Wetsuit? No problem. Local woman becomes 1st to swim around Vashon Island

Mary Singer, 51, became the first person on record to swim around Vashon Island. On Wednesday, Aug. 12, during the Perseid meteor shower near Sandy Shores on Vashon, she entered frigid Puget Sound waters wearing only a bathing suit. After 15 hours and 28 seconds, she returned to shore shivering and exhausted, having covered roughly 32 miles. Her husband, Katsumi Purbeck, wrapped her in a towel and watched her finish. Singer said she had been inspired by open-water swimmers after moving to Vashon from Tacoma in 2016 and later took up the challenge full-time in 2019 with a borrowed wetsuit.