ELLEN DE LA CRUZ

Donate To MJFF

Follow Ellen’s Journey

Swimming Across The English Channel To Beat Parkinson’s

Follow Ellen’s Journey

Swimming Across The English Channel To Beat Parkinson’s

COUNTDOWN

Days :
Hours:
Minutes:
Seconds

21+ miles of solo swimming in the choppy waters of the Atlantic Ocean.

Ellen's progress across the English Channel
30%

Latest Observations from Sandettie

29 June 2024, 8am

– Air Temperature: 15.2°C (59.4°F)

– Sea Temperature: 15.5°C (59.9°F)

– Wind Direction: W (270°)

– Wind Speed: 4 Knots

– Wave Height: 0.2 Metres

– Wave Period: 5.0 Seconds

Follow me as I swim across the English Channel in the summer of 2024

Many people have completed “The Everest” of swimming by traversing the 21 mile channel from England to France through choppy waves, jellyfish, and frigid water. However, my greatest challenge will be overcoming the effects of my Parkinson’s Disease during the 15 -20 hour swim. Please help me raise awareness and funds to find a cure for this progressive, neurological disease.

Donate To MJFF

English Channel, Ellen’s big swim! [LIVE]

June 28, 2024

Updates will be logged here throughout the swim.
[Refresh the page to view updates]

Many people have completed “The Everest” of swimming by traversing the 21 mile channel from England to France through choppy waves, jellyfish, and frigid water. However, my greatest challenge will be overcoming the effects of my Parkinson’s Disease during the 15 -20 hour swim. Please help me raise awareness and funds to find a cure for this progressive, neurological disease.

2:50 am GMT

On the boat!
Ellen, Lailani and Maureen

3:00 am GMT

3:25 am GMT

 

3:50am GMT

Lubing up

Dingy in the water

4:00am GMT

4:04 am GMT

START TIME!!

 

4:17 am GMT

Off with a strong steady pace

5:04 am PST 
First feed – Thumbs up!

5:30 am GMT

Feed 2

5:45 am GMT

6:04 am GMT

Feed 3

6:13 am GMT

Stay closer to the boat

7:03 am GMT

Feed 5

7:30 am GMT

Staying close. Time for next feed.

Feed 6

7:50 am GMT

Nearing the 4 hour mark, reached the shipping lanes. France is visible on the horizon!

8:20 am GMT

8:35 am GMT

9:05 am GMT

Time to pick up the pace!

9:15 am GMT

Over 5 hours and swimming strong!

9:20 am GMT

First buddy swimmer in the water. Go Lailani!

9:30 am GMT

9:40 am GMT

Hypothermia was setting in. Ellen was pulled from the water after completing just over 30% of the distance across the English Channel.
We are so proud of her bravery and strength!

Why? Why inflict pain, deplete your life savings, risk death, and freeze in the Atlantic Ocean?

I am a Mom …

For the last 21 years, my son and my little family have been my numero uno. My son’s water polo, school, and piano took all of our resources (if you know me, you already know that). Now that he is independent, the script is flipped and I am no longer the caretaker. In contrast, I will need my friends and family to help me reach my dream. I didn’t make my goal easy, but as Teddy Roosevelt said, “Nothing in the world is worth having or worth doing unless it means effort, pain, difficulty.”

I am a Teacher…

For more than three decades, I have been a tutor or teacher of some sort. Currently, I teach reading in the Juvenile Court Schools. I believe in the power of stories. I will have a story to tell my students! Also, I want to model healthy stress reduction and resiliency.

I am a Swimmer…

My parents built a swimming pool at our house in Chula Vista the year I was born. I remember living in the water. My storied (not really) Swim team career started when I was around 7 or 8. I grew up on the beach and participated in the La Jolla Rough Water, Tugs Biathlon, Coronado Rough Water, etc. I swam at CVAA in Chula Vista and briefly at Heartland Aquatics. My best events were the 800 meters and the mile. I made the Jr. Nationals in the 800 and the 800 meter relay. However, I opted out of college aquatics and I’ve always regretted it. Regret is a funny thing, it might make you try something crazy, like swimming the English Channel after you’ve been diagnosed with an incurable, progressive disease!

Follow Along On My Journal

View All

Follow On Instagram

We're On Instagram

Not a bad place to start my day…

Open
Not a bad place to start my day…

The lifeguard towers are in their off-season huddle. The fog made the surface of the world disappear, but beneath the clear saltwater, fish bubble, and leopard sharks swirl.

If I had a mansion, I would give Parkinson’s one room, maybe a porch or a closet, all of the other rooms are for the rest of me. None of us are just one thing: our worst mistake, the disease we’re fighting, the job we do, or the color of our skin.

When Parkinson’s starts moving into my kitchen, the office, and other rooms, I’m going to send it away like a pesky fly. Shoo!

What rooms do you reserve in the house of your soul? Who lives there? Where do you spend your time? ❤️🌊

Open
The lifeguard towers are in their off-season huddle. The fog made the surface of the world disappear, but beneath the clear saltwater, fish bubble, and leopard sharks swirl. If I had a mansion, I would give Parkinson’s one room, maybe a porch or a closet, all of the other rooms are for the rest of me. None of us are just one thing: our worst mistake, the disease we’re fighting, the job we do, or the color of our skin. When Parkinson’s starts moving into my kitchen, the office, and other rooms, I’m going to send it away like a pesky fly. Shoo! What rooms do you reserve in the house of your soul? Who lives there? Where do you spend your time? ❤️🌊

Today the ocean was choppy and angry like a mother carrying too many groceries in a hurry. She splashed me in the face and reminded me of who’s in charge.

There are dark shadows in the shallow sand swirling below like a predator that can consume you at will.

The surface was choppy for swimmers, but the divers weighed themselves down into the calm to explore the clams, anemones, octopuses, and other sea creatures.

Bait balls of anchovies flashed their silver underbellies like illusive jewelry tempting the pelicans with their built in fish scoops.

The water is too warm. There’s hardly any kelp in the swim lane. Pieces of styrofoam float alongside unattached eel grass. This is the shadow, this is the threat, that will consume us. 🌎

Open
Today the ocean was choppy and angry like a mother carrying too many groceries in a hurry. She splashed me in the face and reminded me of who’s in charge. There are dark shadows in the shallow sand swirling below like a predator that can consume you at will. The surface was choppy for swimmers, but the divers weighed themselves down into the calm to explore the clams, anemones, octopuses, and other sea creatures. Bait balls of anchovies flashed their silver underbellies like illusive jewelry tempting the pelicans with their built in fish scoops. The water is too warm. There’s hardly any kelp in the swim lane. Pieces of styrofoam float alongside unattached eel grass. This is the shadow, this is the threat, that will consume us. 🌎

Sometimes it is just about snowy egrets.

Open
Sometimes it is just about snowy egrets.

Ellen De La Cruz Swims the English Channel

DESIGNED BY TM5150 | PRIVACY POLICY