Shubham Vanmali, a Nerul resident and international open water swimmer will swim from Gateway of India in Mumbai to Dahanu beach in Palghar district. He will cover around 140 km distance in four days and during the period, he will either swim or wait on boat to resume the swimming.
This kind of swimming is called assisted swimming wherein swimmer spends time at sea until finishing the distance. During his swimming, he will be guided by director and pilot of the boat.
As per experts, assisted swimming is difficult as swimmer has to swim with the current or wait for the current towards his finishing point. “It is very difficult for anyone to remain in the sea after four to five hours swimming and again resume swimming. Apart from seasickness, the swimmer continues to loss stamina and enthusiasm,” said Dhananjay Vanmali, father of Shubham.
Vanmali will commence swimming at 11 am on December 17 from Gateway of India and finish it at 1 pm on December 20 at Dahanu beach. However, Vanmali’s effort is to create awareness towards the learning disability community.
In addition, Vanmali will be the first in India to swim 140 km. “He will swim around four to five hours with the current and wait around 8 hours to get the favourable current,” said his father Vanmali. He added that Shubham’s effort becomes unique for them as Dahanu Taluka their native place.
In his earlier attempt, Shubham has records of swimming the famous English Channel, The Strait of Gibraltor, Catalina Channel, The Manhattan Marathon Swim, The Round Trip Angel Island Swim, Perhentian Island Marathon Swim, Raj Bhawan, Walkeshwar to Gateway of India, among others.
