(21+km) of a 42+km Vidosternsimmet Viking Solo Swim (Sweden) 9th & 10th August 2024

A race where 14 people entered, all 14 technically DNF’d, 12 completed the overnight one-way of which 3 completed (including yours truly) sans wetsuit. Begs the question, where did all the hardy Vikings go? 

 

(Lake Vidostern is a 5 hour drive south of Stockholm, ca. 2.5 hours south east of Gothenburg and 2 hours north of Malmo)

(Closer inspection)

Fate led me here for my first Scandi adventure to attempt to become the 2nd person in skins to complete (after Henry Stockholm, a (great?) Dane) and to be first Brit teased by the organisers website suggesting ‘this event is probably not for you’ (https://vidosternsimmet.com/42km/)....talk about red rag to a bull! 

The basic blueprint for the 42km swimmers was simple: Enjoy the 'warm up' during the 21km+ overnighter benefitting from the feeds/support of a kayaker then do the return leg (ensuring to make the cut-off times) unsupported save for the check points/feed stations where one has to make the cut-off times. The +plus sign is to denote the fact that a one-way is actually OVER 21km.....I calculated 21,750 meters (minimum) and that's before any navigational errors of which there are plenty in the dark and waves. 

I was under no illusions whatsoever that EVEN in an idyllic flat calm, this was going to be one of the toughest swims I had ever undertaken and I have had some long day (s)/night(s) out….(most other swims of that distance are not races but ones where you go for a few days/week and pick the most propitious day(s)). 

 

Anyway, each of the 42km aspirants were put into groups of 2-3 on the basis of average km times. I guessed 3km per hour on my form and was thus paired with Marcel Poodt from the Netherlands who I had never met before and serendipitously was also swimming in skins but he had never done a stretch longer than 21km and yet was training for the EC in 2025! (We connected and had a quick 10 mins dip on the Friday morning to ascertain speeds - luckily he is a dominant right side breather which would compliment my dominant left therefore, in theory, we could place kayaker ‘Magnus’ in between us and get on our merry way). Turned out Marcel was an ideal co-conspirator for this undertaking. He's a top guy. The first available slot time of 22:00 was given to 3 wetsuit swimmers and at the launch of a firework plus claps and cheers of the 20-odd assembled, they were off. 5 mins later we were next. We lowered ourselves gingerly into the silky smooth ca. 20c water which hadn’t dropped much despite torrential rain which has been hammering at my bedroom window all day!…..I was so glad I got in slowly as almost tripped over an enormous log that was in the water. 

(We were given these fab orange tow floats which lit up and avoided the need for green goggle LED lights. Very neat invention indeed. I am the geezer on the right #204)

The first 5km was very exposed with a breeze blowing SW 15mph gusting 30mph sort of cross wind (from behind left) making it pretty uncomfortable for the kayaker at slow speeds and especially so at our 45 min feed intervals. It was also pretty awkward suddenly swimming right into some random shingle and getting cut up on a 20m stretch of reeds that came out of nowhere but we brushed them off and laughed thru it as the typical nighttime swimming fog of war! 

(Pic from the Sundet area (start line) facing north during daylight (the day prior) and, of course, a flat calm!)

Eventually we rounded a little island and entered into the shelter of the first major island on the left as we edged past Ekens camping (5 kms chalked off I thought!) which I had imprinted on my brain as a key checkpoint. We got into a nice rhythm (in the newly-discovered calm) and started to click off the KMs with each buoy beautifully lit up marking roughly every KM. We hit proper swim nivarna where we thumped out the mileage which was no bother at all given our dedication to training. 

Between the 1st and 2nd island we were all exposed again which threw the kayaker around and disturbed our swim rhythms totally until Magnus intricately led us thru a gap in the trees and past E4:ans camping area which must have had a stream entering as the water suddenly dropped a few degrees for a while. Now we were almost 10km down with the long stretch to Tånnö on the menu mainly in the lee of the big middle island but Marcel now began to tire (his whey protein feeds hadn't properly dissolved and got clogged up in the flask delivery mechanism of all 3 feeds) so he actually ended up doing most of the swim on water complimented by the odd enormous looking cookie and/or banana so I had to wait a few times for him to catch up. The water temp, thankfully, was a total non-issue. Had this been Loch Tay or Loch Ness my sense of humour might have deserted me! 

Eventually after a very exposed section we passed a buoy with 8km to go and the end of the 3rd Tånnö island in sight with then 7.5 km to go before the finish of the one way (oh only 1/2 of an entire 1-way Windermere I thought). I was impressing on Marcel to speed up with his feeds which were taking too long but it was hard for the kayaker not to drift when we were trying to feed. There was one feed where we had to swim 20 meters towards Magnus as he was drifting badly in the wind. Peak mayhem! 

As we passed the bathers beach at Tånnö in the pitch dark we noticed a group of 3 wetsuit swimmers and their kayak that had overtaken us during the night were now actually on the side of the lake. Maybe they were switching out kayakers? Who knows...but so much for charging ahead...the tortoise beats the hare right?….On we went! 

