Woman Sets Channel Swimming Record

Though her plan was to become the first person to swim around Anacapa Island, unexpected and overpowering ocean currents forced Lynn Kubasek to rethink her goal and set a different record on 8/31. The 55-year-old water quality specialist from Laguna Beach — who’s been a marathon swimmer since 2009 — became the first homo sapien to swim from Santa Cruz Island to Anacapa Island, a six-mile journey that took her just over five hours to complete. (Two others have gone from island to island but in the other direction.) Braving jellyfish stings and strong currents that lengthened the swim by two or so hours, Kubasek made landfall at around 4 p.m. and etched her name into the record books of the Santa Barbara Channel Swimming Association, where she sits on the board. “I was ecstatic,” she said, remembering the gulls and garibaldis that greeted her near Anacapa.