She’s Swimming the English Channel in a Quest for a Rare Triple Crown

Ever thought of swimming the 28.5-mile loop in the waters around Manhattan? Or a 19.6-mile Pacific Ocean swim from Los Angeles to Catalina Island? Or even from England to France?

Fleur Sohtz next month is aiming to embark on a 21-mile swim across the English Channel—from Dover, England, to Calais on the northern coast of France—in her quest for the final jewel in a rare long-distance swimming triple crown.

Sohtz is a Yankee fan from Brooklyn who grew up swimming, but it wasn’t until after college that she fell in love with open-water swimming. After completing her first open-water challenge with ease—swimming around Manhattan in 2021—she began pondering the idea of completing the swimmer’s triple crown: three separate swims, one around Manhattan, one from Los Angeles to Catalina Island, and one from England to France via the English Channel. She swam Catalina two years after swimming around Manhattan, and now has her sights set on the English Channel at the beginning of September.

Sohtz has swum with Asphalt Green, the Manhattan athletic center, for over 30 years as a member of the masters team. A few months ago, the 46-year-old participated in a swim-a-thon organized and hosted by a teenage AGUA swimmer, Ali Wright, who raised thousands of dollars. Inspired by Wright, Sohtz is raising funds for Asphalt Green’s AGUA (Asphalt Green Unified Aquatics) competitive swim scholarships and inclusive programming for neurodivergent kids. Her goal is $50,000. “This swim is so much more than a swim. It’s about community and showing people what you’re capable of. To achieve crazy goals like the English Channel, but do it by supporting organizations that have supported me and many others,” Sohtz said.

Here’s Fleur's story:

Could you tell me about some of your previous swims?

In Manhattan, when you take a breath [while swimming], you look up and see everything from a different perspective. You see Yankee Stadium from a different perspective, or the Brooklyn Bridge and the GW Bridge. There are cruise ships and tugboats. You feel like you can conquer anything, but you look so tiny compared to the surroundings around you.

At one point in Catalina, the [swimmer-support] kayaker waved at me and told me to look up. I was like, What’s going on? I looked up and I was in the Pacific Ocean. One boat, one kayaker, and the sun was rising. I will forever have that visual in my head. I don’t need pictures because I just see it so clearly.

What is the process for setting out for the swim, in terms of weather and safety?

For the Manhattan Swim, I began in the morning and swam throughout the day. For Catalina, I began at midnight. You start at midnight to avoid winds and boat traffic during the day. That was pretty scary, but really special. At that time of day, there’s no light pollution; it’s complete darkness, like you’re swimming through silk.

The English Channel is very weather-dependent. Captain’s discretion. Some people start at midnight, some at 3 in the morning. It all comes down to the tides and what the captain thinks the conditions are, based on your speed.

My preference would be to start at night and land in the afternoon. I will feel more satisfaction landing during the day, and you warm up as the sun rises, too. For the swim, you are solo, but my teammates are on the boat supporting you. Every 30 minutes, they throw the water bottle down to me. I have gels or GoGo applesauce, and then I get encouragement from my friends and keep going. I keep envisioning it in my head, standing on the beach in Calais [France], and having that sense of accomplishment. That will be iconic.

What about marine-life run-ins?

I have a scar on my arm from a jellyfish in Catalina. I also had seals swimming beside me, which was really fun. They’re cute and playful. I didn’t have dolphins, though, which was a bit of a letdown for me. People always say, What about the sharks? I say, sharks are always in the ocean. That’s their home, and we’re just visiting. It’s important for us to be respectful of the ocean and respectful of those who live in it.

Tell me about your preparation:

I swim six days a week. I do what swimmers call Dry Land, which is just weights, and I should probably do more. The coaching and the workouts at Asphalt Green have helped build a combination of endurance and speed, and I have also learned the importance of what I call “prehab.” As you get older, the more that you can work with a physical therapist, and for me, acupuncture, makes a significant difference in your ability to train—shout-out to Clutch PT both on the Upper East Side and Morningside Acupuncture on the Upper West Side.

At the start of the year, I went with two Asphalt Green teammates to Tenerife [Spain]. They’ve got an incredible training facility there. I swam over 50 kilometers in five days. I also went to Croatia for a cold-water swimming camp. The English Channel likes you to do a qualifier swim, which is a six-hour swim in water that is below 60 degrees. This helps build up tolerance in colder water.

What are some challenges with this process?

Building the mental strength that you need to compete in these activities. These swims can go anywhere from eight to 15 hours, and what I often tell people is that after four hours, it becomes just as much mental as athletic. You need to keep a strong and clear mindset.

I’d say another challenge is that I have a day job—I’m a chief marketing officer. But I’m very fortunate that my colleagues are so supportive, and people know that when I’m traveling, I’m in a pool somewhere at 5am.

What do you think about while swimming? Do you develop a sort of bond with the ocean?

You feel 100 percent deeply connected to the water and the surroundings. Sometimes I’ll get songs in my head, but you really just get into this meditative, quiet state. There’s never a moment when you think, How much longer do I have? Where is this gonna go? Because eventually I know land will come, and it feels so much sweeter when I get there.

Do you have any fun stories from a previous swim?

I’m a big Yankees fan. As we approached Yankee Stadium in the Harlem River [on the Manhattan swim], I started speeding up, and everyone’s thinking, What’s going on? At the Stadium, I stopped, turned to my boat crew, and said, Okay, play it. My crew played “New York, New York” [by Frank Sinatra], which is what they play when the Yankees win a game. I started cheering for the Yankees and then continued on with the swim.

After you finish, you must be starving. What do you like to eat?

After that many hours of swimming, I think you’re allowed to celebrate with some fun treats. A cheeseburger that’s bigger than an entire plate or an entire platter of chicken wings. For this swim, I am hoping that there’s a big bottle of Champagne at the end. But my biggest weakness of all is chocolate chip cookies.