The Pod: Ocean Swimming

Andy Donaldson is a world-recorder holding open-water swimmer. In 2023, he is attempting to swim the Oceans Seven in one year, and is making a pretty good fist of it, having already swum the English Channel (in a British record time), the North Channel (only 4 minutes off the record), the Cook Strait (in world record time) and the Molokai Channel in Hawaii. At the time of recording, he was setting off to swim the Strait of Gibraltar - and by time I published, he had broken the British record. He is raising money for Black Dog Institute

Songs in this episode - all licensed under a Creative Commons License:

• Andy - MisfitMediocrity
• Donald trumpet vs delirium (silence) - David (G.RaFF) parton
• Son Lux - Lost It To Trying (Umpire Remix) - Umpire
• Sapphire - Tobu

Photo from Andy on instagram

Pedro Ordenes is an Alcatraz legend, having swum the famous route over 1000 times!! Pedro runs Water World Swim that organizes many swims in San Francisco Bay, California and across the world. I was lucky enough to swim Alcatraz with Water World Swim recently in April 2023.

Pedro is an exceptionally accomplished open water swimmer, perhaps the highlight being swimming the Strait of Magellan in South America, in 3.5°C with 60 km/hr winds and 3-5 feet swells against 12-14 knot currents! He has also swum a double crossing of the Beagle Channel between Chile and Argentina. Pedro is now also a very well respected open-water coach.

Songs in this episode - all licensed under a Creative Commons License:

• Out In The Sticks - Escape From The Alcatraz - CVMR
• Prisonnier D Alcatraz - Deadline313
• Sonus Locus: Doors of Alcatraz - Analog Soul
• Jail - J-Seiei Beatz
• Sapphire - Tobu

Image from Water World Swim

Peta Bradley is a member of the Australian ice swimming team that recently competed at the World Ice Swimming Championships in France. She competed in the 1000m, 500m, and 50m butterfly, bringing home a bronze medal in the 500m. Peta hails from Gilgandra, quite some distance from any coastline, and does a lot of her training in dams. She has also completed the coveted ice mile at Thedbo. Peta is the manager of sheep genetics, within the livestock genetics team at Meat and Livestock Australia.

Songs in this episode - all licensed under a Creative Commons License:

• Ice - Workers
• Ice - whatfunk
• Sapphire - Tobu

Photo from Peta Bradley - it is the Australian team at the World Champs - Peta, Nick Hungerford and Ellery McGowan

Lynne Cox is arguably the most accomplished ocean swimmer of all time. She set the record for the English Channel in 1972, was the first woman to swim the Cook Strait in New Zealand in 1975, famously swam between the US and the USSR in 1987 across the Bering Strait in bone-chilling 3 degree waters, and then even colder in Antarctica and Greenland. She has a list of achievements too long to list here. Lynne is also an author, and has a new book called Tales of Al - The Water Rescue Dog, detailing her experiences with Italy's elite, highly specialized corps of water rescue dogs who jump from helicopters and save lives. Thanks very much to Knopf for sending me a preprint.

Songs in this episode - all licensed under a Creative Commons License:

• Rescue Dog - Dav Blues
• Rescue Dog - Ross J. Miller
• Rescue Dog - Electrophonvintage
• The New FoundLand EP 18 Guest Mix UNK - UNK
• New Found Land - Mojis
• Only my winnings - New Found Land
• Sapphire - Tobu

Photo from Lynne Cox

Professor Peter Ralph is Executive Director of the Climate Change Cluster in the Faculty of Science at UTS, and is partnering with Australian surf brand Piping Hot to develop textiles made from seaweed for surfwear. Nature-derived alternatives for the fashion industry have the potential to revolutionise products and vastly reduce their impact on the oceans.

Apologies for a little bit of building noise in the background!

