Youngest person to swim the Catalina Channel (male)

The youngest male swimmer – and person overall – to swim between Santa Catalina Island and the California mainland, USA, is Andy Taylor (USA, b. 8 April 1959), who was aged 12 years 128 days on 14 August 1971. He completed the crossing in 12 hours 34 minutes. The record was verified historically by the Catalina Channel Swimming Federation, although under-14s are no longer sanctioned to attempt the crossing for safety reasons.

The Catalina Channel is a 20.2-mile-wide (32.3-km) stretch of water between Catalina Island and the mainland in southern California, USA. It is one of the Oceans Seven, the open-water swimming community's equivalent of mountaineering's Seven Summits, overseen by the World Open Water Swimming Association (WOWSA). The other six waterways that make up the challenge are: the North Channel between Northern Ireland and Scotland, UK; the Cook Strait between the North and South Islands of New Zealand; the Molokai Channel between Oahu and Molokai Islands in Hawaii, USA; the English Channel between England and France; the Tsugaru Channel between the islands of Honshu and Hokkaido in Japan; and the Strait of Gibraltar between Spain (Europe) and Morocco (Africa).

The oldest person to successfully complete the crossing is Pat Marzulli (USA, b. 13 November 1948), who was aged 69 years 312 days when he made the swim on 21 September 2018.

Andy made the crossing as part of a tandem swim with three fellow swimmers from the Seal Beach Swim Club, coached by Ron Blackledge: Lynne Cox, Dennis Sullivan and Stacey Fresonke (who at 14 years 132 days old on the day is the youngest female swimmer to cross the Catalina Channel).