Now we had earned the right to be in the final stretch of the lake - very exposed at force 4 gusting gale force 7 but thankfully coming from our (sort of) left rear behind us rather than head on. Feeding off the kayaker was close to impossible....as soon as we got to Magnus for a drink he would be blown 5m backwards from us. It was properly tough. Each bottle I got handed to me got tossed back as he was immediately blown away.  I realised at this stage that we were gonna have to really pull our fingers out to make the 7am start of the return leg and impressed on Marcel to dig deeper (his belaboured feeding times were also creating some animosity). He responded magnificently with an increase in pace overtaking me forcing me to catch up!!! 

The buoys seemed really spread out now and very hard to sight in the waves (even for the kayaker as Magnus conceded) but we hugged the shore and they came gradually into view. We hugged the eastern bank and could see the reeds whizzing past us. I was really enjoying the feeling of speed and let out a hearty yell to the kayaker telling him how much I was enjoying myself 'I am having such a blast right now' I recounted. Love it when it kicks off and we were having a hoot! Think Magnus was enjoying the challenge (and probs looking forward to finishing so he could go for a pee!)

With 5km to go I realised then with perhaps 2 hours ahead of us it was going to be a tall order to swim our hearts out, make the turn and then self-support into the teeth of a gale force 7 return so it was there and then that I made my mind up that I wasn’t going to bother the safety team and knew the 1-Way would be the finish for me. (This was the correct decision as all those that did make the turn retired). Quite a relief really and meant I could get stuck in and just enjoy the rest of the swim. The formality in the now daylight was totally enjoyable. 

 (Baseline force 4 gusting 7. Thanks for coming. It got even worse on the Sunday!)

Anyway, Magnus hailed ‘just 3 kms to go boys’ in brilliant English! Despite having just passed buoy number 4 (which I of course questioned but he was insistent it was just 3km to go)….we held our pace beautifully (without feeds) and the final stretch came into view….with 300m to go I still couldn’t make out many people on land given the waves, I could barely see out of my right eye (goggle suction) and my right under-arm area was agonisingly raw from chafe (all the Vaseline had worn off). Then we noticed a few other finishers and we had caught up with the group of 3 who went off 5 mins before us and they were walking the final 150m in the shallows to the finish…..I shook Marcel’s hand (with a nod of mutual respect) and the timer stopped at 8 hours 22 mins. 3rd in skins and 6/14 overall in a very high quality field swimming mainly in the windy darkness. (It's worth me mentioning at this juncture that not only did Marcel finish the one-way, he managed to turn with the main event at 7am (unlike me) so he only had 40mins rest and made if as far as E4:ans on his return (over 35km into a massive headwind) before he was pulled due to the cut-off times. Respect mate - you are defo ready to take on the EC.

(Might need to zoom in to see the results)
 

Magnus was so proud of us and (not unlike a few people in recent weeks) declared me ‘officially insane’ as we shook hands. In excesss of 550km of training YTD (on top of a demanding full-time job) plus a 50km an altitude camp at 1800m in Livigno, Italy, a 24 km weekend, 3 lots of 100x100m interval timed sessions, and an 8 mile in 8 hour event had paid off! Never felt tired or empty once. 

(Jack Hawkins in 'The Cruel Sea' impersonation (for older film buffs!))

Our younger daughter, Issy, (now 20 yrs old and my executive chauffeur for the week as only need to be >19 to drive the hire car) scooped me up and we returned to our lovely Airbnb in Tånnö for a well earned rest. (She's off to study in Stockholm Uni now for her year 3 abroad so this week gave her a small taster of what is to come when she returns solo in 2 weeks time.

Further musings/consiuderations 

+The water is divine and makes your skin silky soft afterwards- I have swum in clearer still water (Tahoe or our local lake at St Andrews in Kent) but nothing leaves your skin feeling as conditioned as this. Most of the way it was 19-20c which is perfect for me 

+The area around Värnamo (pronounced var-na-mower (!)) breathtakingly stunning and peaceful. Really opened up my eyes and for someone who prefers non-sea freshwater swimming, nature and basics in life with grilling out, this place is right up my strasse and if came here on hols could go to a different lake every day of the month. 

+The briefings/organisation for this must make the D-Day landings seem like a spur-of-the-moment decision but the organisers led by Christer Ringholm deserve special praise especially in the gale of this year 

+When I finished there were 2 charming young men offering me various types of food and a sit in a warm tent (I politely declined both as just wanted to go home for a shower and kip). The area even had nice loos with hot water and changing areas. Sweden just does these basic things so well. 

+There was loads of parking and plenty of (free) places down the lake to spectate or swim. 

+We found the best restaurant in town to be the Italian (D8) which was good value and had reasonable portions. We stayed at an Airbnb in Tånnö and would defo stay there again. Supermarkets were very similar to U.K. prices. We hired a car (Kia EV6) from Stockholm airport which was maybe £450 for the week including 2 drivers and insurances plus there were loads of charging points along the route. Issy drove over 1200KMs and I’d be surprised if we spent over £100 on our 3 charges when petrol would have been at least 50% higher. Our Airbnb had a cheap (but slow) 2.5KW charger which was fine overnight. 

