Swimming: Amherst’s Sydne Didier becomes first person to circumnavigate the island of Little Cayman
Published: 10-10-2024 6:52 PM |
Amherst resident Sydne Didier became the first person ever to circumnavigate the island of Little Cayman — one of three islands that make up the Cayman Islands — by swimming around it last month. Didier accomplished the feat on Sept. 11, swimming a distance of 23.88 miles in 14 hours, 40 minutes.
She started in the darkness at 5:30 a.m., and by the time she finished, it was dark again.
“People always ask me, ‘Oh, but it's in the dark. Aren't you afraid?’” Didier said. “I don't have any fear of that. I just really love the feeling of being in that quiet darkness and moving through the water. It’s such a sensory experience, and it’s really beautiful.”
Growing up in New York, a younger Didier definitely would’ve looked at her present-day self and asked, “What the heck changed?”
Over 40 years ago, she was a swim lesson dropout. Didier used to lie to get out of her classes, which were located in the Long Island Sound — saying her stomach or head hurt, or fabricating an illness.
It didn’t matter what she said, so long as she didn’t have to swim.
“The water was cold, and there were gross jellyfish,” Didier, now 53, said. “I would make up some reason, anything I could think of, to get out of being in the water.”
But as a 26-year old graduate student at Portland State University in Oregon, she took a beginner swimming class that completely changed her outlook on the sport. It turned out Didier loved to swim when the water was warmer and there were no creatures close by. She even started to attend the class before hers — doing double sessions throughout the week — and began training on the weekends.
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Following school, a move to Amherst ensued. Soon Didier completed triathlons, and joined UMAMA — a competitive swim team coached by former UMass men’s swimming coach Russ Yarworth and former UMass women’s swimming coach Bob Newcomb. She credits the two of them for sparking her love for the water.
The years of dedication to training paid off when Didier began marathon swimming. Last summer, she became the first woman to swim the entire length of the west coast of St. Lucia, another Caribbean island. That was following a torn ACL in 2022, and in 2021, she was just the second person ever, and first woman, to circumnavigate the Island of Saint John in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Didier has also done 20-plus-mile marathon swims off Puerto Rico and Texas.
“Ever since I took that first class, I was hooked,” Didier said. “And the idea of having the opportunity to potentially do something that no one else has done before really excited me. Life is short, and I wanted to have all the adventures that I could. Swimming gave me that opportunity … I’ve been fortunate enough to do a lot of swims where I’m either the first person or first woman to do them.”
During last week’s trek through the Little Cayman, Didier was relentlessly stung by sea wasps for the last hour and a half. She described the pain as little needles poking her all over her body.
But she fought through it, and also pushed away uncomfortable stomach cramps — ones she said were bad enough to put a halt to the attempt — that emerged halfway through her swim.
“This was a challenging swim for a lot of reasons,” Didier said. “Every swim has its own challenges, but this one had a particular set of them.”
Nothing was going to stop her, especially with her husband, John, paddling in a small boat right beside providing motivation. Drained and exhausted, Didier finally pulled herself out of the water after nearly 24 miles.
She had done it.
“My first thought was just relief,” Didier said. “I sort of staggered out of the water. Because once you've been in the swim position for so long, when you stand up, your equilibrium and your balance is a little off. So I stumbled my way out of the water and felt incredible relief. Like, ‘Oh my god, I did it.’ Because certainly when you're in the middle of it, there's moments of doubt and moments where you think to yourself, ‘This was a terrible idea. Will I be able to do it?’”
As she has done each time she completes a marathon swim, the first thing Didier did was wrap herself around John. The two embraced in a long, emotional hug.
And normally, Didier is lonely when she swims. There aren’t many people around to congratulate her afterward. But she and her husband were staying at a dive resort, and all of the other people staying there had lined the dock to cheer her on as she swam the final stretch.
It was a perfect end to a taxing day.
“To have all these strangers, people who didn’t know me, be there and congratulate me and cheer me on, that was pretty emotional,” Didier said. “And my husband is always right there with me, so the first thing I always want to do is give him a hug and thank him.”
Outside of her competitive swimming, Didier teaches people privately in her pool at her home in Amherst, helping folks who were just like her, afraid of the water, overcome their doubts.
She recently had a lesson with an 82-year old woman who swam on her own for the first time in her life. Assisting groups that fear the water or have never had access to it is a strong passion of Didier’s.
“My goal is to show people who have never had exposure to water what's possible for them,” Didier said. “And I'm not saying everybody has to get in and swim 24 miles, but I just teach them the basics. Specifically, there’s been a lot of disenfranchisement for BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) individuals, or folks who are gender questioning. Part of my mission is to show that anybody can do this, and that the water is for everyone.”
That same rush of excitement and accomplishment she gets from completing a 20-mile swim of her own spills across her body when one of her clients swims for the first time.
Nothing but pride and pure joy.
“It’s the most gratifying thing, and it absolutely is [the same feeling],” Didier said, comparing the two. “Watching someone do something that they never thought was possible for them is an incredible experience. And so often that mindset expands beyond their swimming and into other aspects of life.
“I’m just happy to play any little part in that.”