- April 23, 2024
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Delaney Kimble, 15, Brody Ochipa, 18, Faith Partington, 18, and Collin Alexander, 18, pose after finishing the Swim for Alligator Lighthouse at Islamorada. Courtesy photo
The locals in the kayaks get ready for the start of the race. Courtesy photo
Swimmers and kayakers go four miles to the Alligator Reef Lighthouse and four miles back. Courtesy photo
Swimmers get ready to begin the 8-mile open water swim. Courtesy photo
Medals are handed out to the swimmers. Courtesy photo
The Alligator Reef Lighthouse always had a special attraction for Seabreeze High School senior Brody Ochipa.
On trips with his family to the Florida Keys he would snorkel around the reef off Islamorada and look up at the 19th-century lighthouse.
When he learned that there was an eight-mile ocean water swim race out to the lighthouse and back he was intrigued.
“I thought it would be pretty cool if I could swim all the way out there,” Ochipa said.
“Collin was three-fourths done when he got stung really bad. (The jellyfish) came in like walls almost.
BRODY OCHIPA
But swimming eight miles through strong currents, high surf and jellyfish blooms seemed too tall an order for a first attempt at a major open-water swim, so Ochipa recruited two other Seabreeze students and a recent graduate to form a four-person relay team.
Ochipa, Faith Partington, Delaney Kimble and Collin Alexander completed the grueling “Swim for Alligator Lighthouse” on Sept. 11 in 6 hours and 48 minutes.
The website, swimalligatorlight.com describes the race as a "tropical open water swim not for the faint of heart ... you will encounter stunning (for some stinging) and beautiful marine life."
Proceeds of the annual event go to the non-profit Friends of the Pool to provide scholarships for high school swimmers and to help preserve and restore the Alligator lighthouse and other aging lighthouses off the Florida Keys.
Ochipa and his team trained at 6:30 in the morning, five days a week, at the Ormond Beach YMCA. They raised $825 through a pancake breakfast fundraiser at Rosie’s Café, inside Dunn’s Attic, and other donations to help pay for their entry fees ($180 apiece), kayak rentals and other expenses.
They rented a tandem kayak and a single kayak with one person always in the water throughout the swim. Their goal was to swim one-mile legs with each of them swimming one of the four miles to the lighthouse and one of the four miles back.
They are all strong swimmers with extensive experience on club and high school teams.
Alexander, 18, now a student at Daytona State College, swam for Seabreeze last year. Kimble, 15, and Ochipa, 18, are current Sandcrab swimmers. Partington, 18, is a former swimmer for the Daytona Beach Speed team.
Both Ochipa and Partington celebrated their 18th birthdays since the race.
At the start, conditions were calm and clear, the water temperature was 87 degrees, Ochipa said. Partington swam the first leg in 39 minutes, which was a very good time, Ochipa said.
Kimble took the second leg, and, with the current getting stronger, she went over the 45-minute limit the four had placed on themselves.
“I did (the third leg) in 35 minutes,” Ochipa said. “And I realized the current was a lot stronger, the waves were picking up and the wind was picking up.”
Alexander was right on pace on the final leg going out, Ochipa said, but a swarm of moon jellyfish came in with the tide as Ochipa was getting out of the water.
“Collin was three-fourths done when he got stung really bad,” Ochipa said. “They came in like walls almost. With a wave, a good one hit him in the chest. We pulled him out and put vinegar on the sting.”
Partington took over and swam around the lighthouse. As the current and wind strengthened, it not only got harder to swim but harder to paddle the kayaks. The buoys marking the course were being blown southward.
“We ended up probably a half mile south of where we should have been,” Ochipa said. “We were close to one of the deep-water channels. I jumped in and swam north to get us back on course.
All four swimmers swam a portion of the return trip with Partington swimming the last mile.
“The second half of the race was brutal,” Ochipa said. “We kept getting pushed by the wind. Every time you paddled, you’d get blown farther south. If you stopped to give the swimmer water you’d get blown more to the south.”
Ochipa said the race was more challenging than they anticipated, but they were extremely happy with the result.
“Our only goal was to finish,” he said. “We wanted to complete it as a team. It was a fun bonding experience that I don’t think anyone will ever forget. Faith and Delaney got to swim with baby sea turtles. It just gave us a new perspective and new respect for Mother Nature.
“It was pretty cool to say that as kids we were able to complete this race.”
