Swimming to Antarctica_ Tales of a Long-Distance Swimmer - Lynne Cox [40]
“Over ’ere, love! ’Urry ’Urry, love. Step on that rock.” Mickey pointed and shouted.
I looked at the rocks. The waves seemed larger, and I didn’t want to go back down that way. One knee was bleeding. I was scared. If I messed up this time, I was really going to get scraped. I looked around. “I can’t get down there,” I yelled. The waves were too big. But I couldn’t walk along the point either; it was at least half a mile to the beach. “Can you move over there, around the point a little?” The waves didn’t seem as big there. I stepped down, then glanced back at the lighthouse one more time. We did it, I thought, and I felt a deep, warm sense of satisfaction spread through my body. My father and brother and sisters would be so happy too. A wave lifted me, tossing me back up; I fought it and swam out to the launch.
Mickey had me face him, then slid a towel under my arms. He and Reg Junior dragged me on board like a netful of fish. Mickey held my head in his hands and kissed my cheeks. “You made it, love. You made it. Congratulations.”
Reg Junior said, “Congratulations, great job.” He was laughing at Mickey. He was very happy too.
“Did I break the world record?” I asked.
Mickey had started to cry. “I get very emotional sometimes,” he said, wiping the tears off his face. “Yes, love, you did. On July 20, 1972, you set a new world record. The fastest time anyone has ever swum the Channel. Nine hours and fifty-seven minutes. That record’s going to last a very long time.”
When I saw my mother in the boat, she said, “I’m sorry. I didn’t want to push you so hard. I knew you were tired.” She burst into tears.
“I’m glad you pushed me, Mom. I needed your help. Thank you.”
She hugged me tightly. And then Mr. Brickell came over to me. He was absolutely beaming. He grabbed my hand and hugged me. “You did it! Congratulations. What courage.”
“We did it, Mr. Brickell. We did it. Thank you,” I said, and I hugged him again.
I was so cold and tired. Mickey and my mother wrapped me in blankets and I sat down, leaned against the pilot’s house, and fell asleep. When I woke up we were entering Dover Harbour, and I saw those beautiful white cliffs. I couldn’t wait to phone home.
There was no way I could have anticipated the crowd of reporters waiting for us on the dock. They were from the Manchester Post, the Telegram, even the BBC. Each of them asked about the swim. They were thrilled. When my mother and I got back to the hotel there were radio stations calling from New York, Boston, Los Angeles, Bangkok, and even Australia. And there were so many requests to have pictures taken the next day.
The next day, before I did anything, I had to call Brickell, to thank him for all he had done and to include him in the photos, but he wasn’t in. He had taken Des out on his attempt to do a double crossing of the Channel. All day long I thought about Des, wondering if he would make it. Finally the news came back; he’d made it one direction, but the weather hadn’t held, so he’d pulled out. Somehow I knew that wouldn’t stop Des. He would try again. That was part of a long-distance swimmer’s nature.
When my mother and I boarded the flight home, my spirits felt higher than the plane after takeoff. At age fifteen I had reached my highest goal in life.
7
Homecoming
A couple days after I got home, I went to the Belmont Plaza pool to detrain, stretch out, and just get back into the water. There was a banner at the pool, and all my teammates cheered when I walked onto the deck. It was a wonderful feeling to receive their recognition, and when Coach Gambril took my hand and shook it, then hugged me, I thought it couldn’t get any better than this. But it did. Hans came over to shake my hand, and he said, “You did such a fantastic job. I can’t believe it. You were so fast.”
Then Gunnar walked over, shook my hand, rumpled my hair, and smiled. “Yes, you did a great job.”
It was nearly too much to have my two heroes telling me that I did great. And I nearly lost it when Hans said, “We talked with Coach and he said