My 2011 swim across the Hellespont, which enabled me to stroke from Europe to Asia and continue my long-distance walk around the Mediterranean Sea beyond Troy in Turkey, has been heralded in a book that will be published Tuesday (April 3, 2012).
Former ABC News correspondent and long-time swimmer Lynn Sherr uses our late August Hellespont crossing as a bridging theme throughout her fact-filled, anecdote-rich, historically informative, people-oriented and scientifically sound hardcover book “Swim: Why We Love The Water” (Public Affairs, $25.99).
Lynn delightfully and seamlessly weaves the lore and legend associated with the Hellespont with everything you’ve ever wanted to know — and everyone, from mythical Leander to magical Michael Phelps, you’ve ever wanted to meet – throughout the swimming universe.
The eclectic characters who populate “Swim” include, to name but a few, John Quincy Adams, Beowolf, Brigitte Bardot, Lord Byron, Albert Camus, Cleopatra, Douglas Fairbanks, Gerald Ford, Ben Franklin, Sigmund Freud, Betty Grable, Liberace, Ludwig II, Mao, Herman Melville, Pliny the Younger, Wallace Stevens, Henry David Thoreau, Paul Valery and Neil Young. Who knew?
Naturally The Idiot, born a stressed and sprinting freestyler but now a tranquil and step-at-a-time MedTrekker and mellow masters swimmer, appears somewhat philosophic when he’s all-too-briefly quoted on page 183:
“Joel Stratte-McClure, an adventurer from San Francisco who is trekking the Mediterranean, called his bronze medal ‘a walk in the park. I think I compensated too much – went too far to Istanbul (north) before I cut over to Greece (south). But what the hell, I mean it’s been a 5,000-mile journey (for me to get here); a couple of kilometers here and there don’t matter.’”
The Idiot socializes before his swim across the Hellespont.
Lynn was referring, of course, to the way I (mis)judged the Hellespont current to avoid being swept out to sea before arriving at the finish line of a 4.5-kilometer race that attracted 189 foreign and 260 Turkish competitors. Like Lynn, I didn’t drown, won a medal in my age group and enjoyed the seaside after party. For additional details and my view of our swim see my “Hellespont Milestone” blog item @ http://followtheidiot.com/medtrekking-the-mediterranean/hellespont-milestone and watch for an account of the swim, and the next 4,401 kilometers of my Mediterranean walk, in my upcoming book “The Idiot and the Odyssey II: Myth, Madness and Magic on the Mediterranean” later this year.
The Idiot relaxes after swimming across the Hellespont.
Even if you don’t tackle the Hellespont yourself, you’ll enjoy Lynn’s well-researched account of why many of us have a natural affinity to plunge into water when you dip or dive into “Swim: Why We Love The Water.” And as an added bonus when you flip the 212 pages you’ll see a swimmer in action.
English Channel and Lake Berryessa (a Pacific Masters open water competition is scheduled for June 2) here we come, right Lynn?
Lynn Sherr and The Idiot show off their Hellespont medals.
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