What these three get up to continues to escalate: international gold at swimming and lifesaving competitions, changing trades mid-career to become a doctor, stepping on the bodybuilding stage to compete (and win) the bikini division, underwater welding and explosives disposal as a clearance diver….
Now, Major Stephanie Bigelow, Master Corporal Sandi McLean and Sailor First Class Claire Bortolotti have upped the stakes: Bigelow just swam the English Channel, with McLean and Bortolotti adding their competitive expertise to her effort.
Bigelow, once an air combat systems officer on a 14 Wing Greenwood Aurora crew, is now a Canadian Armed Forces physician and, as of September, the new 33 Canadian Forces Health Services base surgeon for Royal Military College in Kingston, Ontario; swam nearly 14 hours – 9.5 hours in darkness, covering 58 kilometres overnight August 22 into 23.
“It’s pretty wild – fathoms of water underneath me, but it’s hallowed water: remembering the wars in the area, ships all around me, dark and black, sharks and jellyfish,” Bigelow says. “I’m so happy. It is such a deeply gratifying experience.
“I don’t want to do it again!
Bigelow is now just the second Canadian military member to swim the Channel: Winnie Roach of the Canadian Women’s Army Corps first did it in 1951.
Bigelow, McLean, staff to the 14 Wing chief warrant officer; and Bortolotti, a Navy clearance diver at CFB Esquimalt; swim together on the CAF’s CISM team – classic races and life-saving events. While the distance as the crow flies between Dover, England, and France is 34 kilometres, the tides and currents pushing swimmers off their line is daunting: her support boat drags an underwater “parachute” to help stabilize its course.
“I’ve never done a distance swim,” says Bigelow, not counting a 16-plus kilometre Lake Ontario swim, or any “highly safe” in-pool longer distances she’s logged.
“Open water – never!’
Bigelow added the Channel swim to an online “BS List” the three women share of as-epic-as-they-can-dream of challenges. She thought she could physically do it, but underestimated the mental demands of the swim.
“Two-and-a-half hours in, I was pretty overwhelmed. The water was choppy and dark. After nine hours of swimming in the dark, when it was dawn – I thought, ‘Surely, France is right ahead.’ I was only halfway! A lot of times, I wanted to give up.
“Everyone is different; everyone faces their demons in their own mind.”
That’s where Mclean and Bortolotti came in. They couldn’t even touch Bigelow as they let out roped baby food, water and bananas from their support boat; but, a couple hours into Bigelow’s solo swim, they could take limited turns swimming with her.
“I am so grateful for their support, their words of encouragement. The last two kilometres were the hardest – I’d been swimming so many hours, my speed had slowed incredibly – I almost felt like I was going backwards. It was so emotionally draining: I could see France!”
McLean says, as Bigelow continued to ask where she was and where she was going, her and Bortolotti eventually told her, “Stop asking!
“You can’t know that with the currents and the tides, and our captain was getting agitated. Every time we slowed, we’d be pushed further off course.”
Bortolotti says, throughout, being able to relay supportive messages to Bigelow, coming in from all over Canada, during her swim was a big motivator – for Bigelow, but also herself.
“I could not imagine Sandi and Steph not being in my life and my corner, cheering me on in everything I do. It’s just the most unwavering support I could possibly ask for. Everyone knows about the ‘brotherhood’ in the military, but the ‘sisterhood’ we’ve found is something else.”
Channel crossing checked off, McLean, who “prefers her water in a box (pool)” and seasick onboard the support boat for most of the crossing, says she’d never do the whole crossing by herself: “all she (Bigelow) went through? Fifty-eight kilometres? No way!”
Bortolotti agrees – it’s a “no” for her, too.
But – the three women are already talking about signing on for a six-woman Channel swim relay, or somewhere similar; bringing in other CISM swimmers, breaking a record, perhaps in a charity effort….
“We have some lofty goals,” Bortolotti says, “and there is never a moment of doubt; just, “OK, what do you need to make this happen?’”
