On Wednesday, July 19, 2017, Charlotte Brynn swam the 25 mile distance of Lake Memphremagog between Magog, QC and Newport, VT in 13 hours and 28 minutes. She left the public beach in Magog at 5:33 am arriving at 7:01 pm at Newport City Dock. Brynn is a New Zealander currently living in Stowe, VT where she works as Director of the Swimming Hole.
Brynn chose to swim North to South, in the face of a slight current against her and head winds that rose to 10 to 12 mph on occasion. The winds were calm during the start and calmed again during the last few hours of her swim
Water temperature at the surface was 72 to 73 F throughout the swim. Air temperature was in the 60s at the start of the swim but rose into the 80s in the afternoon.
Cynthia Needham of Hyde Park served as crew for Brynn in the escort boat, Django, a handmade 16’ wooden dory, piloted by Phil White of Kingdom Games. The three boated up to Magog the day before the swim, on Tuesday, stopping at Auberge McGowan in Georgeville for lunch, picking up some pastries, baguette, cheese, and ham, for the next day at Magasin General de Georgeville, docking at Magog Marine for the night, and staying over at the Hôtel & Spa Étoile-sur-le-Lac on Rue Principal (with beautiful views of the lake), before the early morning start on Wednesday.
Photo Courtesy: Phil White
This was the second time Brynn has swum the 25-mile distance on Lake Memphremagog. She was one of four swimmers to complete the inaugural In Search of Memphre in 2011. During that swim, fierce headwinds throughout the night forced six swimmers to pull from the water. Four completed the swim that first year: Liz Fry, Brynn, Greg O’Connor, and Elaine Kornbau Howley. The Search was held on the 10th anniversary of 9/11 in part to re-establish cross border swimming on the lake and to promote a more open border between Canada and the United States.
Memphremagog was kinder to Brynn during this swim almost as if she had earned a passage without any of the drama of that first year.
Brynn is a well-known and accomplished ultra-marathon swimmer, having swum the 28 miles around Manhattan, crossed the Catalina Channel in California, and double crossing Lake Champlain. Last year she established swims from Newport to Skinner Island (and Smugglers Cave) and back (18 miles) and from Newport around Ile Ronde and back (16 miles). She has won the Lake Willoughby swim in 2013 and the 25 km Border Buster in 2016 with a time of 7 hours, 55 minutes and 46 minutes. She is also an Ice Swimmer and Winter Swimmer serving on the Organizing Committee of the Memphremagog Winter Swim Festival. She maintains a web site www.brynnswim.com In 2016 she was inducted into the Vermont Open Water Swimming Hall of Fame.
The above press release was provided by the Kingdom Games.
Awesome