Man swims Port Royal Sound

Brent Cawn has completed 56 triathlons, and 140 various kinds of races since 2001: running, biking and swimming. “I’ve done a lot of multiple mile swims,” Cawn said.

He swam from Alcatraz to the shore of San Francisco; a six-mile swim down the Hudson River; a seven-and-a-half-mile swim in the Potomac River; and he probably swam 200 miles in a lake near his home in Charlotte, N.C.

On April 21st, Cawn swam from Hilton Head Island to Parris Island, and it was the most difficult swim he’s done, even more difficult than the Alcatraz swim.

A year ago, Cawn moved to Hilton Head Plantation. “My neighborhood borders Port Royal Sound at Dolphin Head. I couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t try it. It would haunt me if I didn’t try to cross that water. I’ll be looking at it for the rest of my life.”

“The unfamiliarity of the water was made it an adventure,” Cawn said. “Locals who fish would say, ‘Man, you’re crazy!’” He also heard about Hilton Head’s great white sharks.

Cawn and his friend, Daryl Fuller, a retired marine, scoped out the sound in a boat and plotted the route for a week. Cawn said it was about a three-mile swim, and he timed it at peak high tide for slack water. The swim was extremely difficult, however. The current was incredibly strong and pushed Cawn, and their boat, from right to left with up and down swells. He had to swim in a sawtooth pattern which added at least another mile. Cawn swam for nearly four hours.

Fuller said they met at a summer camp when they were both 12-years-old. “We were swimming, I got caught in an undertow in the ocean and couldn’t fight it. I was going under and drowning. I took my last breath and went under. Brent went down after me. He saved me, so I’ve never been too concerned about his ability. I was more concerned about the challenges that nature would present like changing tides and adverse effects of wildlife like jelly fish and sharks.”

As Cawn was starting out, he cut his hand on a barnicle or rock and was concerned about bleeding and sharks. “Blood was coming out, but not spurting, more like cascading. I got six stitches later that night. I can’t touch the boat and must be under my own power, so I was treading water trying to put clear tape on it, but it came off. I would never do it again. I swam over a six-foot shark,” Cawn said. “He went right under me swimming in the other direction. I wear a Sharkbanz on my ankle which uses electromagnetic field as a shark deterrent. It makes me feel a little safer.”

“It was like someone dumped 10,000 jellyfish there. It was ridiculous. I nearly quit several times. This is one and done.” Fuller said the cannonball jellyfish just kept coming at him non-stop causing him to break his rhythm.

Cawn will not swim the Port Royal Sound again, but he will participate in the three-mile Beaufort River Swim in late May.

The Bluffton Sun was unable to find documented instances of anyone successfully swimming from Hilton Head Island to Parris Island in public records or news archives.

Edwina Hoyle is a freelance writer in Bluffton.