+Feeds of small new cooked potatoes with loads of salt complimented by 250ml feeds of heavily diluted maltodextrin with orange squash were perfect (similar to Lake Taupo in 2023 - see prior blog). Never got the chance to try the flat coke or snickers bars I had cached for the return leg. Probs worked by way thru the better part of 500g of salty potatoes...lol 

-Earliest set off time was 10pm. We didn’t hang around but would have preferred a 9pm off with 1 out of daylight before darkness blanketed. I got very lucky being paired up with Marcel (and kayaker Magnus). I’d very happily swim with them again any day of the week/year. Not everyone was so lucky. I heard a story (not confirmed personally) that a group of 3 set off and the fastest swimmer hared off with the kayaker leaving the slower 2 to fend for themselves. Not sure if/when they fed. I noticed one of them retired from the one way on the results page. The other tbf fair is a very accomplished swimmer and was the other one that did it in a basic costume but in 7 hours!! Imagine how terrifying that would be tho' for the better part of 21 km in the dark = fecking terrifying!! At the Teams meeting on the Monday of the race we were all told to stay within 10 meters of each other at all times otherwise we would be disqualified.....not sure why this swimmer wasn't disqualified if the story were to be true. 

-We set up for the swim in twilight. The start area was quite chaotic and hard to work out what to put where. No pens to fill out liability forms or feed bags. It came together in the end but some of the snafu could have been avoided with a hands-on greeting. The only time the midges came out (all holiday) was hanging around at the start area. Worth spraying legs with bug spray in this area if wearing shorts.

Finally, the distance between the buoys (mainly for the return leg) and cut off times to make the various feeding stations (3 of the 5 are on land and you'll need to exit the water to feed). Will need to zoom in:

Pay good money to create panda eyes like this!

(Special thanks to 2 swim buddies Kate Forgione (keeping people honest @ winter time swims at Charlton Lido) and Tony Ross (endured many hours of my summer lake sessions at St Andrews Lakes) which meant I didn't thrash around solo all the time. Also Kate recommended some brilliant (Aussie brand) goggles which I swear by now for open water! They even deliver to the UK and don't break the bank. Check them: https://fiski.com.au/product/fiski-flyers-bumblebee/ 

Lake Taupo, New Zealand, 40.2km Solo Swim - A British first, 4th February 2023

Did you know that Lake Taupo is on the site of a huge volcano ‘caldera’ that has produced two of the world's most violent eruptions in geologically recent times? Not erupted for ca. 1800 years……scary

Lake Taupo (slap bang in middle of north Island of New Zealand above) must be classed as one of the ultimate freshwater swimming challenges globally as it is considered the largest lake by surface area in New Zealand, one of the (if not the) largest lake in Australasia and at 40.2km a tougher test than an English Channel which itself is way shorter (ca. 33km) and the EC affords more buoyancy (therefore much easier on the shoulders). It has been said that you can put the entirety of Singapore within the surface area of this lake! Until I entered the water at little Waihi beach on my birthday 4th February 2023 no British person had even attempted it although it had been successfully swum by ca.40 Kiwis and a couple of Aussies - including fewer than a handful of people who had completed a 2-way (yes, that’s over 80km!). 

(The start is usually at Waihi Bay (bottom left) and finish at Taupo town (top right) with the island marking the 1/2 way mark)

The dust hadn’t even settled for a week after my successful 45.3km Lake Ontario swim 2nd-3rd August 2022 when I decided the next part of the Stillwater 8 was in my sights: Lake Taupo (pronounced locally as ‘Toe Paw’). My email to Philip Rush on 9th August 2022 got the wheels in motion:

‘Hi, I have been given your details by a mutual friend in Helen Conway. My name is Mark Sheridan and I live in Kent in the UK. I am keen to head out to NZ to complete the first British swim of Lake Taupo. I have done a little bit of swimming (!) but wondering what prerequisites are and whether we could sort dates for next year’. Phil replied immediately with a couple of options - one for January and one week in February but I opted for the latter to use January for training (including the Steve Wand 100x100s which takes place that month) and the lake would have more chance to warm up - in the end my solo was the first of the Taupo swim season.

Philip Rush isn’t just a great pilot, to call him an accomplished swimmer would be underplaying his credentials. He swam the EC 10 times. His record-breaking 3-way English Channel time from 1987 still stands over 35 years on! (see CSPF records here). He was inducted into the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame in 1985! https://www.openwaterpedia.com/wiki/Philip_Rush. No pressure then!

Just to arrive at the start line for this swim presented its very own logistical challenges. Not only is Taupo ca. 11,500 miles from where I live in the UK which presents significant jet-lag & related travel issues. In the week leading up to my departure from London on 27th January, Auckland had been inundated with rain during a recent cyclone and had seen some days with a years rainfall within a single 24-hour period. Before I even landed the local authorities had declared a 5 day state of emergency. I intended to fly LHR > DUB > AKL. In my last day in the office, on Friday 27th Jan (and only a few hours before my flight) one of my colleagues informed my that his sister who lives in Auckland couldn’t get back directly as her flight from Japan got re-routed to Brisbane mid-flight.

