$330 fine after man swims across the Hoover Dam
A man has been fined for swimming across the Hoover Dam in America - reportedly becoming the first person the survive the crossing.
Arron Hughes, 28, from Ruthin in Denbighshire, was on a stag do when he went into the dam on the Arizona-Nevada border near Las Vegas.
The forklift driver from was arrested at the scene and fined $330 (£250). He describes himself as an “adrenalin junkie”.
The dam has 17 turbines – nine on the Arizona wing and eight on the Nevada wing - but those close to where Mr Hughes was swimming were not on when he was in the water on August 8.
He said he did not realise swimming at the landmark was an offence as he did not see any signs.
Mr Hughes added: “We got there and it was absolutely roasting. I thought to myself ‘I’m going in for a dip’. The plan was just to go for a little dip at the start and then I thought ‘I can make this’ so I swam across, I made it from Arizona to Nevada.
“I don’t have any regrets. I even have a tattoo saying ‘No regrets’, that’s the type of person I am.”
His ticket, issued by Nevada police, lists the offence as: “Jumping, diving, swimming from dam’s spillways or other structures.”
The Hoover Dam generates about 4 billion kilowatt-hours of power every year, enough for 1.3 million people in three states.
It is 726ft (221m) tall and weighs 6,600,000 tonnes. In the last decade, 275 people have died there.
