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:

3
Leave a Reply

Subscribe
Notify of

3 Comments
newest
oldest most voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Grant Keats
10 years ago

Amazing achievement mate – i met you at delsjön a couple times after your training sessions.
Be proud my friend

Tea
10 years ago

Holy Crap!

10 years ago

Thanks for the mention 🙂

Just to clarify, the crossing has now been officially recognized by the Channel Swimming and Piloting Federation (CS&PF).

And thank you so much for the mention of my charities!

About Braden Keith

Braden Keith

Braden Keith is the Editor-in-Chief and a co-founder/co-owner of SwimSwam.com. He first got his feet wet by building The Swimmers' Circle beginning in January 2010, and now comes to SwimSwam to use that experience and help build a new leader in the sport of swimming. Aside from his life on the InterWet, …

Read More »