‘Pinoy Aquaman’ to cross English Channel this Aug

Lawyer Ingemar Macarine swims the waters off Bohol Strait in his latest open water swim.

The very ambitious albeit treacherous open water swim across the English Channel in Great Britain by the First Filipino English Channel Swim Team (FFECST) was officially launched last Friday at the Marriot Hotel in Manila.

And no other than lawyer Ingemar Macarine of Bohol, the touted “Pinoy Aquaman” will be at the forefront of the perilous challenge.

Dubbed as the First Filipino International Movement, the open water swim which will cover 35 kilometers of the icy waters of the English Channel in the North Atlantic Ocean is slated this August.

Himself a proud Bisaya and staunch environmentalist, Macarine has already stacked 22 open water swims in his résumé, here and abroad. He first grabbed headlines when he crossed Alcatraz Island to mainland San Francisco, California USA in 2014. His last open water swim was achieved last Independence Day by swimming the Cebu Strait.

The English Channel is known as the “Mount Everest” of open water swim. Its cold, testy waters and unpredictable current are expected to challenge Macarine’s physical and mental strength as he guns to swim from southern England to northern France.

Aside from etching history, the objective of the swim is to celebrate international friendship and raise awareness about climate change and global warming which are the core advocacies of the First Filipino International Movement.

Macarine is expected to finish the swim in 13 to 15 hours given the weather conditions and the water currents.

Macarine has reportedly been training for months for the most grueling open water swim he will undertake.

The team will be based in the seaside city of Folkestone, in the southern tip of the United Kingdom. They will fly there before this month ends. Macarine will continue cross-training there and begin open water trials and temperature acclimatization.