James Island woman swims around Charleston peninsula

Endurance swimmer Kathleen Wilson of James Island has swum the English Channel and even crossed the Straight of Gibraltar from Spain to Morocco, but never the Charleston peninsula. Over the weekend, Wilson swam 16.2 miles around the coastal city for the first time.

That’s a swim I had wanted to do for quite a while, it looked very appealing on paper, and I had it all planned out. I had three kayaks, three friends escorting me, we had a great time for the most part, there were a few rocky moments, but that’s to be expected.

Wilson completed the swim from one side of Charleston to the other in six hours, 58 minutes. She says she has hopes to bring a distance swimming competition to Charleston.

We’re a destination city and it would be a great mechanism for bringing people in, as well as opening up open water to the local population. It’s not something where you just want to get in and start swimming around in the river. It truly does take a lot of preparation.

Wilson finished her swim an hour earlier than she anticipated.