John Procope set to become first person to swim from Tobago to Trinidad

FEARLESS open-water swimmer John Procope was expected to become the first man to successfully swim from Tobago to Trinidad in a single effort around 9.30pm on October 3.

Up to press time on October 3, Procope, 48, was still about three miles off his destination in Toco, Trinidad.

The resilient swimmer began his long inter-island journey from the port in Scarborough, Tobago, after 8pm on October 2.

He never left the water since getting into it, and, unlike other swimmers who have attempted the gruelling feat, Procope never once held on to or touched his support boats for assistance while swimming, staying afloat, or resting in the water.

He was expected to reach his destination in Toco, Trinidad, around 9.30pm on October 3 – an estimated total of over 25 hours.

Procope was provided with an ample supply of drinking water, coconut water, Lucozade, Ensure and bananas – for potassium – from the support boats.

The last five miles of his brazen swim was streamed live on Facebook by a crew member, Michael Mclean, aboard one of the support boats. At one point, over 1,200 viewers were watching live from TT across the globe.

Procope used a more relaxed freestyle technique to cover the majority of the distance while incorporating other swimming styles like breaststroke along the way.

After every 30-40 minutes of swimming, Procope stopped, took a rest while keeping afloat, and had a drink and revived himself.

At 5.03pm, he still had 4.5 miles to go, and at 6pm, 3.5 miles stood between him and his destination.

Mclean spoke to viewers and confirmed the team got good weather overnight and into October 3. Along the way, some dolphins joined Procope for a bit and even a pilot fish.

At 6.29pm, the live stream was cut for a while, resumed about half hour later, then was cut again at 7.42pm.

This was Procope’s third attempt to swim the channel between the two islands.

On September 17, 2022, the quartet of William Carr, Patrick Lee Loy, Roger Watts and Procope swam from Rocky Bay, Tobago en route to Grande Riviere, Trinidad.

They covered 60km in their ten-hour swim, but strong currents intervened.

In 2023, Procope tried a second time, this time, by himself. He started from Fort Granby with Carr, a swim coach with TT's Special Olympics team, alongside a 16-member support team.

Carr, who swam for 11 hours, said he came within seven nautical miles of Toco, but could not continue after being caught in the current of the Orinoco River.

In an earlier interview, Procope said he drew inspiration from the legend of an 18th-century enslaved man, Sandy, who escaped capture and made the swim, and Raymond La Croix, who tried it at least 17 times.