24km Lake Malawi - Part 5 of the Stillwater 8 - Tuesday 13th October 2026 (Tandem swim with Martyn Webster)

At 18:05 on 20th June 2025, I was still towelling myself down in Martyn Webster's apartment in Rapperswil having nailed the length of Lake Zurich (see prior blog) and a FB message came up on my phone from Openwater Africa founder (and one of the first people I met in Dover beach in 2011) Howard James  'So when are you coming to Malawi'?!

He was aware I was well on the journey of the Stillwater 8 (freshwater challenges) as a way of seeing the world and different cultures. I had never set foot in Africa and was keen to see it out of my own eyes and not thru the lens of western media. The task at hand: https://openwater.africa/lake-malawi-2/

Malawi is a land-locked country in south east Africa bordered by Tanzania to the north, Zambia to the west and Mozambique to the south and east. It has a population of ca. 21 million people (growing at 3%), 85% of which still live in rural communities living day-to-day on a subsistence basis or from crops. The average life expectancy is 63 with women raising 3.8 children on average. 70% of the population lives below the poverty line. Given the population growth, it's expected to be more populated than Argentina, Saudi Arabia and Canada by 2050!

Malawi is often known as the warm heart of Africa as despite the poverty, the people are warm and welcoming almost always waving back whenever I waved at them. There's a brilliant podcast and youtube video by Places which spends 68 mins looking at the history of Malawi and its people here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhX5AQ80XLU

When famous explorer, missionary and doctor, David Livingstone, reached this enormous stretch of water in 1859 he named it Lake Nyasa but he also presented it with the nickname 'The Lake of Stars' as a description of the huge lines of fisherman with their lights on at night attempting to attract the local sardines (usipa) which are a staple in the local diet to this day. It's a truly remarkable place. It's the 4th largest freshwater lake in the world by volume (after Lake Baikal, Lake Tanganyika and Lake Superior). It's often known as the 'calendar lake' as it is 365 miles long (great pub quiz question that!) and is 706m deep at its deepest point making it the 7th deepest in the world (Loch Ness in Scotland by comparison is 'just' 230m deep and the deepest lake in England called Wast Water (another one of my fave places to swim) comes in only at 79 meters). Oh and it also lays claim to the home of the most species of fish found in one lake! We were only in for a ca. 24km width (it's narrowest point from Cape Ngombo to Senga Bay in the pic below) and similar to Lake Ontario you just cannot believe you are swimming in fresh water as the vastness of the sea all the way out of the horizon makes it really feel like the ocean. Before we jumped in for our attempt it's hard to conclude this is a path well travelled as fewer then 20 had completed solo before us!

This route was pioneered in 1992 by a 50 year old Otto Thanning and a very young Lewis Pugh who was only 22 and documents the adventure (chapter 6 in fact) in his debut text Achieving the Impossible. Full list of Lake Malawi swimmers (including proof of our swim) here: https://openwater.africa/lake-malawi-swimmers/

Sorting out the logistics just to get to the start line for this swim was half of the fun but took a great deal of attention to detail and given it was my first trip to Africa many of my really severe nerves were held in check given I was sharing much of the journey plus the swim itself alongside swim buddy Martyn Webster. Howard James also did an excellent job preparing us with conference calls, organising drivers to- and from the Chembe lodge on the lake (not an insignificant 5 hour drive along heavily pot-holed roads) from the capital city of Lilongwe. He did his best to cover all eventualities so all we had to do was to turn up, chill out then swim. 

As usual for swims on foreign shores I booked an appointment with the highly experienced medical team at the Fleet Street Clinic in London who, over the course of 3 visits over 6 months) ensured I received the appropriate levels of vaccinations of Typhoid, Rabies, Hep B, Cholera plus set me off on the trip with a decent supply of anti malarials (and advice to take deet (mosquito repellent) plus Imodium (which I forgot and regretted). They also relieved me of the better part of £450 for my troubles.....

Anyway, Martyn (travelling from Zurich) and I (from London) decided to fly Ethiopian Airlines and rendez-vous in Addis Abiba (Ethiopia's capital) so that we could take the shorter 3-hour hop to Lilongwe together. We were both very impressed with the punctuality, services and scale. 

