Mayra Santos is a quirky, charming world record holder who offers lessons on the small island she calls home.
On a 55 - degree twenty-four hour period in December of last yr , 310 miles off the Western Sahara coast , Mayra Santos took her concluding strokes toward story . The survival athlete slid into the ocean ’s warm embrace at dawn . And 11 hour later , her circumnavigation of Porto Santo , a petite volcanicislandbelonging toPortugal , was almost complete .
100 of viewer cheered from shoring as her yellow swim cap bobbed into view . They know Santos would shortly take in her goal of becoming the first person to swim almost 20 uninterrupted miles around the island . But they did n’t know the trial of the concluding naut mi .
Rollicking white horse squelch salt weewee into theBrazilian ’s rima oris , and her infected eye , damaged during the individual - fingerbreadth nautical mile , became more unbearable by the second . But Santos just did what every successful ultramarathoner must do : set aside reality . She began to visualise the joy of windup , to envision her smiling fans waiting on the beach , to ideate how it would feel to have anothersuperlative to list in her open water accomplishments .
Mayra Santos triumphantly emerging from the water after finishing a swim around the Golden Island of Porto Santo, Portugal.|Courtesy of Mayra Santos
Her method operate .
As she stumble from the shallow body of water onto Lord’s Day - warm up sand , Santos was as striking as the island she send for home . Although infected goggle stain underscore her big , brown eyes , she cursorily forgot she was in botheration . Instead , she opened her arms to embrace João Duarte , her husband and coach — she call him “ treinamor . ”
Then , as the crew looked on , she ask : " What ’s next ? "
About 5,000 people live on Porto Santo Island, which is located a little more than 300 miles from the Western Sahara coast.|NejauPhoto/iStock/Getty Images
Ten days before orbiting Porto Santo , Santos handed me a dirndl - model swimsuit and asked me to flummox for a selfie . “The sea is not behaving , ” she chirped before snapping the first of 150 photos she would take of us during our mini - training academic session . “ But we can still have fun . ”
From the condom of a concrete swimming platform , we stared 10 substructure down at the dark gray Atlantic . A twine - wrapped ladder slick with algae — our only agency to enter – was only seeable in unretentive spurts between cresting waves . “ This is going to be neat , ” she said with the relaxed tone of someone about to savor a margarita while floating down a lazy river .
For a mortal like me , this was not the idealistic day for a swim . But for Santos , who seeks out stormy ocean with the same enthusiasm others chase after sunshine and clear skies , these were optimal conditions . “ I have to prepare in adverse conditions to verify I ’m prepared to overcome any scenario I may chance , ” she say .
Mayra Santos is a serious athlete who loves to pose for selfies with anyone she takes wild swimming.|SwimMadeira Swimming Holidays
While productive for her personal training , the good afternoon was not causeless for her escapade swimming tour company , Swim Madeira , which facilitate fund her criminal record - breaking attack . A workweek of whitecaps and pelting mean our all - day adventure around Garajau Partial Nature Reserve never came to realisation .
When the weather is good — which is often the case in Madeira ’s moderate subtropical climate — Santos leads novice and competitivewild swimmerson low - stakes adventures and more serious training camp . Duarte follow in a kayak to cheer everyone on .
Swim Madeira’shalf - day sessions , which let in sauceboat transfers to quiet recess of the island , lunch , rubber-necking , and lots of straight-from-the-shoulder footage from Santos ’ submerged television camera , begin at 90 Euros . The total swim duration averages about an hour and 45 arcminute , split into two sessions .
Madeira is known for its eye-poppingly blue waters.|Wirestock/iStock/Getty Images
Her democratic seven - day swim camps parade adventure traveler all over Madeira ’s eye - poppingly blue water , clocking a little over two nautical statute mile . “ Once I surprise a node who is a regular and adventuresome natator by lead her to a cave where baby sharks congregate at certain times of the twelvemonth , ” articulate Santos .
A revered jokester , she pause for the kicker : “ I thought she would be thrilled , but when we came face to face with the passive baby shark she screamedshark , shark ! ”
Santos also postulate other ultramarathon natator under her wing . Last month , she organized the logistics and education design that allowed 63 - class - old American bather , Robin Rose , to complete an 18.5 mi swimming from Madeira to Desertas Islands in nine hours and one minute . Meanwhile , our training session was about 18.3 geographical mile short of that .
The world-record holder started swimming school when she was nine.|Courtesy of Mayra Santos
To me , a half - hr romp through rough body of water felt like enough employment for the class and impart credence to my theory that Santos was , indeed , superhuman . As I choked on my seawater spit , she sang Stevie Wonder and effortlessly vogued five feet below the surface of the pee .
Back above land in the kiddie pool at the Sentido Galomar Resort , she recite me about her world record for farseeing uninterrupted sideboard current swim—31 hours , 7 minute — her puerility , and her circuitous , surprising route to becoming a competitive natator at age 37 .
Santos herald from Juiz de Fora , a traditional metropolis in the state of Minas Gerais often referred to by the initial " JF . " Her draw to water was automatic and intensified by maturate up near an Olympic - sized pool at a neighboring schooling .
Mayra Santos became a competitive swimmer at 36 years old, and she plans to keep going until she dies.|Courtesy of Mayra Santos
" That was my safety , " she say . “ I would go with my baby , and my mother would plead with her not to let me go in the deep end of the pool . " But the urge was irresistible ; Santos manufacture any excuse to go in , throwing her belongings into the depths and insisting she had to go retrieve them .
Santos join the swimming school when she was nine and cite her teacher Roberto for refining the smooth , sustainable virgule that allows her to streamline from shoring to shoring . I was surprised to learn she was n’t immediately acquire awards .
But it twist out that Santos never aim a chance to compete .
“ I had to quit at 15 to act and back up my mother who was raising me and my sibling alone , ” she explained . “ My childhood was light but very well - lived . I became a mother at 19 , which fuel my desire to leave in search of a better sprightliness for my daughter . ”
That ’s how she finish up in Madeira , arriving on the island in 2004 . Five year subsequently , she tie Duarte on a boat overlooking the sea . “ At that time , I was still far from conceive of that one day this same ocean would become such a significant part of my life history , and that I would spend most of my day immerse in it . ”
It was n’t until 2015 that she dove embraced her long - turn a loss puerility passion . She was 36 years older .
When you go , your genu will devolve ; there are only so many tackles you may take before liaison football becomes a part of the past ; even golfers ' elbows freeze with time . Swimming is unlike . As Steven Munatones , the director of the World Open Water Swimming Association , onceput itto theNew Yorker : If you want to , you may drown until the Clarence Day you die . And that ’s what Santos intends to do . She figure she ’s already spent 2,160 minute swimming around Madeira ’s coastline , admit a 26 - international nautical mile swimming from Porto Santo to Madeira . Though several women had essay such a feat , she was the first to discharge it .
Her next challenge , compass Madeira in a single 89 - geographical mile leg , should n’t be that concentrated . But after that , she hopes to surpass the caption of ultramarathon swimmer like Diana Nyad , Neil Agius , and Chloë McCardel .
“ I am determined to float the long distance in the open ocean , ” Santos divvy up over WhatsApp , after I ’d arrived home safe and sound . “ I believe I have the forcible and genial resiliency . I just need a vast stretch of sea and fiscal help to shroud the cost of the squad , but I have the strength . I will prove it . ”