I had arrived in Heathrow very early for a 10pm flight believing I had completed all my necessary paperwork but was then informed by the check-in desk that I hadn’t completed a visa of NZ Esta form. This took at least an hour of panic with much help from the lovely Emirates staff to sort out. Got on the plane pretty stressed but nothing that a couple of glasses of champagne couldn’t sort out…..

Once in Dubai the same flight the day before mine had to return to Dubai after a 7 hours > a 14 hour round-trip flight to nowhere. Amazingly I was met in Dubai and informed that my scheduled connection still stood albeit 4 hours late….the flight the day after got cancelled given another storm was due in Auckland but our flight had a window to get there. Anyway - I arrived but 4 hours late which was a result in the circumstances. (At the time of writing this blog from the comfort of being back home I count myself fortunate to have been able to pull my return forward by a day to miss cyclone Gabrielle which meant my flight to Dubai was the last one for Emirates for 3 days - quite apt having downpours on the way in and way out!)

I had recruited my usual pairing of female crew. I did a review of facebook friends who might live remotely near that part of the world and Helen Conway and Sylvia Wanstall leapt out at me. Helen lives in Tasmania is no stranger to marathon swimming being one of only 9 people in history to have also swum 70km Lake Geneva and had also completed a Taupo solo (as part of an aborted double) a few years earlier. We had met in the registration queue for the Windermere swim in England in 2014 and then also serendipitously in Arizona for the SCAR swim in 2015. I was relieved to scoop her up from Auckland airport after a couple of days recovering from my flights. We at least had ourselves and all our bags! Sylvia used to live in England and likes her winter swimming but also has done a Coniston and an unsuccessful 12-hour EC attempt so also no stranger to being around the marathon swimming world. She lives in Turangi (very near the southerly most part of the lake) and is building a house in Taupo plus I remembered she loved crewing on the English Channel also for our mutual friend Dan Simonelli who was one of my 3 Lake Ontario crew. Small world.

(Me and the crew for this mission taken the day after the swim in the centre of town - note the union flag the right way up!). Victorious.

Anyway, on 4th February the alarm went off at 03:45 so we could scoop up kit and head over to the start 1 hour from our wonderful Airbnb at/overlooking Acacia Bay near the finish. I called my Mum and this would be the only day when I could call her to wish her happy birthday (13 hours behind in England) and at the same time been celebrating my own!! Priceless. 

Before we started all the feeds etc were shuttled from the rib to the big boat in the darkness whilst Sylvia kindly applied a decent layer of sun cream P20 (factor 50), zinc sudocrem and Vaseline under the armpits/on tops of shoulder to prevent chafe. 

(Picture above of starting 'beach'/slipway with debris galore post recent floods - this is where the pumice stone floats in the water - I head-butted a couple of big pieces of wood in the first hour which was largely unavoidable but probably knocked some sense into me & sorted out my jet lag)

At 06:06 with daylight gradually appearing we got underway. Phil the pilot clocked the water at 20c (a temperature he had suggested to expect on his original emails) and my idea of perfection. My winter training venue at Charlton Lido is heated to 20-21c so that was ideal for this and this was even warmer than 19c we had when originally dipping in the lake at Acacia Bay. 

The first 3 hours felt effortless. I even commented to the crew that it felt like i was doing nothing. Thumping out my typical 48-50 strokes per minute rate I settled into my routine, reminded myself I was swimming on holiday on my birthday and enjoyed the views of going past the town of Kuratau which were now fully in daylight. Apparently we vanquished the first 10km in 3 hours 18. There was almost nowhere else in the world I would rather have been at that moment.

I didn’t look ahead too much but now the whole lake was wide open with a small headwind of 3-5mph and the next landmark of the island (only island on the lake) marking the 1/2 way mark. After my 7th hourly feed we finally passed it but the landmark provided a bit of an optical illusion as I thought I was at/close to it on hour 6. Having been told that was now behind me I informed the crew ‘well that was a mind-f*ck wasn’t it’!

Little did I know at the time but we apparently swam directly over the epicentre of a 5.0 earthquake which was felt across the whole of the north island (pic below). We were none the wiser at the time but I said to Helen Conway that each swim has a story and this was special to ours! See link here

My hourly feeds of heavily diluted maxim (one scoop per 500ml) with orange squash were supplemented by some salty new potatoes I had boiled up the evening before. Nice to have real food (rather than loads of fabricated sugars) and hadn’t used potatoes on a swim since 2012 which was silly as they work so well. I had many messages back n’ forth on feeding strategies with Courtney Moates-Paulk (no.9 Lake Geneva soloist) as she swore by mashed potato on her swim administered in squeezy bottles. Genius & must try that next time.

