PENSACOLA, Fla. (WKRG) – “It was kind of spontaneous. There was no reason other than I wanted to do it,” said Navarre Beach lifeguard Makayla Ludwick.

Navarre Beach lifeguard Makayla Ludwick swims for UMBC. COVID-19 has thrown off her typical offseason training program, so why not swim from Navarre beach to Pensacola beach?

“When I measured it, the road doesn’t curve as much as the island. The road is straighter than the water, so it added a couple miles,” said Ludwick.

The swim turned out to be 17.5 miles and took over 10 hours to complete.

“Six miles in I kind of wanted to get out, I thought – Oh I don’t know about this. I’m not sure, this is sort of a long swim,” said Ludwick. “That wasn’t even half way.”

As Ludwick made stops along the way, her fellow lifeguards helped her power through.

“They’d say – You have to keep going, they’re waiting for you at Casino Beach. I knew I had to keep going,” said Ludwick.

She started at 7:00 in the morning and made it Pensacola around 5:30 at night. Ludwick can return to school this fall with bragging rights, and with the knowledge she can conquer a 17 mile swim.

“I was expecting my whole body to hurt, but it was really just my arms. My arms really hurt,” said Ludwick

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