Transferring thru the capital of Ethopia...very impressive and planes/activity as far as the eye could see:

We flew down over the lake banked to approach the capital and I could only make out sandy dirt tracks with virtually no cars anywhere! I could make out the odd Mudzi (village) in the distance:

We were relieved to meet with driver 'Charles' who did a brilliant (but hair-raising) job of overtaking and navigation to ensure we arrived in one piece at Chembe Lodge on the lake itself ca. 5 hours later in his cramped toyota minibus with no aircon! I worked out that upon arrival I had been travelling for 26 hours but given we were only 1 hour ahead of GMT I didn't feel any jet lag at all tbh. When we arrived the locals were queueing up sleeping in cars for 3 days just to get fuel and the black market guys were charging at least 2x the normal price. Every road we drove down there were people walking along the road....also often having to contend with suicidal goats, cows, , cyclists (you name it!)). You could also smell smoke from burning wood and charcoal everywhere as people cooked meats along the side of the road and families prepared their staple dinner of Nsima (dough like porridge made from maize and water). Although the biggest export in the country is tobacco I was amazed to see barely anyone smoking - I was informed that it's not for health reasons but simply cost.

Everyone was going about their business and seemed happy with their lot. Their stares were ones of curiosity rather than anguish or menace....

We arrived just as night fell and morning revealed our excellent digs at the Chembe Beach lodge which were clean, comfortable and 20 metres from the water so we could swim each day. The water was crystal clear and we saw a few fish but other than that there was no significant wildlife other than Martyn and me (oh and the local fisherman). 

Day one after settling in we sat down with Howard (founder/organiser/observer) and Walter (local professional pilot extraordinaire) to run through the logistics of the swim (camping overnight via boat from Cape Maclear to Cape Ngombo) and learning we would have one rest day to get our kit together before we would relocate to the campsite on the Monday evening before the swim start at ca. 05:00 the next morning. .

We set off about 2pm for camp and got absolutely soaked in the zodiac but the water was a very agreeable 25c with air temp in the low 30s! (Boats on the starting beach):

Martyn and I chilling out enjoying the view across the lake (can't even make out the finishing beach on the other side) as the Openwater Africa team set up camp, fire and tents all within 25 meter radius !

Our tent for the night in front of a baobab tree (when the tent is a-rockin' don't come a-knockin'!). We were told not to go rambling off and stay near the tents when needing to relieve ourselves in the middle of the night...

We were served up a treat watching Walter treat us to filet steak for the 'last supper' and then got to watch Patrick and Gideon cook up their own local Nsima meal. It was a magical experience.

As ever with camping, once the stomach was full and the darkness closed in, we opted to turn in for the night and do what we could to get our heads down and at least resting if not sleeping. Martyn and I both slept (at different times) and both complained of each other snoring the next day but we were ok and ready to go once daylight emerged at 05:00 after a nice strong cup of coffee. We did our best to ensure we applied enough cream/zinc everywhere and only missed a bit around neck/ear area which was a result given air temps >30c during the day and water between 25c-29c!

Anyway, the guys fired up the zodiac engines and in the distance about 100 meters away a couple of hippos decided to swim back to the swamp out of our way so the swim could get underway (far right of pic above)....! Howard and Walter then counted us down and we were off! Fair to say once we got clear of the reeds and ca. 500m from shore we relaxed into our rhythm.

We agreed to feed every 45 mins and it took us to the first feed to work out where we needed to be as Martyn sped off in front of me. I spent the remainder of the swim sitting very comfortably on the starboard side of the zodiac with Martyn to their port side. There were times when Martyn felt stronger and vice-versa but generally we went to the pace of the slower swimmer and I enjoyed my feed of salty potatoes (kindly prepared by Chembe lodge) fortified with my cyclic dextrin/fructose/electrolytes squash mixture. 

(The vastness of the lake looking north beyond me with the lucky duck focussed on the finish line)

(Martyn on the port side of the main boat but also under the watchful eye of Gideon and Patrick to his left). 

It was a swim of 3x 1/3rds....

It's fair to say that conditions for the first third were calm (but the 15 kph tailwind Windy was predicting didn't materialise). Then once we hit the middle third we contending with the swell like in the sea with an unhelpful headwind of 14kph. It was around this time (and the 5-6 hour mark) that I felt a bit low and sorry for myself but soon snapped out of it thinking about fellow swim buddy Mickey Helps who came all this way with his family and despite a good forecast ended up with atrocious conditions which proved insurmountable. 

As usual with most swims, the ending never comes closer and Lizard island of we had to pass within 1 mile of the finish never came closer for hours but eventually we reeled it in and broke the weird current that exists within the finishing bay. Walter did an incredible job of accounting for wind and current along the whole rout constantly monitoring his gps and way points so we took the shortest route.