Within the final 10-12km of the swim I switched to flat coke and some Anzac cookies (a local find which are oat-based but similar to a flap jack) - thought it would be rude not to use a local treat on the swim. Feeding plan was spot on and we never had to bring them forward and stuck to hourly so the crew could swan around and enjoy themselves.

I then hit the wall. Perfectly normal during the swim where the body takes a while to convert from fat stores rather than immediate feeds. The wind died to an almost flat calm and the lake was now like glass with the only ripples caused by the swimmer and the boats. The water was stunning fresh blue and I could see at least 12 foot below me in this crystal clear water but didn’t see a fish the whole day. Mike on the rib took some GoPro footage of my stroke under water. Helen was presenting the world with regular updates on Facebook complaining it was all getting rather boring (!) and people were following the tracker in real time. No pressure! Given my feeds were hourly the crew had nothing to do but encourage and encourage they did. The stretch from the island to Rangatira point marking the door to the final 10km stretch into Taupo town itself was mildly tortuous and never came closer. Hour by hour kept clocking off the miles/feeds still notching up 48spm. 

Eventually we pulled alongside and past the houses & small jetty at the point and the jut of trees which markedly encroached into the bay I had seen mentioned as 8.3km to go. I could now at least tell I was moving and the mind games/optical illusions were over as had perspective of the trees moving behind me as I went passed them. My massive slump was far behind me. Pilot Mike informed me that I was also going to now benefit slightly from the current as the outflow at Taupo of the Waikato river aided the swimmer. Bonus. I knew in my head that the western shore now had 2 bays to pass before the double bay at Acacia bay then we were home and hosed. I filled my head of thoughts of finishing and that I had 9 days left to swan around taking in the sights/sounds of this beautiful country. What was I going to do with all that time and no swim?!

The Rib switched over crews and now I had Phil back on the Rib and for the first time of the whole swim I was allowed to hear a distance measurement ‘2.2km to go’.

I decided to count to 100 in my head at least 10 times and then I was gonna be in the last 1km…..Acacia Bay was long behind us now and only a short stretch with trees on the left and the odd bungalow. The boat traffic increased slightly and I stayed very close to the support vessels to avoid any mishaps.

I knew I had it cracked and the was much activity on the boat in what was now dusk with Helen and Sylvia putting on swimming cosies, caps and googles for the final ca. 300m. Would they keep up ?! Light was fading fast but I could make out the flashing markers to the river channel and the yacht club finishing beach. Yes - I could now see the bottom (just about) through my tinted goggles and the water became shallower. Swam over the last set of rocks and managed to get my feet on some sand to walk up a very pleasantly-slopping beach to exit the water. YES!  Stop watch clocked at 14:46 and the first British swim of Lake Taupo was registered. I was met by Phil who shook my hand and gave me a hug and said it was the easiest swim he had ever piloted for which meant the world to me. What a great day out.

#Proud

(Pic from start taken in daylight the day after the swim. Can't see 1/2 way let alone the finish!)

(Pic below from finish - note jut of trees on right hand side but can just about make out the island at 1/2 way in the very far distance at 20km)

Logistics

Flights - I flew Emirates from LHR via DUB to AKL (Could have flown BA via Kuala Lumpur but interesting that the English cricket team were on my flights and don’t even fly BA any more!)

Hotel - I spent 4 nights at the Grand, Sky City in Auckland (complete with its own 25m single lane - ideal for last minute training and overcoming jet lag)

Car - Hired from Hertz via Car Trawler - process was dead easy and staff brilliant. I only hired a car on day 3 in NZ so I didn’t have to drive on jet-lag. Easy public transport from Auckland centre to airport (train and bus).

Accommodation in Taupo - Rented a house in Acacia Bay (view below) via AirBnB. Would defo stay in that area again. Only a few mins from the finish line and Acacia Bay itself ideal for swimming in as quite sheltered.

Restaurants - There are loads but our favourite is The Bistro. Would go out of my way to eat there again but eating out in NZ is very expensive.

Swimming - my favourite swim spot was at Kinloch (nice 500m protected circuit with no duck weed and not many swans.

Lemme know if need more!

Appendix - Crew notes from the day's proceedings!

Helen Conway (HC)

06:06 - Start - water glassy. 20.2c water, Air ca. 18c

06:14 - stroke rate (S/R) 52 spm

06:37 - 2km done

07:06 - 1st feed > 1 potato + 500ml orange squash with maxim mix. ‘Nice pee’

07:19 - Water 19.4c. Lucky duck is out watching on. S/R 49

07:39 - Stopped for pee

08:06 - 2nd feed at 7km mark (but 6.3km on HC’s Garmin watch) 1x potato and 500ml maxim mix & very long pee. Ripples on water now with gentle breeze from north West. 19.4c water and s/r 47 spm. Swimmer wants 2 potatoes next feed

09:06 - 3rd feed at 9.2km. 2 potatoes and 500ml maxim orange squash. Sun is out and shining down. Crew is warm and happy. Another pee. Water 19.8c and s/r 49 spm

Crew Change

Sylvia Wanstall (SW)

09:19 - 48 spm. Nice and steady. Brilliant. ‘Bloody flies’. The sun is out lovely and warm on back. Beautiful & flat water ‘long may it last’. At 3 hours 18 mark hit 10km down ‘whoop whoop’. Steady breathing to the left

09:25 - Breath to the right (for a little look around?). Nice steady pace.

