Foreign News: Don't Go Near the Water

Bubba Tongay, 5, and his sister Kathy, 4, have been knocking off long-distance swimming records ever since they were old enough (ten months) to dog-paddle. Back home in Miami, the wide-shouldered, sun-scorched Tongay kids swim seven miles before breakfast every morning. Last year Bubba swam 22 miles down the Mississippi. The kids' father and trainer, ex-Coast Guardsman Russell Tongay, had an extraordinary plan: he wanted the children to swim the ig-mile English Channel and maybe win some of the $19,600 prize money offered by the London Daily Mail.

Last week Russell, Bubba, Kathy and their schoolteacher mother arrived in Britain, all set...