Mission accomplished for Lara Gibson of the Dartmouth Whalers Masters Swim Club!

Gibson, 34, swam the 14 kilometers of the Northumberland Strait between New Brunswick and PEI in five hours, 15 minutes.

Her swim was delayed for a few days. Instead of leaving Sunday, July 23 as originally scheduled, she instead set out from New Brunswick on Tuesday, July 25. “I'm so happy and proud,” Gibson says. “The weather and water were good almost the whole way across and only the last hour was difficult.”

Gibson enjoyed near perfect conditions: temperatures averaging 19 degrees Celsius the whole way, flat seas, little wind and current. For the last kilometre, “both the wind and current picked up and I think I swam in place for a while. Even though my boat crew said I was moving forward slowly.” were a few jellyfish. But the toughest part was the final hour. She was less than a kilometre from shore but had to swim against the current. She was making little headway.

“My arms hurt, and I knew I had to swim faster. There was a point were I was sure I was going to be swimming like that until the tide changed, which was five to six hours away.”

Her crew angled her more toward shore, allowing Gibson to be pushed sideways by the current. Eventually, the bridge breakwater protected her and the current died down.

With ideal conditions in the first half of the swim, her progress was good. “When I looked up I could see how close the middle of the bridge (and the shipping channel) was getting. That felt really good.”

The ocean did not frighten her as she had already trained in it “I was a bit freaked out by the idea that something live could come and investigate (me) but it didn't happen (which was good).”

Gibson is a former age group swimmer. She joined Masters just last fall. She was always a fan of distance swimming, she says. “I think my goal for next year will be more modest - swim the 200m individual medley in a meet.”