09:34 - Sylvia breathed in a fly & took ages to get rid of. 

09:51 - 50 spm ‘long and steady stroke’

10:01 - pee stop

10:05 - 4th feed at 12km ‘feeling fab’ - 500ml maxim squash with 2 potatoes. Another pee then off. RIB did a circle to get rid of water inside. Conditions incredible. Sun shining and flat water measured at 20.7c. Clouds off in the distance ‘what a day’. ‘Happy Birthday Mark’.

10:13 - oops knocked lucky duck off his perch

10:20 - Mike puts GoPro in water to do some under-water filming. Speedboat domes near by causing waves. Swimmer 48 spm

10:36 - stroke looking really long and strong. Wow 52 spm. Thoughts you had sped up a bit ‘well done’.

10:42 - slight breeze building but swimming strong

10:48 - pee stop

11:05 - 5th feed - 500ml maxim mix with 2 potatoes

11:20 - 50 spm - couple of sneaky backward glances - lovely long and strong stroke ‘looking good’

11:43 - 48 spm still long and strong

11:50 - pee stop

12:05 - 6th feed - 2 potatoes and 500ml maxim mix. Pee

Crew change

HC

12:49 - pee stop

13:08 - 7th feed - 500ml maxim mix with 2 potatoes - we told swimmer he is over 1/2 way and said he’s ‘happy to have the island now behind him’. Water now 21.7c with ripples across water now from north East. S/R 49 spm. Mike radios in that there was a 5.0 richter earthquake at 12:14 exactly where we are now at 13:18 at a depth of 81 meters. Mark has swum through an earthquake!

13:51 - pee (like clockwork)

14:08 - 8th feed - 400ml of maxim mix with 2 potatoes. Thinks solid feed working well as making him feel satiated for the whole hour. Had a quick pee. Crew in other boat jumps in water to cool off. Water now 23.4c and S/R 49 spm.

15:06 - 9th feed - 250ml of maxim mix with 2 potatoes. Said wants flat coke and Anzac cookies at next feed. 2 min feed as also peeing. ‘Does my wife know i am here’ he asks.

Crew Change

SW

15:28 - 47 spm

15:36 - Small goggle adjustment. Swimming well. Noticed chafing earlier on right shoulder and right side - hoping no sun burn as sun very strong now. Water 23.7c

15:55 - Swimmer takes 2 sneaky glances back but swimming well ‘whoop whoop’. 

16:05 - 10th feed - 500ml flat coke and 1 Anzac biscuit plus a pee. Mark in good spirits. HC reads out some facebook messages from Sam Jones, Bel and Pat Leegg. Swimming strong, very relaxed and comfy. 

16:11 - S/R 50 spm. ‘Whoop whoop’. Pilot change with Phil out and Mike in RIB. ‘Fabulous swimming Mark long and strong’.

16:28 - ‘What the heck I’ve come over all emotional watching you swim. The fact you are here in NZ…a swim buddy from the UK…Messages from people I know in the UK feels too surreal. You are swimming so well my friend…oh bugger I’m blubbering again’….

16:33 - 48 spm - water so flat and perfect conditions

16:50 - 50 spm

16:52 - goggle adjustment

17:05 - 11th feed - 500ml flat coke and 1 Anzac cookie & pee

17:20 - S/R 50 spm . Steady but sure and counting down those KMs…’flip no wonder I am hot, Mike’s watch has the air temps as 32/33c. 

17:32 - Goggle needed sorting in right eye. Now 9.2km from finish

18:05 - 12th feed - 500ml flat coke and 1 Anzac cookie & wee

Crew Change

HC

18:42 - S/R 47 spm. Mike observes stroke is starting to look a little tired. Quite a few boats now and wash. Phil moves main boat to other side to give some buffer. Water 21.7c

18:47 - Tourist sailing boat swum by for a clap and cheer to give a boost. 

18:54 - Stopped for pee (like clockwork). Swimmer says ‘I love it when you talk dirty Helen’ - swimmer in good spirits and knows he’s now moving at a good pace. 

19:06 - 13th feed - 400ml flat coke and 1 Anzac biscuit. Had another cheer squad from sailing boat come alongside. Lots of cobwebs in the air. S/R 48 spm. Swimmer asks ‘have you found our house yet?’

19:19 - 1min pees stop. Swimmer wouldn’t pee before ‘whilst he had an audience’ Wind now from the north West and picking up. ‘I have seen where we had a swim the other day’…not yet but I’m looking out for it. 

19:28 - Sylvia goes to sit on the side of the boat and almost goes for a swim!

