“I swam all along the shore. I didn’t cross (Kachemak Bay) because I was just training,” Cox told the Homer News in an interview Tuesday.
The water temperature was between 48-50 degrees, skies were clear and “it was wonderfully weird,” she said.
Famous for her open water swims, Cox made the first crossing of California’s Catalina Island Channel in 12:36 hours in 1971. In 1974, she did it again, improving, decreasing the time to 8:48 hours. Other difficult swims by Cox include the English Channel, the Straits of Magellan, three channels of the Aleutian Islands, the Cape of Good Hope and the Bering Strait.
“Open water swim has just been made an Olympic sport in Beijing, a six-mile race for men and women,” Cox said.
“So maybe you’ll be sending some of your Alaska swimmers.”
Cox is currently touring in promotion of her new book, “Grayson.” The book focuses on the swimmer’s encounter with a young gray whale off the Catalina coast.
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