Caption: John Procope, right, with members of his team after his historic swim
By Prior Beharry
OPEN-water swimmer John Procope becomes the first man to successfully navigate the waters between Tobago and Trinidad.
He arrived around 9.45 pm on Thursday in the waters just off Sans Souci on Trinidad’s north coast. He had started his journey from the Port of Scarborough in Tobago at 8 pm on Wednesday. The journey was over 25 hours in the water and about 40 kilometres in distance.
Reports indicated that Procope, 48, was taken out of the water just before the breakers in San Souci as the waters were very rough. The area is known for high seas and is commonly used by surfers. A surfer told AZP News that that area is full of large waves, shallow sands and rocks, making virtually impossible to navigate from offshore by boat.
One of Procope friend’s Barry Thomas in a voice note describes the swim as “beyond heroic.”
He said, “Maybe man did go on the moon and we grew up with all that stuff who walked on the moon and who didn’t walk on the moon and we grew up with all those controversies today… but yesterday I was totally involved for the entire day once Johnny entered the water… “
Thomas added, “It’s one of the greatest feats that a human being has performed in my world… my life is transformed by Johnny’s swim… I personally believe that that swim overtime, the stories being told etc will affect the lives of hundreds of thousands and one day millions of people… it’s beyond heroic, the analysis of it, the mental toughness, the challenges, the planning, what zone Johnny had to go into, anything that was going on in his mind.
“I would pay any amount of money to figure out where his mind was at after like 15 to17 hours in the water and then getting right there and had to battle with the currents and the tides…”
Procope did not touch or hold on to his support boats for assistance while swimming.
He was given drinking water, coconut water, Lucozade, Ensure and bananas from the support boats on the journey with him.
A Facebook live stream by crew member Michael Mclean aboard one of the support boats showed more that 1,200 viewers at one point.
This was Procope’s third attempt at the feat. In September 2022, he along with William Carr, Patrick Lee Loy, Roger Watts tried to swim from Rocky Bay, Tobago to Grande Riviere, Trinidad. But strong currents were pushing them off course and they called it quits after 11 hours in the water.
Last year, Procope tried a solo attempt from Fort Granby with Carr, a swim coach with T&T’s Special Olympics team, among a 16-member support team. This was also unsuccessful.
Procope has said that he drew inspiration from the legend of an 18th-century slave called Sandy, who escaped capture and made the swim.
One of T&T’s oldest competitive swimmers, Gordon Borde said in 2013 he along with Jeffrey Ferdinand and Tony Leavitt attempted the swim from Tobago to Trinidad but were unable to make it as they drifted away in the current. Leavitt was the main swimmer and was supported by Borde and Ferdinand.
Local Raymond La Croix has tried to make the inter-island journey 17 times.
In August, Swiss swimmer Markus Marthaler, tried to make the journey, but also fell short.
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