Outback grazier swims Catalina Channel in bid for Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming

A Los Angeles seaside is about as huge a change in surroundings from far west New South Wales as you will get.

It was right here on the Southern Californian shoreline that outback grazier Brendan Cullen accomplished his newest sporting feat — swimming the 32.3-kilometre Catalina Channel from Santa Cantaline Island to the US mainland. 

The majority of the greater than 13-hour swim was accomplished at the hours of darkness to keep away from the channel’s blustery afternoon winds, in circumstances the 52-year-old described as “magnificent”, with little wind and water temperatures of round 22 levels Celsius.

“One of the things that I’ll never forget was the bioluminescence in the water, ” he informed ABC Broken Hill.

“Every time your hand hit the water, it would just flash like a rainbow. It was unbelievable.

“And each once in a while you could possibly see the underside of the ocean simply flicker, and it was like the celebs beneath.”

Becoming a Triple Crown menace

In the lead-up to the swim, Mr Cullen, who runs Kars Station, more than 1,000 kilometres west of Sydney, had been training at Menindee Lakes and Broken Hill pool.

Although noticeably devoid of waves, both were sufficient for preparing Mr Cullen for swimming the English Channel twice before taking on the Catalina Channel, in his bid to conquer the Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming.

The grazier first accomplished the 33-kilometre English Channel solo in 2022, earlier than taking it on once more a yr later as a part of a relay.

Although the US and English channels were of a similar length, Mr Cullen said his English Channel swims were far more challenging than the Catalina Channel due to the water temperature, with the UK swim taking him four hours longer.

Even at evening, the US waters have been considerably hotter than the freezing stretch of water between England and France.

Mentor and mate’s ‘sacrifice’

Mr Cullen had entered the water at Santa Cantaline Island with his friend, coach and mentor Mike Gregory, but his tandem partner made the selfless decision to opt out of the swim when it became obvious the more experienced swimmer was outpacing the grazier.

“He was getting in entrance of me after which dropping behind me and he was cooling down, and he wasn’t fairly certain whether or not he was going to have the ability to preserve that,” Mr Cullen mentioned.

“Which is a hell of a thing to do.”

Left to swim solo, Mr Cullen was supported by his spouse, Jacinta, and two daughters, Emma and Charli, who accompanied him in a ship.

Mr Gregory joined Mr Cullen’s household within the boat to cheer him on.

Pushing by discomfort and fatigue because the swim went on, Mr Cullen was jubilant when he made it to shore in LA.

“My shoulders took a bit of a belting,” he mentioned.

But he was decided to not stop, and recalled considering: “There’s no way in hell I’m getting out.”

Not nearly swimming

Mr Cullen has been a champion for psychological well being consciousness — he has battled his personal sickness previously and is an advocate throughout western NSW.

So the grazier thought it could be good to boost consciousness and cash for not-for-profit Find Ya Feet, which runs workshops in colleges and sporting golf equipment about vulnerability.

“School’s a tough place to be, especially if you don’t want to be there … and [so I] figured it would be an awesome thing to do to raise a few bucks,” Mr Cullen mentioned.

Find Ya Feet’s founder and chief government, Tom Herschell, mentioned it was Mr Cullen who first reached out as a result of he wished to assist.

“[He’s] just a beautiful man with a beautiful heart and has a vision, and he’s a doer.”