Songs in this episode - all licensed under a Creative Commons License:

• Seaweed - Offkey Lifestyle
• Sea-weed - Martin Williamson
• Sapphire - Tobu

Image from UTS

Eli Ball is training to swim the English Channel... butterfly. Yes, you read that correctly. Butterfly. He is an exceptionally accomplished butterflying ocean swimmer, having completed a plethora of marathon ocean swims, including the 20km Rottnest Island swim, along the way setting the butterfly record.

Songs in this episode - all licensed under a Creative Commons License:

• Butterfly - takashi_d
• Butterfly - Adam Andrys
• Butterfly - Joachim Heinrich
• Butterfly - ReMiXis
• Butterfly - Britney Starr
• Butterfly - Phòng Thu Âm Nguyễn Báu
• Butterfly - 李雨寰 Lee Johan
• Sapphire - Tobu

Image from Eli fan page on Facebook

I would like to acknowledge the horribly sad tragedy here in Sydney last week, with a swimmer killed in a shark attack at Malabar, a place at which I have swum many times. Sharks are an ever present thought for ocean swimmers, and they are one of the topics in today's episode, which was recorded a few weeks before the incident. My sincerest condolences are with Simon's family and friends.

Lauren Tischendorf is the first woman to swim solo around Lord Howe Island - 32.2 km of sharks, currents, 25 knot winds and 2.5 metre swell, finishing in 13 hours 50 minutes and 26 seconds. She has also filmed a documentary of the swim, I just went for a swim, highlighting the spectacular ocean as well as the importance of the empowerment of girls and women. You can watch this film throughout Australia very soon in the Women's Adventure Film Festival.

Songs in this episode - all licensed under a Creative Commons License:

• Lord - Leaux Mane
• Howe - Andervall
• Island - extenz
• Sapphire - Tobu

Image from Lauren on instagram

Brendan Cullen is training to swim the English channel, but what makes his journey exceptional is that he is a sheep farmer from Kars Station, east of Broken Hill in NSW, and is about 350 km from the nearest coastline. Four mornings a week, Brendan swims in the murky waters of Lake Pamamaroo and Lake Copi Hollow in the Menindee Lakes, where he can't typically see more than 20 centimetres in front of his face (video). And there's not a lot of open water in the desert! 

Brendan already has some major swimming achievements under his belt, such as swimming for 8 hours non-stop, and he an ambassador for lifeline, raising awareness and money for mental health.

Songs in this episode - all licensed under a Creative Commons License:

• Broken - dikomm
• Hill - Valance
• Broken - Mind Over Mayhem
• Hill - Damien Bronieki
• Broken - trifonic
• Sapphire - Tobu

Image from Jacinta Cullen / smh. 

Peter Hancock has now swum well over 1000 consecutive days, most days in Dumaresq Dam in Armidale, central NSW. Often the temperature is down near freezing. But this is not the first time Pete has conquered an incredible swimming challenge. In 2014, he swam in 333 different locations in the one year, including in the 1.6 degree Fox Glacier River in New Zealand.

As a freshwater ecologist, it's not just the swimming that Pete likes - there are plenty of things to look at! He has discovered new species of fresh water crustaceans and beetles,  and documents much of it on Instagram.

Pete also recently completed an indoor Iron Man, raising money for Headspace. So he knows how to run and cycle as well! You can see his adventures on strava.

Songs in this episode - all licensed under a Creative Commons License:

• Set - Michael Douglas Dumaresq
• Armidale - Malfatti
• Like I do - Dam
• Feel good - Invertebrate
• Sapphire - Tobu

Image from Pete on Instagram. Also see Pete on Twitter. 

Jaimee Rogers hosts the Big Sports Breakfast program on Sky Sports Radio, is a national level swimmer in the 200m breaststroke, and is now tackling the English Channel. She is raising money with Gotcha4life to support mental health programs. You can sponsor her here.

Songs in this episode - all licensed under a Creative Commons License:

• Balmoral - Peyrius
• Winter - Datasuck
• Calais to Dover - Binder and Howorth
• Cliffs of Dover - Fabio Mazzo
• Sapphire - Tobu

Image from Jaimee on instagram