September 8, 2008
Crossing the swimming between the
Corvo and FloresSwim across Corvo Island to Flores Island (Azores)
Ricardo Freitas
The Journal Incentive
Picture: Neri GoulartDavid Yudovin, a veteran American athlete has completed, the early evening of last Friday, the crossing by swimming between the islands of Corvo and Flores.
The experienced swimmer from California, age 58, took seven hours and 10 minutes to travel the approximately 10 nautical miles separating the two islands of the Western Group of the Azores.
Using only a cap and glasses, David Yudovin jumped into the sea for this adventure, in place of the Big hole, the smallest island of the archipelago, by 12:57 hours, about four hours after the time originally planned, due to bad weather conditions that made themselves felt.
According Altino Goulart, one of the 'skipper' of the Clube Naval da Horta who accompanied the adventure, the three-meter waves and strong winds to be felt between Flores and Corvo in the morning that day, the time scheduled for the beginning of the crossing, forcing David Yudovin and his support team to postpone the match.
The conditions were so adverse that the boat that usually make the connection between these two islands in 40/50 minutes on Friday took about 2 hours and complete the course.
'Meanwhile, the wind dropped, the waves dropped to 1.5 meters and we were left with a window of eight to 10 hours of good time, "Gould recalled Altino, adding that the American swimmer took the opportunity to launch into the water, although he was aware that the test could be interrupted at any time, for security reasons.
As he explained, while crossing the ocean currents were not very strong, "with the exception of a zone, exactly halfway through ', which eventually also facilitate the task of the veteran athlete, who came to the village of Ponta Delgada, in Flowers, by 19:07 hours, where it was expected by several dozen people.
This is the third adventure of the kind that David Yudovin held in the Azores in less than a month, in August after hitting a record of the crossing by swimming between the islands of Faial and Pico (about five nautical miles) route which completed in two hours and 20 minutes, and a fortnight ago, also beating the record by swimming the crossing between Pico and Sao Jorge (about 10 miles) with a time of seven hours and 27 minutes.
David's wife, Beth Yudovin, also followed his adventures, following the edge of one of the boats, one of which also carried a nurse to assist during the crossing if necessary. This initiative was supported by the Maritime Police of Santa Cruz das Flores, who walked into the sea with a boat and the Fire Department of Santa Cruz das Flores and Corvo.
The next "adventure" by David Yudovin is already scheduled for 2009 in Cape Verde, probably with the same support team.
