Holland sentinel facebook11/23/2023 This was a major shock, especially when I was getting ready to do a very similar swim." He was airlifted for medical assistance, but could not be revived. Nick had finished and lost consciousness while swimming back to the boat. He had fought strong currents for hours, but he had finished. We were all excited at swim practice the next morning (to) talk about it. "He had expected the swim to take about eight hours, but it would be over 16 before he finished. "The currents took him way out to sea, and the other swimmer attempting it quit part way across," Huffman said. Meanwhile, as his English Channel swim was approaching, he got some shocking news.Ī man named Nick Hobson, who lived in the Holland area before moving to New Zealand, died in an open water swim between islands in the Cook Straight. Huffman got back in the open water with regional swims, going from pier to pier in Lake Michigan, including Holland to Grand Haven. I also met Coach Mike Daley who ultimately agreed to coach me for my last year of training." Through open water Saturdays with the team, I met Paul and Marisa Brinks, who ultimately traveled with me to England to assist on the swim. "I swam with them every Saturday that summer, in addition to another three days per week on my own. They were training for the Big Shoulders 5K Swim in Chicago. "They met on Saturday mornings and swam in Lake Mac or Lake Michigan. "By summer, Mike Landis invited me to swim with the Holland Masters Open Water Swim Team," Huffman said. I started meeting other regular swimmers at the pool." I spent a month in physical therapy strengthening the accessory muscles of my shoulders before I could swim much again. I ended up overdoing it and injuring my shoulder. "I was still trying to ratchet up my total yards per week, and pushed pretty hard to get 7,000 yards done in two hours. I would rush over from work and try to get in as many yards as I could before they closed. The HAC was under construction, and the evening swim hours were limited to two hours. "I decided to join the Holland Aquatic Center. "By mid-October 2020, the lake temp had dropped into the 50s," he said. Huffman took his training to Holland Aquatic Center. October is the very end of the channel swimming season, and not the ideal time to swim but I didn’t want to wait three years to swim, so I took it." I was lucky to get a spot for the first neap tide in October 2022. "I was surprised to see that most of the spots were filled two years in advance. That is when I booked a spot on the Viking Princess II with the Brickell brothers to swim the English Channel. I accomplished this by the beginning of October. My goal was to swim the five-mile length of Lake Mac by the end of the season. Over the next few weeks, I swam two-to-three times weekly and increased my distance to about two miles per swim. My son accompanied in a kayak to be sure I didn’t get run over by a boat or drown. "My first swim was across the lake and back near Kollen Park. "I started training in August of 2020 in Lake Macatawa," Huffman said. He started taking advantage of a great place to practice, right where he lived. I decided to start training and see if I thought it was feasible." I started thinking about my old dream of swimming the English Channel, and did some research of what was involved. The first swim was about a mile, and felt surprisingly good. "Around this time, I did a few open water swims on camping trips at the conference grounds in Grand Haven. I had forgotten how much I enjoyed swimming and coaching. A few years ago, my oldest son started middle school swimming and my younger son started diving. "Then life got busy and I didn’t swim for about 25 years. "In college, I did triathlons and coached age group swimming," he said.
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