so it’s 1:30 in the morning and I’m in
the Pacific Ocean
under a cloud filled sky attempting to
complete the third leg of the Triple
Crown of open water swimming the
Catalina channel I stopped at a regular
interval to refuel and suddenly things
aren’t going so well so the real
question is to start is how did I get
here and I learned to do what I did
through a series of steps that I wanted
to share with you that maybe you could
use if you’re trying to pursue something
or overcome adversity initially it
started with zero interest on my part I
took three lessons as a three swim
lessons as a kid so my parents will let
me work on a lobster boat no swim team
for me as a child
twenty-one years later I entered a pool
to try lap swimming so I could compete
in a triathlon and like most triathletes
I hated the swim I did I did go on and
complete three or so Half Ironman
distance triathlons and a few open water
swims but I gave it up because I was
never comfortable in the pool let alone
the open water and I lost interest in it
and after a four-year hiatus I tried
swimming one winter again and it came
with incredible ease it was effortless
all of a sudden I could feel everything
no work whatsoever and this is what I
call the awareness phase it was because
I had been practicing Pilates for a
number of years and Pilates taught me
the awareness of and the ability to
control my core and postural muscles and
that translated very well into my
swimming posture from here
I needed a goal I had to test myself so
I set my sights on the Mount Everest of
open water swims the English Channel a
21 mile swim but I realized that I still
needed a lot to learn and I rapidly went
into skill acquisition mode I sought
advice from many mentors around the
globe I wanted to understand tidal flows
and swell and currents and how they
influenced each other I needed to
understand how the weather impacted open
bodies of water and how wind direction
in winds
be interacted with the swell and the
title flow in my direction of swimming
at any given time at any given possible
combination of conditions I also wanted
to understand about marine biology yeah
I wanted to understand who’s house I was
actually swimming in and I needed a
really good strategy on how to quiet the
fear of swimming in the dark I had to be
able to endure 12 plus hours of swimming
in 60 to 65 degree water without a
wetsuit and this was relatively easy a
little combination of acclimatized
swimming and a steady diet of Reese’s
peanut butter cups and Boston lager I
was able to put on a few pounds to help
out with that I also needed a team a
team I could trust and put my faith in
in this sport your team are your eyes
your ears your brain your source of
motivation your source of fuel they are
your everything in the sport there’s no
I in solo open water swimming so I set a
date with the English Channel in July of
2014 and training was going really good
until about 13 weeks prior to my swim
where I fell off my roof and severely
fractured my foot five screws in five
weeks later the doctors told me that I
could run returned to swimming but I
wasn’t allowed to bear any weight on my
foot as that part of physical therapy
wasn’t scheduled too much after my
English Channel swim so I was committed
I believed I could do it I did and so
with just a little over seven weeks to
go with the help of my family my friends
and my team and even strangers who came
to my aid on the beach I went back to
finish my training crawling in and out
of the water to give myself a chance
so finally over in the UK I entered the
channel and as soon as I get away from
the wind shadow of England the winds
kick up 15 20 mile an hour winds
eight foot seas for the rest of the day
but I knew I could do it despite the
foot despite the conditions and now
for ten hours and 50 minutes I crawled
onto the rocky shore of France
completing the English Channel now
thanks now this is gonna sound really
crazy but I thought it was a fluke all
the drama the screws the crawling so to
prove to myself that I wasn’t a one-hit
wonder I set a new goal and that was to
complete the Triple Crown of open water
swimming by adding the 28 and a half
mile swim around Manhattan Island and a
twenty point two mile swim from Catalina
Island to the Southern California coast
so it’s June of 2015 now and I enter the
East River this is a current assisted
swim the entire way influenced by tidal
flows at different points and strong
river flows but timing is everything
on this swim I entered the so the swim
takes you on the East River up the
Harlem River and then down the Hudson
around Battery Park and back up halfway
up the East River to finish my swim was
quick and I ended up having to stop in
Brooklyn for 15 minutes just to wait for
the East River current to change so I
could go back into the flow to have a
shot at finishing so after 21 miles I
had to stop my muscles started the
seizing up process they thought they
were done for the day my body
temperature slowly starts to drop
because I’m not generating heat anymore
but I knew that once I started to swim
again all of my preparations would come
out just as I had planned and I
ultimately finished the lap in seven
hours and 15 minutes so now it’s August
of 2016 it’s 1:30 in the morning under a
cloud filled sky and I’m in the Catalina
channel and suddenly things aren’t going
so well
I stopped to fuel at a regular interval
and my support kayak has become disabled
and needs to be repaired on the power
safety boat that I had hired for my trip
