Ridgewood's Charlotte Samuels Works Hard To Help Others Enjoy The Water

RIDGEWOOD, N.J. – Charlotte Samuels works just as hard out of the water as she does in it.

The Ridgewood High School student is being honored for her volunteer work with the YWCA of Bergen County’s Young Leader Award next month.

Samuels spends a lot of time out of the water helping children. She works closely with Citizens for Swimming, a non-profit group that brings kids from Paterson to Graydon Pool in the summer and teaches them basic water safety and swimming skills. She also does a lot of public speaking and motivational work with the YWCA of Bergen County and local Girl Scout troops.

Samuels first competed in marathon, open-water swimming when she was 12 at a two-kilometer race in Maryland. Years later she competed in longer races and really loved it. Samuels is the youngest person to finish the triple crown of marathon open-water swimming.

“Open water swimming is unpredictable. The conditions are not dictated by anything that can be gaged before hand fully,” Samuels said. “A swim can begin successfully and a swimmer may get caught in really dangerous conditions because the weather changes."

But for hours, sometimes as many as 20, it’s just the water, Samuels, and her thoughts.

“The swimmer must be open to the swim taking much longer than they expected,” Samuels said. “I never expected my 20-hour swims to take as long as they did. It is important to stick it out.”

The experience can be a very peaceful one, she said.

“I try not to get too caught up in my thoughts, but this never seems to work, and if I do, I try to use my thoughts positively,” I always sing songs to myself in my head and count my strokes and just zone out.”

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