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Marathon swimmer conquers Howe Sound

"Cold. So cold," marathon swimmer, Shane Collins uttered almost as if those were his last words not his first words as he stepped out of the water at Horseshoe Bay on Sunday, July 22, after a nine hour swim from Squamish.

"Cold. So cold," marathon swimmer, Shane Collins uttered almost as if those were his last words not his first words as he stepped out of the water at Horseshoe Bay on Sunday, July 22, after a nine hour swim from Squamish.

This was the second attempt by Collins, 51, to swim Howe Sound. His first try, swimming from Copper Beach near Horseshoe Bay to Squamish on Aug. 22, 1999, failed when he was stopped by back eddies and winds three and a half hours into the swim.

On Sunday, the West Vancouver resident’s route followed the middle of the sound, past Britannia Beach, Porteau, and Anvil Island, then down in between Bowyer Island and Lions Bay. He had a window of about nine hours before tides would begin coming back up Howe Sound. But when he stepped into the 58 degree Fahrenheit water in Squamish harbour last Sunday at 5:50 a.m., the wind was a concern.

At 8:45 a.m., he was off Brunswick Point and the water was relatively calm. By 9:40 a.m., Collins, who swims without a wet suit and was being monitored from a pilot boat by his wife, Debbie, and pilot, Cameron Caulder, was past the halfway point off Anvil Island. But by 9:50 a.m. there was a one foot chop and the crew decided to cut in behind Bowyer Island.

"The wind is coming in at his right shoulder," Debbie, who is a sports medicine doctor reported.

The wind was blowing up Howe Sound and would have directly impeded Collin's progress. Turning in between Bowyer and the shoreline meant the wind had slightly less effect but it still pushed him back.

But Collins was doing well and the team expected to be in Horseshoe Bay about 1 p.m.

"Seals were playing with me for the first couple of hours," he recounted later. "They play with your toes."

Collins has completed solo crossings of the English Channel and Georgia Strait. He's competed in a rough water swimming race off Bondi Beach in Australia and in the Maui Channel race in Hawaii. He's also done Iron Man races and several 100-mile mountain races but nothing may compare to marathon swimming for shear toughness.

"During a 100-mile race if I'm really tired and I'm hurting, I can stop moving," he points out. "But if you're in the ocean and you’re swimming there is nothing you can do except keep moving. You have no choice. "

Sunday was a picture perfect summer afternoon in Horseshoe Bay. Fishermen were mooching for spring salmon along the east shore of Howe Sound. Ferries and small pleasure craft slipped in and out of the Bay. Seagulls and curious onlookers swarmed the dock at Sewell's Marina where someone was dressing a fresh caught salmon. But by 1 p.m. there was no sign of Collins. More time went by. A small group of people had gathered at the end of the dock. Then the pilot boat was spotted just off Horseshoe Bay. By the time the pilot tied up at the government wharf people were clapping and passengers had gathered along the top deck of a B.C. Ferry to watch Collins come in.

I was at the beach expecting Collins to stand up in the shallows; his right fist punching the air, mouth open and water dripping from his chin as he surged on shore. But what happened next was shocking.

"The water in Squamish was so cold," he said quietly, gingerly stepping, almost wandering onto the beach. He stood for a moment, his suit smeared with anhydrous lanoline and Vaseline, then he went down on all fours. He began shivering uncontrollably and his wife rushed up. Someone ran down the beach. Within minutes, he was covered with a mountain of blankets. He was in second stage hypothermia when he came out of the water, which meant the core body temperature had dropped to the point where he'd stopped shivering so he wasn't maintaining his body heat. He was done, but he had a glint in his eye.

Next morning, Collins talked about the swim. He had been concerned about the wind and the cold.

"I couldn't warm up because it was too cold," he recounted.

Wind and cold water are part of the sport of marathon swimming. The English Channel is tough because the water is rough all the time but swimmers from all over the world go to the channel because it's considered the swim to do. Collins says Howe Sound is second only to the English Channel in terms of difficulty, because of the cold.

One reason he challenged the sound is that he wants to develop a culture for long distance swimming in British Columbia that's recognized outside of Vancouver. He's certain Howe Sound could become a marathon swim recognized by the Channel Swimming Association in England, which is the world body for marathon swimming. His achievement Sunday was a stroke in that direction.

"People will talk about it," he says. "Anyone who’s into marathon swimming will say, 'maybe that's something I should look into.'"

But a race in Howe Sound involving numbers of marathon swimmers will likely stay out of reach.

"I think it would be dangerous," Collins says.

All through the buildup to the swim there's been a theme about the beauty of Howe Sound, something Collins would like people to be more aware of.

"Look up Howe Sound on a sunny day," he says. "As you come down the road look at the snow capped mountains. I've never seen anything more beautiful."

At one time there were Humpback whales in Howe Sound. Imagine what looking down at the water and seeing a whale breach would be like for any of the thousands of people who travel the Sea to Sky highway every year. Unfortunately there's an on-going threat to all that beauty. Up until 1991 mercury was discharged into Howe Sound and 450 kilograms of copper still enters the Sound every day near Britannia. Collins' feeling is that if government allows pollution of any kind then government should be taken to task.

"Only if government opens its bloody eyes – it's not going to change," he says.

Collins stayed on the beach in Horseshoe Bay covered in blankets for about an hour. His kidneys had shut down shortly after he started the swim and he had fluid in his lungs. But as he was sitting on the beach, he started to shiver which was a sign he was regaining his body temperature. He was walked to a car, driven home, and given a hot bath. A couple of hours later, he was healthy.

Collins' next challenge will be an 88 kilometre race in the Piranha River in Argentina in 2003. He's done rivers before but nothing like this.

"There are piranhas in it and all over it, but I found out that piranhas eat and are dangerous only at a certain time of the year," he says laughing. "Obviously that's not the time of year when I have to swim."

For Collins and the team the swim was a realization of how difficult Howe Sound is. It's always challenging to be the first person but that's not what matters to him.

"It's an athletic challenge in endurance and I'm glad I made it," Collins says.

Too bad governments haven't been challenged and done something about Howe Sound.