Since moving to Tobago from England in 2000, Richard “Richie” Conybear had been swimming, way out into the deep blue – an experience he describes as “a meditative state, without a care in the world’.” That carefree world changed drastically on May 26, 2023. While he was swimming around Booby Rock, Charlotteville (wearing a swimming buoy for visibility), a pirogue with two 150-horsepower engines ploughed into him, breaking both legs, breaking his pelvis in six places and severing his urinary tract.
Death was not ready for him. “I had to struggle to walk again,” he told me. “I clawed back to my life, to fully enjoy the main reason that brought me to this island” – the ocean and swimming. While he was at home one day, his non-functional legs confining him to the couch, his friend John “Johnny” Procope visited. When Johnny offered to help him down to the sea (a few metres from the house), Richie’s soul was sparked by the idea.
The tear-inducing experience of Johnny hoisting him onto his back, carrying him down the steps, across the sand and into the water played a pivotal role, having a positively massive impact on his mental state. Being submerged in that liquid embrace, for the first time since the accident, was a powerfully healing catalyst.
Today, two years later, no one looking at Richie would believe what he had endured. His story is the stuff of award-winning documentaries and best-selling inspirational books. As we stood on the steps at Store Bay, on October 13, awaiting Johnny’s arrival, Richie told me: “Would you believe that Johnny and I were both born on February 8?” Perhaps this is an auspicious birthdate for people destined to achieve the seemingly impossible.
A little over a year ago (July 12, 2024) Johnny had courageously conquered the channel between Tobago and Trinidad, steadily swimming approximately 60 km in roughly 24 hours. But on the morning of October 13, at 9 am, he would set off on “Big Swim 2” – this time, around Tobago.
This never-before-attempted feat was worthy of big-name sponsors and excited media houses jostling for exclusive interviews and iconic footage. Instead, a handful of us, friends and well-wishers, gathered on the sand, some with phones and cameras, to capture the historic start.
Where sponsors fell short, friends did not. Johnny would not be swimming alone. William Carr and Richard Conybear would be his companion swimmers, joining him along the route for 11-hour shifts, along with a support boat and kayaker.
The swim’s purpose was to raise awareness and funds for two NGOs: SpeSeas (sustaining healthy marine ecosystems) and the Aqua Smart Foundation (learn-to-swim programmes).
Two days pre-swim, as I chatted with Johnny, he had mentioned plans to negotiate inviting Ocean Man (an international open-water swimming event) to Tobago.
“Although it should be ‘Ocean Person,'” he quipped.
He said such an event could put Tobago on the map for internationally-accessible open-water swimming. Think of international extreme swimmers who have completed the Ocean 7 Channel Swim Challenge, swimming from Tobago to Trinidad across the Galleons Passage.
“Perhaps Tobago can make it to Ocean 8 on the Ocean Challenge list,” Johnny put forth, hoping that the THA would get behind an initiative of such potential.
“The kind of numbers of people we can get to come to Tobago for these ocean challenges is huge…far in excess of any activity that we have had in Tobago that concerns open-water sports so far.”
However, before such events can occur, Tobago must heed an important wake-up call. Several recent unfortunate water-related events (drownings, sinking party boats, etc) point to the need for licensing boat operators and assuring optimum-level safety measures for water-based activities and marine craft. “What happened to Richie is a very important example,” Johnny said. “If we try to develop tourism without raising safety standards, especially for marine craft, we will create an opportunity for chaos and ruin our reputation, as there could be more accidents when more people come. We need to put our house in order.”
On October 14, after Johnny had been swimming for 33 hours, very strong currents just after Speyside forced the abortion of Big Swim 2, owing to safety concerns.
This locally unparalleled display of commitment, determination and record-breaking endurance raised spirits around the world and set a groundbreaking example of what is humanly possible.
“Given the right conditions and a positive mindset, we’re all capable of so much,” says Richard Conybear.
Read more on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday
