HOLMES BEACH – It may be a first.
Julie Madison, 34, swam around Anna Maria Island on Dec. 30, traveling 16.8 miles in 67-degree water in about seven and a half hours.
It doesn’t officially count with the Marathon Swimmers Federation, the gatekeepers of such feats, because she wore a wetsuit (non-standard equipment) and her husband was the only observer, Madison said. But she plans to do it again this spring for the record books.
“It felt like the right time and right place,” said Madison, who recently relocated to Cortez from Connecticut when the pool where she worked as a swim coach shut down for nine months during the COVID-19 pandemic. “I knew a few people were thinking about doing it and I wanted to get it done before they did.”
Those people are members of the local Open Water Swim Club based on Anna Maria Island, casually organized by Garry Fenimore. The group has been together for about nine years and varies from 10 to 20 people depending on the time of year and the weather, he said, adding that last week, they held a special event, swimming from Bean Point to Manatee Beach. The group meets every Sunday at Manatee Beach in Holmes Beach, where Madison started and ended her swim.
“Her husband kayaked for her,” Fenimore said. “You really have to have a kayaker because of boat traffic and the length of the swim.”
Unlike marathon swimmer Diana Nyad, who trained off Anna Maria Island in 2010 to swim from Havana to Key West with a Sun staff member as observer, Madison encountered no stinging jellyfish, but only friendly dolphins on her swim.
She accomplished the feat a little at a time.
“It’s all about figuring out goals that work for you and pushing yourself just a little bit,” said Madison, who also works with the Fresh Start Swim Series, organizing swim races in Madeira Beach, Honeymoon Island and St. Pete Beach to benefit Forgotten Coast K9, which trains service dogs for veterans. “I started out 15 minutes at a clip and pushed my speed and pushed my distance until I could eventually do 17 miles.”
