Uran teen sets world record with 24-kilometre butterfly sea swim

Thirteen-year-old Aarya Patil from Uran achieved a remarkable feat in open water sea swimming, specifically in a challenging category. Rather than using the conventional freestyle technique commonly employed by sea swimmers in rough waters, Aarya completed a 24 km swim from Dharamtar Jetty near Pen to Kasa Khadak (Padmadurg Fort), near Alibaug beach on Monday, using a butterfly stroke. He took 5 hours and 40 minutes..

His swimming coach father, Kishore Patil, stated, "Aarya created a world record by being the youngest person to swim a sea route in the butterfly form of swimming." He added that he has contacted various national and world records annals to get recognition as the world's youngest swimmer to complete a 24-kilometre butterfly style sea swimming marathon at the age of 13 years, 3 months, and 27 days. "As per our search, we have not found anybody trying this kind of record in the butterfly style of swimming category," said Kishore Patil.

Beginning his journey at 1.50am from Dharamtar Jetty, Aarya reached Kasa Khadak at 7.31 am, where swimming enthusiasts welcomed him with a grand reception. Aarya revealed that his preparation involved 6-7 hours of daily practice over six months. "I was confident about completing the swim under 6 hours and succeeded. Despite the challenging route, extensive training made it manageable. I plan to attempt longer distances soon," said Aarya.

Earlier last year, he made his sea swimming debut with a 21 km swim between Mandwa Jetty near Alibaug and Gateway of India, which encouraged him to push further. This eighth-grade student from a Navi Mumbai school aims to swim across the English Channel and other international sea routes in the future.