so thanks to Steven Spielberg
and the Discovery Channel my biggest
fears ram into my head like the Triple
Crown of all fears great white sharks in
their house in the middle of the night
so I had a choice to make I could wait
for the repair or I could swim on I
could choose to be a sitting duck or I
could choose to be a moving duck so I
chose to quiet that fear and to swim on
alone until the boats caught up with me
so finally approaching the finish the
waves thrashed me on shore at my landing
spot and finally standing up after 9
hours and 12 minutes I look at myself
and I have now have a open wound on my
elbow and cuts across my ribcage so my
fear quieting training did not envision
chumming the waters at all and I had a
short swim back to the safety boat but I
chose again to quiet the fear and to be
a moving duck of a quiet efficient
moving duck and after a short swim I
touched this found the security of that
ladder and climbed back on board safe a
little scraped up but no rest for the
weary a few months later the
international swim community informed me
that I was the first person from the
state of New Hampshire to complete the
Triple Crown and that
and that my debut swim times put me as
10th fastest in the history of the
triple crown hang on hang on that didn’t
last very long just fast forward a year
and I’ve already been eclipsed off that
list no problem but my story isn’t about
the lists my story is about what I
learned so what is it that you fear or
that’s keeping what’s keeping you from
holding holding you back from doing
something maybe it’s changing careers
moving across the country starting a
family or maybe signing up for your
first marathon maybe you could try what
I did start with your strengths if you
think about it we all have strengths
right one at least one you have a
strength because you overcame something
to get that string so when it comes to
adversity you’ve already been down that
path of having to push yourself and
overcome so believe in that and set
goals to test yourself as lofty as you
want goals that build off of one another
deliver a stronger belief in that
strength you have and that will give you
the courage to try to push yourself a
little bit further the next time
anticipate obstacles as much as you can
what challenges will you be faced on
your journey and prepare for them
because it’s the preparation that will
minimize adversity on your journey and
lastly I’ll leave you with a couple of
things believed to succeed believe in
yourself believe in your preparations
and believe that other people around you
believe in you and that you might be the
last person to believe in you and lastly
be a moving duck
keep driving keep swimming keep pushing
on but be a move in duck thank you very
much
[Music]
[Applause]
the Pacific Ocean
under a cloud filled sky attempting to
complete the third leg of the Triple
Crown of open water swimming the
Catalina channel I stopped at a regular
interval to refuel and suddenly things
aren’t going so well so the real
question is to start is how did I get
here and I learned to do what I did
through a series of steps that I wanted
to share with you that maybe you could
use if you’re trying to pursue something
or overcome adversity initially it
started with zero interest on my part I
took three lessons as a three swim
lessons as a kid so my parents will let
me work on a lobster boat no swim team
for me as a child
twenty-one years later I entered a pool
to try lap swimming so I could compete
in a triathlon and like most triathletes
I hated the swim I did I did go on and
complete three or so Half Ironman
distance triathlons and a few open water
swims but I gave it up because I was
never comfortable in the pool let alone
the open water and I lost interest in it
and after a four-year hiatus I tried
swimming one winter again and it came
with incredible ease it was effortless
all of a sudden I could feel everything
no work whatsoever and this is what I
call the awareness phase it was because
I had been practicing Pilates for a
number of years and Pilates taught me
the awareness of and the ability to
control my core and postural muscles and
that translated very well into my
swimming posture from here
I needed a goal I had to test myself so
I set my sights on the Mount Everest of
open water swims the English Channel a
21 mile swim but I realized that I still
needed a lot to learn and I rapidly went
into skill acquisition mode I sought
advice from many mentors around the
globe I wanted to understand tidal flows
and swell and currents and how they
influenced each other I needed to
understand how the weather impacted open
bodies of water and how wind direction
in winds
be interacted with the swell and the
title flow in my direction of swimming
at any given time at any given possible
combination of conditions I also wanted
to understand about marine biology yeah
I wanted to understand who’s house I was
actually swimming in and I needed a
really good strategy on how to quiet the
fear of swimming in the dark I had to be
able to endure 12 plus hours of swimming
in 60 to 65 degree water without a
wetsuit and this was relatively easy a
little combination of acclimatized
swimming and a steady diet of Reese’s
peanut butter cups and Boston lager I
was able to put on a few pounds to help
out with that I also needed a team a
team I could trust and put my faith in
in this sport your team are your eyes
your ears your brain your source of
motivation your source of fuel they are
your everything in the sport there’s no
