James Savage doesn’t stop swimming when he’s tired. He stops when he’s done.
The 9-year-old from Los Banos, Calif. just became the youngest person to swim from the San Francisco shoreline to Alcatraz Island and back. The previous record was set by a 10-year-old last year.
The nearly three mile swim took him more than two hours to complete with strong currents and large waves. The Coast Guard controlled traffic on the water so that Savage and his fleet of support paddlers would have a clear path to and from the former prison.
“It’s just enlightening to see someone at his age setting such lofty goals for himself,” his coach, Josh Weinberger, said in the days leading up to the attempt.
Savage learned how to swim when he was 5 years old, and he thoroughly enjoys the open water. Last year, he did one leg of the Alcatraz swim in the 35th annual Escape from the Rock race. He has also swam from San Diego to Coronado Island in shark infested waters.
To train for his longest swim to date, Savage was in the water nearly every day.
His next swim will cover the length of the Golden Gate Bridge, a distance of 1.7 miles.
