Braving winds, high waves and using only the strength of her upper body, 15-year-old Jenna Lambert became the first person with cerebral palsy to swim 32 kilometres across Lake Ontario Wednesday.

To cheers and shouts of joy from friends and family, Lambert came ashore at Lake Ontario Park in her native Kingston. She had been in the water for 32 hours, swimming with just her arms to propel her through the occasionally stormy lake.

Jenna Lambert after swimming across Lake Ontario.
(CBC)

"I want to have a dill pickle for dinner," she told a news conference, minutes after emerging from the waves. Then, waxing slightly more serious, she described the conditions during her swim.

"There were some rough waves and some rough winds but most of the time I just kept them at my back," she said.

The weather forced frequent changes of plan, her coach said.  There was a delay at the start of the swim, from Baird Point, N.Y., then a change to her finishing point because of the strong prevailing winds and waves.

The hardest part of the swim was eating and staying afloat at the same time, she said.

"Because I don't use my legs, I have to tread water with one hand and eat with the other," she said.

Lambert made the 32-kilometre crossing to raise money for her swim club — the Penguins — in Kingston, and to raise awareness of just what people with disabilities can accomplish.

"I'm doing this for all of the Penguins, and all of my friends," she said, "to be able to influence the lives of kids with disabilities. It's such a great feeling."