Expert: Duke won’t make it across

At a recent news briefing in Tobago, Duke vowed to swim between the two islands starting Monday at 8 am, he later elaborated that he would undertake this feat in a relay with fellow THA minority member Farley Augustine.

Duke has begun to hype up the event by posting on a picture of himself clad in a wetsuit to his Facebook page along with a video of him and Farley in a practice swim with the musical backing of a Mavado-styled singer extolling his ambitions.

However, open-water swim veteran Gordon Borde, in a CNMG News interview with Kent Fuentes, cautioned Duke over the reality of sea conditions, based on his own unsuccessful attempt at a similar feat in 2013 from Crown Point to Toco.

“It would take us 12 hours to reach Toco Point, we had estimated,” Borde said. “We had to go across the shallows and experience the currents and so on.

“But the currents were so strong that they were pulling us down, like we were going to Venezuela. So after a period of 14 hours, and we did 25 miles, we abandoned the swim.” He said Duke’s swim from Scarborough would be even tougher.

“Let’s say he does get to a certain distance off of Tobago, he’s going to encounter the easterly currents,” Borde added. “So he’s going to go through the same thing we went through.

Borde said that only in the unlikely event of perfect conditions on a particular day, then an experienced open-water swimmer would have a chance to complete the course. In Duke’s case, Borde said, “If he wants to make it across, perhaps go across in a boat.”