Open-water swimmer, coach and cancer-prevention advocate Carly Miller has successfully completed the English Channel, finishing the 32.9-kilometer (20.4-mile) crossing from England to France in 11 hours and 41 minutes (pending ratification) and completing the prestigious Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming, pending official ratification by the Channel Swimming & Piloting Federation.
The achievement places Miller among an exceptionally small group of marathon swimmers. Approximately 400 people worldwide have completed the Triple Crown, which requires successful completion of the English Channel, Catalina Channel and 20 Bridges Swim around Manhattan Island.
For Miller, the English Channel proved as much a mental challenge as a physical one. The final miles brought another major obstacle when Miller encountered a dense stretch of jellyfish and was repeatedly stung while approaching the French coast.
“Mentally this was one of the toughest swims I have ever done, simply because of the lead-up, booking it three years in advance, the weather windows, the waiting,” Carly Miller said. “We had terrible windy weather, so I was basically racing the entire swim. And then there’s the jellyfish minefield that goes for about five miles at the end, with millions of jellyfish, there’s no way around it. I was repeatedly stung but had to keep going.”
Miller’s crossing was piloted by Rob Thompson aboard the Anastasia. Her crew included her husband, Matthew Gerbasi; friend Tammy Parrish, who traveled from Amsterdam; and Caroline Sims from the United Kingdom.
The accomplishment marks the culmination of a journey that extends far beyond swimming. After losing her mother to cancer, Miller learned of her own hereditary cancer risk and underwent a prophylactic double mastectomy. In the years that followed, she struggled with grief, depression and addiction before discovering open-water swimming at age 40- an experience she credits with transforming her life.
Since then, Miller has taken on some of open-water swimming’s most demanding challenges. In addition to completing the three swims that make up the Triple Crown, she became the sixth person to complete the 27-mile Santa Monica Bay crossing and recently became the seventh swimmer to complete Lake Tahoe’s “5 Tails of Tessie” challenge.
