Los Banos teen becomes youngest person to swim across Lake Tahoe. What’s next on his list?
Add another swimming accomplishment to the long list accumulated by Los Banos 13-year old James Savage.
The soon-to-be Los Banos High freshman became the youngest to swim the width of Lake Tahoe last week, completing the 12-mile “Godfather Swim” in 6 hours, 59 minutes and 39 seconds on July 30, 2020.
“It feels pretty cool,” said Savage of his latest accomplishment.
Last year, Savage became the first documented swimmer to swim across the San Luis Reservoir. It was a 7.3 mile swim that took 5 hours, 23 minutes and 19 seconds.
Savage’s swimming resume also includes swimming from San Francisco to Alcatraz seven times, swimming the length of the Golden Gate Bridge four times and other open water swims in San Diego and Lake Tahoe.
The latest swim is called the “Godfather Swim” because it ends at the Godfather mansion where “Godfather II” was filmed.
Savage started the swim at 5:03 a.m. from Cave Rock, Nev. and finished at the Godfather mansion in Homewood at 12:03 p.m.
“He wasn’t that tired at the end of the swim,” said mother Jillian. “He was more worried about getting food, well, good food. Not the weird food we throw at him out of the boat while he’s swimming.”
James admitted swimming across the San Luis Reservoir was tough at times last year. There were moments when he wanted to quit and climb in the boat. That didn’t happen once he entered Lake Tahoe this time.
“It was hard at times, but there was no point where I thought about getting out,” James said. ‘I know what it’s like when you get out and you have that feeling of, ‘Man, the lake got me.’ I don’t like to get out. It would be a big waste of my time.”
Overcoming obstacles
James faced challenges in preparing for his latest open water swim. For example, his swim team has been unable to practice with the public pools at schools closed due to the coronavirus pandemic. There were times when local lakes were also closed.
The Savages had to get creative at home, using a tethering system, which consisted of a belt and a resistance band, which was tied up to a fence that allowed James to swim in place in their home pool.
What did James think of the homemade device?
“It sucked, it was terrible, it was miserable,” he said. “I’ll never do that again.”
“That may or may not be because the band snapped and hit him in the rear one time,” Jillian said.
James is taking a week off to rest after the long swim, but he already has plans for open water swims in San Diego and Angel Island soon.
He also has Aug. 1, 2021 circled on his calendar. That’s when he plans to make another 21.3 mile swim across Lake Tahoe, which would be the third leg of the Lake Tahoe triple crown.
This story was originally published August 5, 2020 at 8:29 AM.
