want to be the first people to actually swim from one island to the next.
Asked if this was not achieved by former president of the Public Service Association Watson Duke recently, Borde said Duke did not swim all the way as he jumped aboard a boat and was aided by holding on to jet skis.
Gordon said the swim will be about 34 kilometres or 21 miles and the swimmers will start at Crown Point and want to land at Toco, current and conditions permitting. He said it was expected to take 13 to 14 hours and the start time will be at 4 am.
The president of the club will also be swimming in the relay leg where swimmers will join the main swimmers for about 2,000 metres at a time.
He said the swimmers will be supported with boats and kayaks and hoped to get support from the Trinidad and Tobago Coast Guard.
Gordon won the first-ever cross-harbour event from Five Islands to the Carenage Jetty held by the Amateur Swimming Association of Trinidad and Tobago (ASATT) in 1962. He also won the event in 1963 and 1964.
He said he may take part in a similar swim on May 1, to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the first cross-harbour event.
The ten swimmers for the Tobago to Trinidad event have already started training with a 7,000-metre swim from the Foreshore in Cocorite to Five Islands on March 5. Every month they train in the open water once the weather permits.
Swimmers on March 5 included Tuberoso and his son, William Carr, Richard Borde, Louis Martin, Jeffrey Ferdinand, Roger Watts, Horace Govia, Donavon Garib and Trent Baptiste.
Borde said in 2013 he along with Ferdinand and Tony Levitt attempted the swim from Tobago to Trinidad but were unable to make it as they drifted away in the current.
He said they had about 10,000 metres to go when the Coast Guard stopped them because it was getting late and after passing the “shallows” the current became very strong and it was difficult to reach Toco so they were heading to Maracas.
