A 12-Year-Old Boy Challenges the Qiongzhou Strait

By Yu Yuan

On July 28, Liu Baiyan,aged 12, from Foshan City, Guangdong Province, accomplished the heroic endeavor of traversing the Qiongzhou Strait (between Hainan Province and Guangdong Province), covering 21.5 km in 7 hours and 29 minutes. Liu Zhimin, his father, also finished the swim in 8 hours and 32 minutes. They are the first fatherand-son challengers to cross the Strait.

Liu Zhiming said that his two friends swam across the Strait on June 27, 2019, while he was on the escort ship. “With perfect safety measures,” Liu recalled, “I managed to swim for four hours on the way.” This experience helped him realize that it was possible for any individual to make it across the Strait given proper preparation.

Liu Baiyan, 12, swims across the Qiongzhou Strait 12歲的劉柏言橫渡瓊州海峽

7小時29分游21.5公里，12歲的廣東佛山男孩劉柏言，于7月28日成功橫渡瓊州海峽。其父劉志敏也以8小時32分的成績完成挑戰。他們是首對成功橫渡瓊州海峽的父子。

劉志敏說，他的兩個朋友在2019年6月27日橫渡瓊州海峽，當時他跟隨兩人的護航船一起出海。“在保證安全的前提下，我中途下水游了4個多小時。”劉志敏說，親身體驗過后，他發現只要準備充分，橫渡瓊州海峽并非不可能完成的任務。

回家后不久，劉志敏就報名參加了下一次橫渡瓊州海峽的活動，當時和他一起報名的，還有兒子劉柏言。

瓊州海峽被稱為“海上珠峰”，挑戰絕非易事。劉志敏帶著兒子分析以往橫渡失敗的案例，發現許多人都是因為后半段體能不足，功敗垂成。為了提高兒子體能，除了每天的日常訓練，他專程帶著孩子去廣東河源萬綠湖，完成20公里的游程。除此之外，他和孩子也曾在專業團隊的幫助下，模擬了在海中橫渡的場景。

7月28日凌晨1時許，劉志敏一家早早起床，乘車前往海口市白沙門海岸，在那里他們將和其他7位游泳愛好者一起，完成橫渡瓊州海峽的挑戰。

“我們下水的時間是凌晨4時10分，當時的風向和海流都十分利好。”劉志敏說，孩子才12歲，面對這樣大的挑戰，作為父親，他心里非常擔心，下水前，他們分析當天的風向和水流，并就各種突發情況作了應對預案。妻子也登上了護航船，整個橫渡過程中，一直跟在兒子身邊。

前半段他和兒子游得都比較順利。后來，由于途中風向改變，護航船很難一直保持在挑戰者周邊，這給他們帶來了不小的麻煩。

另一個挑戰來自于海里的“水母”。劉志敏告訴記者，整個橫渡過程中，兒子被水母蜇了四次，“就像是被電擊了一下，會有一些灼痛感，好在兒子挺過來了”。

Shortly after returning home,Liu signed up for the next transstrait event, with his son also on the name list.

Known as “Mount Qomolangma at Sea,” making it across the Qiongzhou Strait is no easy job. Learning from the previous attempts by others, Liu and his son knew that most people failed due to their diminishing physical strength near the end of their journey. Apart from the arduous routine training, Liu and his son particularly went to the Wanglyuhu Lake in Heyuan City,Guangdong Province for a 20-km distance swimming practice in order to build their stamina. They even carried out a simulation of sea situations under professional guidance.

At around 1 am on July 28,the whole family headed for the Baishamen Seashore in Haikou,the provincial capital of Hainan Province. Along with seven other endurance athletes, Liu and his son jumped into the sea and began their challenging trip.

“We started at 4:10 am when the wind and current were favorable,” said the father. He was a little worried about his son as it could be tough for a 12-year-old to complete such a dangerous task.Before they started, they analyzed the data of the wind and current and designed an emergency plan for any unexpected situations.Liu’s wife was aboard the escort ship to keep her son company during the arduous journey.

It went on well at first, but later they faced trouble when the escort ship couldn’t follow them closely due to the change of wind.

Jellyfish were another enemy.Liu said that his son was stung by jellyfish four times. “It felt like electric shock, with burns in your body. Luckily, my son got through it.”

Rip current was the greatest threat. Liu recalled that the nearer the seashore was, the farther the strong rip current kept pushing them away, and their struggle lasted for almost one hour before landing.

Both the father and the son succeeded in traversing the Strait, despite the difficulties they encountered, and Liu was extremely delighted to learn his son’s completion time of 7:29,which was one hour ahead of his.Their feat was certainly legendary. At the very beginning,the son was forced to swim to treat his rhinitis, which he disliked. Later, as his father practiced together with him, he gradually became interested in it and eventually became quite fond of the sport. Both father and son have turned from “Land Ducks”to “darting fish,” for neither of them was able to swim well just seven years ago. As the proud father tells it, “My kid suffered from nasal infections then, so I thought he could improve his immune system by joining in.”That was how both of them began their aquatic career.

最大挑戰非最后的“離岸流”莫屬。劉志敏說，眼看離岸邊越來越近，但強大的離岸流不斷將他推離，足足花費近一個小時，他才成功突破了離岸流。

雖然困難重重，但父子倆最終都順利完成了橫渡海峽的挑戰。讓劉志敏欣慰的是，比起自己8小時32分的橫渡成績，兒子只用了7小時29分，足足快了1個小時。

父子游泳充滿傳奇色彩。劉志敏稱，當初孩子學游泳是為了治療鼻炎，從最初的抗拒，到如今的熱愛，他陪著孩子一起學習游泳，兩人也從當初的“旱鴨子”，成了別人眼中的“游泳大神”。7年前，劉志敏父子都是“旱鴨子”。“孩子那時候有鼻炎，我就想著能否通過運動，增強孩子的抵抗力。”兩人就是這樣才開始游泳運動的。