Lori King of Amagansett, New York, was trying to become the first person to swim from Block Island to Montauk when a shark fin rose from the water.
She didn’t see it, but her support crew, who surrounded her in two boats, a kayak and a proneboard, did. King was about 75 percent through the 24-mile marathon swim, and nobody wanted to be the one to tell her to get out of the water.
Instead, King’s crew switched from the diamond formation they were using and formed as much of a wall as they could between the swimmer and the shark.
They didn’t tell King what was happening. “I knew that something was happening, but I didn’t know what those somethings were,” King told The New York Times. “I knew I’d hear about them after.”
King faced two other sharks, jellyfish, dolphins, a baby squid, cold water and severe cramping, which prevented her from kicking with her right foot for 30 minutes, but she completed the swim in 8 hours, 39 minutes and 45 seconds.
Once it is officially certified, she will be listed as the first person to ever complete the Block Island to Montauk swim.
You can read more about it in The New York Times.
