TALLINN, Jul 26, BNS – Two Estonians out of a party of six swam across the Gulf of Finland on Friday, it appears from the organizers’ web site.
The swim started at six in the morning on Finland’s Cape Porkkala and ended on Cape Suurupi in Estonia, a distance of 55 kilometers.
Bruno Nopponen was the first to finish, arriving on the other shore 19 hours and 13 minutes later.
Priit Vehm spent nearly three hours more to cover the distance, arriving on Cape Suurupi after a swim of 22 hours and 22 minutes at 4:24 Friday morning. Vehm veered east from the course and had to adjust his route.
The other four swimmers did not finish.
Toomas Haggi interrupted the swim after 12 hours at about 6 pm and climbed into the boat after covering nearly 32 kilometers.
Also Henri Kaarma, the only man to have swum not in a swimsuit protecting the whole body but in shorts with the body rubbed in with vaseline, interrupted one hour later.
Andrus Jaamul and the only female swimmer, Kinne Tonisson, climbed into the boat slightly after 12 after swimming for six hours and 16 minutes when the Estonian coast was still 36 kilometers away.
The sportsmen had hoped to cover the distance in 15-20 hours and to arrive at their destination by the end of the day.
There is no information of any earlier swims across the Gulf from mainland to mainland.
On August 17, 1931 the Estonian Aleksander Laas swam from Naissaar Island to a small island off Porkkala, spending 20 hours to cover the 40 kilometer distance.
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