Just keep swimming: A New Jersey swimmer’s journey to the English Channel

A community that chooses the cold waves

To get ready for this feat, Robinson has been swimming 30 miles a week and training with a group of open-water swimmers on the Jersey Shore.

Even after training for hours in the pool, Robinson finds himself drawn to open water.

Brian Shea is the founder and head coach of the Jersey Shore Masters Swim program.

Every weekend, Shea brings people together — from beginners to folks like Robinson — to join mile-long swims across the shore. They’re in open water, running from the spring until November, and for people of all levels.

“Even the person that’s going to do an ocean mile swim that finishes dead last, you know, it’s like saying you’re the dumbest person at Harvard, you still got in, you still made the cut,” said Shea.

The joy of swimming in open water comes from the community it fosters. Not everyone wants to commit to open water swimming beyond a polar plunge. Shea mentioned the people who swim this intensely are driven by a desire to undertake a challenge when sticking to such a discipline.

“That’s the thing with the groups that I have, there’s nobody that has lax motivation that’s walking into my pool tomorrow morning at 4:45 a.m., everybody there is motivated by some goal.”

But for New Jersey–native Nancy Steadman-Martin, the discipline of swimming has always been a part of her life.

“For me, it’s always been part of my family and I think when I swim long distance, I can always hear my father, my coach saying, ‘Good job, Nancy,’” said Steadman-Martin. “I feel like it’s a part of me. I need to do it just the way I need to eat and sleep. I need to swim every day.”

This August marked 20 years since Steadman-Martin set the world record for the fastest woman over 50 to cross the English Channel. She swam the channel with her longtime swimming partner, Michelle Davidson.

The pair have been swimming together almost every day since 1996, and mostly without wetsuits.