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岁的刘柏言横渡琼州海峡

7小时29分游21.5公里，12岁的广东佛山男孩刘柏言，于7月28日成功横渡琼州海峡。其父刘志敏也以8小时32分的成绩完成挑战。他们是首对成功横渡琼州海峡的父子。

刘志敏说，他的两个朋友在2019年6月27日横渡琼州海峡，当时他跟随两人的护航船一起出海。“在保证安全的前提下，我中途下水游了4个多小时。”刘志敏说，亲身体验过后，他发现只要准备充分，横渡琼州海峡并非不可能完成的任务。

回家后不久，刘志敏就报名参加了下一次横渡琼州海峡的活动，当时和他一起报名的，还有儿子刘柏言。

琼州海峡被称为“海上珠峰”，挑战绝非易事。刘志敏带着儿子分析以往横渡失败的案例，发现许多人都是因为后半段体能不足，功败垂成。为了提高儿子体能，除了每天的日常训练，他专程带着孩子去广东河源万绿湖，完成20公里的游程。除此之外，他和孩子也曾在专业团队的帮助下，模拟了在海中横渡的场景。

7月28日凌晨1时许，刘志敏一家早早起床，乘车前往海口市白沙门海岸，在那里他们将和其他7位游泳爱好者一起，完成横渡琼州海峡的挑战。

“我们下水的时间是凌晨4时10分，当时的风向和海流都十分利好。”刘志敏说，孩子才12岁，面对这样大的挑战，作为父亲，他心里非常担心，下水前，他们分析当天的风向和水流，并就各种突发情况作了应对预案。妻子也登上了护航船，整个横渡过程中，一直跟在儿子身边。

前半段他和儿子游得都比较顺利。后来，由于途中风向改变，护航船很难一直保持在挑战者周边，这给他们带来了不小的麻烦。

另一个挑战来自于海里的“水母”。刘志敏告诉记者，整个横渡过程中，儿子被水母蜇了四次，“就像是被电击了一下，会有一些灼痛感，好在儿子挺过来了”。

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.

最大挑战非最后的“离岸流”莫属。刘志敏说，眼看离岸边越来越近，但强大的离岸流不断将他推离，足足花费近一个小时，他才成功突破了离岸流。

虽然困难重重，但父子俩最终都顺利完成了横渡海峡的挑战。让刘志敏欣慰的是，比起自己8小时32分的横渡成绩，儿子只用了7小时29分，足足快了1个小时。

父子游泳充满传奇色彩。刘志敏称，当初孩子学游泳是为了治疗鼻炎，从最初的抗拒，到如今的热爱，他陪着孩子一起学习游泳，两人也从当初的“旱鸭子”，成了别人眼中的“游泳大神”。7年前，刘志敏父子都是“旱鸭子”。“孩子那时候有鼻炎，我就想着能否通过运动，增强孩子的抵抗力。”两人就是这样才开始游泳运动的。