Published: August 31, 2008

Jason Pipoly Makes it 16 Miles Down Hood Canal; Cold Water Cut Swim Short

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UNION, Wash., Aug. 31 /PRNewswire/ -- After 9 hours and 54 minutes of hard swimming, 37-year-oldSan Antonio, TX, resident Jason Pipoly became the first paraplegic to swim 16 miles up the Hood Canal on August 30. Pipoly's original goal was to swim 40 miles fromQuilcene toUnion, but the water dropped to a dangerous 56 degrees and forced him to give in to the elements.

"I'm sore this morning, but it was an amazing adventure and I'm glad we got to do it," said Pipoly on Sunday morning. "This was such an extreme swim. It started out cold and just got colder. But this beautiful canal, the guys up here with me, and all the people following the journey online made me want to keep going."

"It was like somebody put the freezer on, and he just got slower and slower. He had the best attitude and was even on track to make it, but we had to take him out. It was just too risky," said Hans Rosenwinkel, documentary film producer on the boat pacing Jason.

Paralyzed from the chest down in a car accident in 1998, Pipoly became the first American paraplegic, the second paraplegic in the world, to swim the English Channel, a 21-mile course in August 2002. In September 2003, Pipoly added the 21-mile Catalina Channel swim to his list of firsts for paraplegics.

16 years before his accident, in 1982, 11-year-old Pipoly became the youngest person to attempt to swim the English Channel. He fell just four miles short after swimming 17 miles in whitecap, rough waters for eight hours.

SOURCE Jason Pipoly