Passage 30 Keep Your Goals in SightWhen she looked ahead, Florence Chadwick saw nothing but a solid wall of fog
Her body was numb
She had been swimming for nearly sixteen hours
Already she was the first woman to swim the English Channel in both directions
Now, at age 34, her goal was to become the first woman to swim from Catalina Island to the California coast
On that Fourth of July morning in 1952, the sea was like an ice bath and the fog was so dense she could hardly see her support boats
Sharks cruised toward her lone figure, only to be driven away by rifle shots
Against the frigid grip of the sea, she struggled on—hour after hour— while millions watched on national television
Alongside Florence in one of the boats, her mother and her trainer offered encouragement
They told he