I in solo open water swimming so I set a
date with the English Channel in July of
2014 and training was going really good
until about 13 weeks prior to my swim
where I fell off my roof and severely
fractured my foot five screws in five
weeks later the doctors told me that I
could run returned to swimming but I
wasn’t allowed to bear any weight on my
foot as that part of physical therapy
wasn’t scheduled too much after my
English Channel swim so I was committed
I believed I could do it I did and so
with just a little over seven weeks to
go with the help of my family my friends
and my team and even strangers who came
to my aid on the beach I went back to
finish my training crawling in and out
of the water to give myself a chance
so finally over in the UK I entered the
channel and as soon as I get away from
the wind shadow of England the winds
kick up 15 20 mile an hour winds
eight foot seas for the rest of the day
but I knew I could do it despite the
foot despite the conditions and now
for ten hours and 50 minutes I crawled
onto the rocky shore of France
completing the English Channel now
thanks now this is gonna sound really
crazy but I thought it was a fluke all
the drama the screws the crawling so to
prove to myself that I wasn’t a one-hit
wonder I set a new goal and that was to
complete the Triple Crown of open water
swimming by adding the 28 and a half
mile swim around Manhattan Island and a
twenty point two mile swim from Catalina
Island to the Southern California coast
so it’s June of 2015 now and I enter the
East River this is a current assisted
swim the entire way influenced by tidal
flows at different points and strong
river flows but timing is everything
on this swim I entered the so the swim
takes you on the East River up the
Harlem River and then down the Hudson
around Battery Park and back up halfway
up the East River to finish my swim was
quick and I ended up having to stop in
Brooklyn for 15 minutes just to wait for
the East River current to change so I
could go back into the flow to have a
shot at finishing so after 21 miles I
had to stop my muscles started the
seizing up process they thought they
were done for the day my body
temperature slowly starts to drop
because I’m not generating heat anymore
but I knew that once I started to swim
again all of my preparations would come
out just as I had planned and I
ultimately finished the lap in seven
hours and 15 minutes so now it’s August
of 2016 it’s 1:30 in the morning under a
cloud filled sky and I’m in the Catalina
channel and suddenly things aren’t going
so well
I stopped to fuel at a regular interval
and my support kayak has become disabled
and needs to be repaired on the power
safety boat that I had hired for my trip
so thanks to Steven Spielberg
and the Discovery Channel my biggest
fears ram into my head like the Triple
Crown of all fears great white sharks in
their house in the middle of the night
so I had a choice to make I could wait
for the repair or I could swim on I
could choose to be a sitting duck or I
could choose to be a moving duck so I
chose to quiet that fear and to swim on
alone until the boats caught up with me
so finally approaching the finish the
waves thrashed me on shore at my landing
spot and finally standing up after 9
hours and 12 minutes I look at myself
and I have now have a open wound on my
elbow and cuts across my ribcage so my
fear quieting training did not envision
chumming the waters at all and I had a
short swim back to the safety boat but I
chose again to quiet the fear and to be
a moving duck of a quiet efficient
moving duck and after a short swim I
touched this found the security of that
ladder and climbed back on board safe a
little scraped up but no rest for the
weary a few months later the
international swim community informed me
that I was the first person from the
state of New Hampshire to complete the
Triple Crown and that
and that my debut swim times put me as
10th fastest in the history of the
triple crown hang on hang on that didn’t
last very long just fast forward a year
and I’ve already been eclipsed off that
list no problem but my story isn’t about
the lists my story is about what I
learned so what is it that you fear or
that’s keeping what’s keeping you from
holding holding you back from doing
something maybe it’s changing careers
moving across the country starting a
family or maybe signing up for your
first marathon maybe you could try what
I did start with your strengths if you
think about it we all have strengths
right one at least one you have a
strength because you overcame something
to get that string so when it comes to
adversity you’ve already been down that
path of having to push yourself and
overcome so believe in that and set
goals to test yourself as lofty as you
want goals that build off of one another
deliver a stronger belief in that
strength you have and that will give you
the courage to try to push yourself a
little bit further the next time
anticipate obstacles as much as you can
what challenges will you be faced on
your journey and prepare for them
because it’s the preparation that will
minimize adversity on your journey and
lastly I’ll leave you with a couple of
things believed to succeed believe in
yourself believe in your preparations
and believe that other people around you
believe in you and that you might be the
last person to believe in you and lastly
be a moving duck
keep driving keep swimming keep pushing
on but be a move in duck thank you very
much
[Music]
[Applause]
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