Crossing Boston Harbor

October 13, 2009 8:40 AM

Karen Gaffney swam Boston Harbor to raise awareness about Down syndrome.

Not her first hard swim, 31 year old Gaffney has crossed Tahoe (previously) and San Francisco Bay more than a dozen times, including one leg of the Escape From Alcatraz Triathlon.

This particular swim was to help the Massachusetts Down Syndrome Congress as part of Down Syndrome Awareness Month. Some video of her swim is here.

posted by plinth (4 comments total)

Wow, kudos to her, and thanks for the links.

I'd make some crack about the Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon being less than authentic, but I'll leave it at that and keep things on topic.
posted by filthy light thief at 9:20 AM on October 13, 2009

Man I hope she disinfected afterwards. I capsized a sailboat in boston harbor when I was a kid and got a horrible ear infection for months afterwards.
posted by milinar at 10:59 AM on October 13, 2009 [1 favorite]

milinar, Boston Harbor has apparently been cleaned up since back in the day, although I'm not sure that I'd ever have the guts to swim it since reading Neal Stephenson's Zodiac.

That is one impressive young lady.
posted by Halloween Jack at 12:21 PM on October 13, 2009

It's still a busy commercial harbor that collects the detritus of Greater Boston. I'm sure it's safe, but I still get the uh-ohs thinking about submerging myself in that. She's very brave.
posted by Mayor Curley at 2:43 PM on October 13, 2009