20:01 - 14th feed. Swimmer stopped for pee so decided to give him last feed. 200ml of flat Coke with 1 Anzac cookie. Swimmer very happy to hear it is last feed. Passed on love from Emily and messages from Adrian. Party boat near by - hard to hear but now 2.2km to go & sun goes down over Acacia Bay. Wind picked up from north and swimmer S/R 47 spm. 

Crew then jumps in with 300m to go and finishes swim with swimmer out in front clearing the water. Watch stopped at 14 hours 46 mins. Swimmer and crew in fine spirits. Changed and then home for shower, dinner and a well-earned sleep!

Lake Ontario 45.3 km Solo Swim - A British Male first, 2nd/3rd August 2022

Getting my name forever embossed on the plaque below at Queens Royal Park in Niagara-on-the-lake, Ontario was my main inspiration for taking on this totally epic swim. The beach in front of the bench in the middle of the pic below is conveniently the start line!…..observe you cannot make out the finish which is Toronto in the distance ca. 50km away! Unsurprising perhaps given this is undertaking is 3x Windermere or 1.5x the English Channel…...When you stand right by it you can’t believe it isn’t the sea and have to double take when in the water as it is fresh not salty.

My crew - I gave this specially hand-picked rabble a rather affectionate label ‘rent-a-mob’ but probably the most professional crew anyone can be lucky enough to assemble for a swim of this nature! (From left to right: Dan Simonelli (from San Diego), Amanda Bell (from Stockton, UK), Me, Sam Jones (from Plymouth, UK)) with local Christine Arsenault (pilot and LO soloist herself). Not in picture Christine’s husband Rick (top geezer) plus we were ably overseen by 2 highly skilled observers/swim masters Loren King and Katharine Borczak from the Solo Swims of Ontario governing body/safety organisation.

The start - weather not great hence no spectators save for 2 in the gazebo built for a 1989 John Travolta film The Experts which never got taken down (and the film was a flop btw!)

  

Departure ca. 11am on the 2nd August…tough 20 meters of submerged rocks to navigate before one could even think about taking a stroke…..my advice if doing again would be to wear crocs and throw to crew once thru this bit…..Sporting my British & Irish Lions Budgy Smugglers for first Brit…..

My mate the lucky duck helping me cope with tough conditions for the first 20%…decided to take it easy instead of fighting it! Watching the waves crash over his head as we navigated the sandbar at the mouth of the Niagara River was highly amusing. Crew on the zodiac got totally soaked!

And then the whole world became a feast of blues (under and above the water) for the afternoon…hourly feeds with 12 Oatmeal Crème Pies consumed during the undertaking….First 5 feeds maxim then next five flat coke then back on maxim for remainder…….this place is simply vast - Lake Ontario is 193 miles long by 53 miles wide (at its largest dimensions)! Probs not ideal undertaking if you struggle with agoraphobia? 

Then the crew observed the sunset over Toronto with the sun bouncing off the CN Tower making it look like a rocket! (I tried not to look up as thought that would be the slippery road to hell but obviously very hard mentally to realise you were making progress as couldn’t see land much from start to finish!) 

Light turned into darkness with the flick of a switch around 9pm….with a spectacular city within reach (kind of)….I spent most of the swim in my head thinking I was swimming Lake Memphremagog (Vermont to Quebec 2019 swim with separate blog) so that was my way of coping with this! (Easy to see main support boat R&R piloted by Christine and Rick ahead).

Wasn’t 100% certain beforehand whether I would have to swim thru the entire night for this swim but we were treated to one of the most incredible sunrises ever! More blues tinged with oranges….with lights of boat bottom left. I noticed that the air temp was pretty fresh now as members of the crew were wearing jackets plus hats, drinking warm drinks and rubbing hands….

Eventually, after 41km, I made the executive decision to land the swim at the Leslie Street Spit (rather than Marilyn Bell Park) so we had ‘only’ 5km (compared with 8km to MBP) to go which I remembered was 50x100m or 1/2 a Steve Wand (a charity swim I run each winter)….10 laps of the lake but obviously no gimmie!

Massive relief and joy to land the swim in a time of 18:59:52 sneaking in 8 seconds under 19 hours. Didn’t even require exiting the water just touching a dry rock! And in the parlance of Dan Simonelli I became ‘The First Brit Man’ to do this….couldn’t have summed it up better Lieutenant Dan!

The route from the start at Niagara-on-the-Lake to Toronto. Thanks for coming. Ca.50% longer than the English Channel but also fresh water affording way less buoyancy.

Got dressed and hadn’t experienced shaking like that since completing Loch Lomond in 2012 (probs a combo of water temp, exertion and time in the water)….Would sum my personal challenge of Lake Ontario like swimming 3x Lake Windermere’s back-to-back with the first one around 20c, then the next at 17c with the last one at 15c (progressively colder which is mentally very tough indeed)….Shoulders felt totally fine afterwards (went for a bob/heads-up breatstroke swim later on the same day!)…only thing that bothered me was a blood-shot right eye given goggle irritation - nothing that anti-biotic eye ointment that I brought with me didn’t rectify in 3 days. I don’t recall complaining about much and didn’t really gripe about the cold although was cognisant that there were cold patches but the 35km weekend I did in Loch Tay with Adrian Rotchell (training for Loch Ness himself) stood me (and him) in great stead (thanks to  Colleen Blair)!

