Our friend Kent Lassman, president of the Competitive Enterprise Institute, swam the English Channel on Tuesday.
You read that correctly: The 49-year-old president of a free-market think tank in Washington, D.C. — the kind of guy who can rattle off obscure facts about the regulatory state and gets passionate when talking about cost–benefit analysis — is also a world-class swimmer who completed one of Earth’s most difficult athletic feats, known as the “Everest of Swimming.”
Lassman, who co-authored a piece about trade agreements for Capital Matters in February, began at 2:08 a.m. local time on June 11 off the coast of Dover, England, and swam to Cap du Gris Nez in France. It took 13 hours and 27 minutes to complete. Point-to-point, the distance is about 21 miles, but due to the current and tides, Lassman swam about 33 miles.
He was accompanied by the boat Pegasus, piloted by Eddie Spelling of the Channel Swimming & Piloting Federation. The CS&PF is a nonprofit membership organization that oversees swimmers crossing the Channel. Also aboard the Pegasus were Michael Cannon and Ana Miller, to look after Lassman and provide food. Spelling held Lassman’s passport. A CS&PF observer was also there to ensure Channel-swimming rules were followed.
Swimmers must pay a membership fee and pass a medical exam. They must have completed a certified swim of six hours in water 61 degrees or colder. They must wear a standard swimsuit and cap. “During a swim no physical contact with the swimmer shall be made by any person other than to pass food and drink or secure such items as light sticks for safety reasons,” the rules state.
The CS&PF recommends that swimmers eat once an hour for the first two or three hours, then once every 30 minutes for the rest of the swim. “Aim to have your feeds take no more than 30 seconds,” the website says. “Feeds should not be seen as a break or a rest.”
One does not simply swim the English Channel. Lassman has wanted to swim the English Channel since he was 13 years old. He has been planning this swim for 32 months and training for two years. He swam the Catalina Channel in 2022 and the diagonal of Lake Tahoe in 2023.
Seas were rough for about the first six hours on Tuesday. Water temperature was around 60 degrees. “According to the weather reports, we were expecting the water to calm significantly after about 90 minutes and then produce a lovely day for a swim,” Lassman said in an email. “Some wind moved in quickly and unexpectedly. And, that is how it goes.”
“I’ve done marathon swims off the coast in Ocean City, I swam around Key West, I’ve done various lakes like Mirror Lake and Lake Cour d’Alene,” Lassman said. “Without a doubt, this was the most difficult swim I’ve ever attempted.”
The first person to swim the English Channel was Matthew Webb in 1875. A few hundred people attempt the swim annually, but only about 20 percent succeed. In all, around 2,000 people have successfully swum the Channel solo, Lassman being the most recent.
“We must embrace big things. Anyone crazy enough to take on the regulatory state has the mindset to do big, epic adventures like swimming the English Channel,” Lassman said.