FilmFest: Sylvain Estadieu Swims Across the English Channel…Butterfly

Sylvain Estadieu swam across the English Channel in 2009 in 14 hours and 44 minutes with little fanfare across the international swimming community.

In September, 2013, Estadieu decided that he was interested in achieving something that would gain a little more attention and notoriety for his two favorite charities: Hundar Utan Hem, a Swedish group that re-homes abandoned dogs in Ireland and Sweden; and APEI Centre Alsace, a group that cares for handicapped children in France.

To read more about Sylvain’s charities, click here to visit his website.

So he decided to swim across the English Channel using the most grueling of strokes: butterfly.

Sylvain’s swim has been nominated by the World Open Water Swimming Association as Performance of the Year.

Though it’s a bit unofficial, Estadieu is believed to be the first male to complete a solo crossing of the English Channel butterfly. What’s more shocking is that the 21-mile swim took him only 16 hours and 42 minutes – less than two hours longer than his freestyle swim in 2009.

Of course, it’s far from the fastest Channel Crossing in 2013. That belongs to Rebecca Lewis, who did it in 9 hours and 2 minutes, or Trent Grimsey’s record of 6 hours and 55 minutes, but it may be one of the more impressive crossings.

(The first person on record to cross the English Channel swimming butterfly is Vicki Keith, an endurance swimming legend).

See Also:

• Fellow nominees Swim4Good.