- Who
- Courtney Paulk
- What
- 47:341 year(s):day(s)
- Where
- United States ()
- When
The oldest female to complete a two-way crossing of the Catalina Channel is Courtney Paulk (USA, b. 5 November 1969), who was aged aged 47 years 341 days at the end of her swim on 10-12 October 2017. The double crossing from the mainland to Catalina Island and back again took 33 hours 13 minutes. The record was verified by the Catalina Channel Swimming Federation.
The Catalina Channel is a 20.2-mile-wide (32.3-km) stretch of water between Santa 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).
Kayak support during Paulk's swim was provided by Dan Simonelli, Jaime Siler, Kristi Turner and Amy Frick. Paulk was only the ninth individual to complete a two-way Catalina Channel crossing.
The oldest person overall to complete a Catalina double-crossing swim is Antonio Argüelles Díaz-González (Mexico, b. 15 April 1959), who was aged 60 years 134 days when he reached the California mainland on 27 August 2019.