Luckily the actual temps on the day were slightly higher than predicted but have never swum through so many different temperatures in the same body of water ever (probs what makes this the challenge that it is). Upwelling central. Oh and the Niagara River was never 8c as suggested below….lol

We ‘aved it - I reckon >50% of this achievement down to rent-a-mob (my executive support crew). 

And we never got bored of the sunsets which were a 5 min walk from our Airbnb at Ryerson park…

Where we struggled to find a space to put our towels down during the day….

We also took the opportunity to pay our respects to the grave of Matthew Webb (1st person to swim the English Channel but lost his life when attempting to swim the whirlpool on the Niagara river). He is buried at Oakwood cemetery just across the border on the US side. (https://oakwoodniagara.org/capt-matthew-webb)

The whirlpool where our Matthew came out 2nd best. Grade 6 rapids are led into a cul-de-sac and therefore have to push anti clockwise before exiting on the right (eventually into Lake Ontario further on). It is believed from the guides that whole tree trunks are whirling around over 100 feet down never to re-emerge. 1st pic from US side and 2nd below from Canadian side. 

The first Brit to swim Lake Ontario was a lady called Brenda Fisher (from Grimsby) in 1956: https://www.soloswims.com/fisher.htm

If, like me, you failed Geography at school you might find this illustration helpful - observe ALL the other lakes flow into Lake Ontario eventually (via the Niagara Falls!) before heading out of the Gulf of St Lawrence. (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Lakes) 

Proof of completion of the swim here: https://www.soloswims.com/aspirant.htm

I will join this exclusive list of Lake Ontario swimmers: https://longswims.com/events/lake-ontario/

Can’t face another one of these for a while having worked my way thru an entire box but this is the feed of champions! lol…need to get back on the new/mashed potatoes!

Extreme North Dakota Watersports Endurance Test (END-WET)- ‘The Longest Swim Race in North America’ - A British first, 18th June 2022

According to https://endracing.com/end-wet, the Extreme North Dakota Watersports Endurance Test (END-WET) is a 36-mile down-river swim ultra-marathon  where solo or relay swimmers will travel from rural ND into East Grand Forks, MN, on the mighty Red River of the North.  It is termed ‘the longest swim race in North America’!

So another British first in the offing but not without its hazards just to make it to the start line!! Within 3 weeks of the swim all entrants received an email that the current river level was deemed too high (terrific to receive when thrown a lot of money at the expedition but luckily levels receded to be the 2nd fastest flow in history).  For me the trip involved post-pandemic flight to Fargo (massive detour to avoid a storm) and transferring via Chicago (with slow baggage handlers) from London Heathrow (where the flight left 2 hours late but at least I got upgraded to 1st class!). 

Even on the day of the race, en route to the start line a deer ran out in front of the car at 04:30 and I don’t know how I missed it. We were also having to set up kayaks and gear in a car park with lightning and thunder (which wasn’t forecast or part of the briefing).

Tom Linthicum (my Tahoe pilot on left below) generously made the journey from Sacramento to paddle for me and hang out for the weekend. Commensurate professional, legend and joy to be around. Given winds said it was the hardest paddle he had ever done!

Finally made it (err to the start)! Would have thought the name more appropriate for an end?

A very muddy river where the water temp remained around 72 Fahrenheit throughout (22c in British money)

Ominous dark skies which messed with us for the first 1/3rd:

As a prior-year finisher, Kate Howell, put it ‘all you see is brown, brown then green’!! I can’t recall seeing my hands other than feeding but blasting thru a mile each 15 mins is a proper novelty!

The Finish…what you might not to be able to appreciate if you weren’t there are the 42 mph winds, organisers worried bits of tree could injure people and just exiting the muddy water was tough given it was easily knee-high - the geezer in the red t-shirt helped me exit!

Lovely touch when organiser Don gave me my unique dog-tag finisher number (#160 in history to complete) with a time of 9hours 40mins. #Proud - thrilled have have come in comfortably within the 10 hour mark and saved myself and my kayaker any further punishment! 10th out of 15 with winner Jamie Proffitt taking the gold at 8:32:00.

 

Part of the flood defences for the town - extreme snowstorms in the winter combined with deluge of rain in the spring creates a dangerous mixture of the town. Then there’s unpredictable heat and storms in the summer….no wonder North Dakota is sparsely inhabited!

Another stunning road where the sky goes on forever and there’s nothing to contend with other than unpredictable deer!

Downtown Grand Forks where we had a fab & cheap loft-style airBnB only 5 mins walk from the finishing line (we must have looked a proper state walking back)!

Course Map:

(https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/viewer?ll=47.6235302484243,-96.87899597324235&z=17&mid=1Wr1aZVCzKaLg25aKWlhsJZtjIwA)

We ‘aved it…