13-year-old James Savage has become the youngest person to complete a 12-mile open water swim known as the “Godfather” swim.
The swim is a 12-mile stretch across Lake Tahoe, starting at Cave Rock in Nevada and finishing at a Homewood, California mansion used as a set piece in the filming of the 1974 movie The Godfather Part II.
Savage, who lives in Los Banos, California, completed the swim on July 30th. It took 6 hours, 59 minutes, and 39 seconds, with Savage eking under his goal of breaking seven hours for the swim.
The 13-year-old Savage has been swimming open water courses since he was 8. Savage swam from Alcatraz to San Francisco when he was 8, and swam that stretch and back for a full loop the following year. He’s hoping to complete what is known as the “Tahoe Triple Crown“:
- Vikingsholm swim: from Cave Rock to Emerald Bay (10.5 miles)
- Godfather swim: from Cave Rock to Godfather Mansion (12 miles)
- Lake Tahoe Length: from Camp Richardson to Hyatt Regency Beach (21.3 miles)
Savage completed the 10.5-mile swim (a diagonal swim across Lake Tahoe) last year. With the Godfather swim checked off this year, Savage is aiming to take on the 21-mile swim next summer. That swim spans from the south end of Lake Tahoe all the way to the north end.
If he can complete it, Savage would become the youngest person ever to complete the Tahoe Triple Crown. That title is currently held by 15-year-old Angel More, who completed the 21.3-mile swim back in 2018.
Thank you for the comments! James was excited to get this swim done. Training with all the pools and lakes in our area shut down posed some problems but where there’s a will, there’s a way. He had an amazing crew that kept him going the entire way. Thank you Tom Linthicum and Meg Omainsky of the Lake Tahoe Marathon Swim Federation for keeping him safe and on the line! Couldn’t have done it without you!
Congratulations James. Wonderful accomplishment for you. Back in late July 1970 – 50 years ago now – was the annual 10 mile Quincy (Illinois) YMCA Marathon Swim. It was down the Mississippi River. I swam that race as well; it was the last one Quincy YMCA held due to lack of local interest (a majority of the swimmers came from out of state). At that time, the entire Van Atta family from Wisconsin swam the race as was their custom for years. The youngest swimmer was their 12-year-old son whose first name I do not recall at this time. He swam the entire race as well, which was pretty impressive in itself for a half century ago before such races… Read more »
My daughter Carly Miller doing the length starting tonight Aug 11 to complete California Triple Crown. The other swims are Catalina and Anacapa
Those are on his bucket list. Unfortunately he isn’t old enough to do them right now but it’s coming soon! How did Carly’s swim go?
Impressive swimming!!! Congratulations and get that Tahoe Triple Crown!
What a… Savage swim.
Such a great swim! Must be an amazing kid. Good luck to him in the future. Wow!