Cindy Cleveland

Cindy Cleveland with John York at the 1987 14 km Seal Beach Roughwater Swim in Seal Beach, California

Cindy Cleveland is an American waterwoman and a prolific Southern Californian marathon swimmer, active primarily in the late 1970s. She was also a long-time lifeguard and competitive paddle boarder and a two-time member of the 24-hour club.

After retiring from marathon swimming in 1980, Cleveland transitioned to paddle board racing and achieved several top finishes in the Catalina Classic race.

Open Water Swimming Highlights

She was the first person to swim across the 12.4-mile Anacapa Channel from Anacapa Island to Oxnard in the California Channel Islands in 1978.
On 27 September 1976, she completed a 20.2-mile crossing of the Catalina Channel from Santa Catalina Island to the Southern California mainland in 11 hours 4 minutes 24 seconds.
On 5 October 1977, she completed a 40.4-mile (64.6 km) two-way crossing of the Catalina Channel (M-C-M) in 24 hours 30 minutes 32 seconds with the first leg in 12 hours 55 minutes 17 seconds and the second leg in 11 hours 35 minutes 15 seconds.
On 9 August 1978, she completed a two-way crossing of the Santa Barbara Channel from the mainland to Anacapa Island to the mainland in 12 hours 48 minutes 20 seconds where the first leg was 6 hours 12 minutes and the second leg was 6 hours 36 minutes 20 seconds.
On 16 August 1978, she completed a 74.7 km circumnavigation swim of Santa Catalina Island in 34 hours 24 minutes. A distance of nearly 50 miles, this feat went unmatched until 2011 when Forrest Nelson replicated the feat.
In September 1980, she crossed 37.3 km of Monterey Bay in 15 hours 21 minutes. Her Monterey Bay crossing was unprecedented.
She completed three 51 km Catalina Classic paddleboard races in 1985, 1986 and 1987 placing in the top three in the stock division

Cleveland was named to the list of World's 50 Most Adventurous Open Water Women by the World Open Water Swimming Association in 2015.
Cleveland was an inductee (Honor Swimmer) of the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame in the Class of 2018.
In 1999, Cleveland was the first woman to receive the Tom Blake Award presented by the Hennessey Paddleboard Cup Committee to individuals who have made ‘extraordinary contributions to the sport and lifestyle of surfing’.