We never saw any fish (or anything for that matter) other than the vast blue below us. In the final few hundred meters we put on a sprint as Martyn said we might be able to get in below 9 hours. We cracked that with a few mins to spare but Martyn's ability to sprint up a beach after a swim much more graceful than mine (without the use of a quad)!

(Some of the vibrant local ladies sprinted over (probably hoping for a boat ride) wanted their picture taken with the first British tandem swim of the lake!):

Locals Gideon and Patrick were rockstars of the highest order. Great cooks and also awesome handymen! 

(The Union Jack below was my father in laws and it felt appropriate after this to donate it to the swim and also educated anyone who would listen which way up is correct).

(Interestingly, vexillology nerds like me will appreciate the significance of the Malawi flag and what the different colours represent - black represents the indigenous people of the African continent, red symbolises the blood shed during the struggle for independence from British rule (!) and green for the lush vegetation & natural resources of the country. The red rising sun offers the dawn of hope and freedom for Africa). Every day is a school day!

We hung out at the finish line for 30-odd mins and let the achievement sink in before making the 40km trip on the zodiacs back to Cape Maclear/Chembe Village. The lake was flat like glass and you just couldn't wipe the grin off our faces taking in all the surroundings.

The next day (which was our last day at the village before transfer back to the capital fo the final night), Martyn and I had a tour of the village with 2 local tour guides and visited the school which had no chairs/desks and class sizes of 100-120. Only 20% of the pupils could afford the $4 school uniform and there were plenty of Arsenal shirts from seasons past!: 

It's fair to say when I was leaving I was really moved by the whole experience of the trip, the swim and just being in Africa/Malawi for the first time. Howard and Walter had turned every stone to make this trip so memorable for us and it was the first place I have been to where it wasn't really about the swim, it was about the whole expedition from start to finish.

I always felt that I had won the ovarian lottery being born in the west with so many opportunities but this was the first time I had come to face with it first hand. However, it's also very clear that the people we met were happy with their lot and we never felt in danger/threatened once. 

It was also hard to beat a sunset in Malawi from the comfort of the dinner table at Chembe.

Fair to say that this blog has attempted to put the whole journey into words but will only do it 50% justice at best. If you want to know advice or hear about anything I forgot or would have done differently then get in touch. I genuinely think this swim will become very popular especially for tandem swimmers who will be keen to share memories of the endeavour for life. Thank you Martyn Webster for sharing this journey with me.

Santa Barbara Channel (Anacapa Island > Oxnard (a British male first)), 20km, 30th June 2026

Bookending our holiday in California was the considerable physical and mental challenge of the Santa Barbara channel to complete the California Triple Crown. (I had already completed the other 2 legs of the made up list with the Catalina Channel in 2015 (blog here) and Lake Tahoe in 2018 (blog here).

This was also a great chance to catch-up and reunite with another of my best buddies based in the US, Dan Simonelli, who drove up all the way from San Diego to sit on his uncomfortable kayak for the day to watch me swim (again) plus a chance to resolve a swim that had been on the cards since 2020 then Covid hit.

Pic below taken from the Santa Barbara Channel Swimming Association website (here). Observe Anacapa is the small island group to the east of the Channel Islands National Park north of centre.

Another sleep-deprived 2am alarm (but nothing great is easy!), a drive from our AirBnB in lovely Santa Barbara for a 3am meet at Oxnard dock, 4am boat departure for the 1 hour trip out to Anacapa island. 

We all boarded New Hustler (here) which is a substantial 60 foot boat insured to take up to 25 passengers which often spends weekends out sports fishing so I told the girls that they were in for a proper treat of a sightseeing tour and bunks on hand if they got tired (as Dan handled all the feeds from the kayak). All the English Channel pilots would die for this boat!

On the boat trip out we chilled out and observer John went thru all the usual rules and regulations plus anything particular to this swim. All very official as you would expect for a swim of this nature. After 50 mins I realised the boat was getting closer to the island as the speed of the engines slowed to a crawl so we exited the comfort and warmth of the cabin and wandered outside to take a look. 

Great pic from Dan as we arrived at the island. Never thought in my life I would be lucky enough to turn up at Anacapa with both girls in tow - that's how marathon swimming has enriched our lives as brought us to parts of the earth we would never have gone to otherwise. The word 'proud' doesn't do it justice as this year Sophia (right of pic) moved out to be financially independent and Issy also matched her sister and got a 1st for her degree (result while we were out there!).

Pic of Dan looking a lot happier about the task at hand than I was before our jump at 05:30. In the end he had it way tougher than me having to endure over 8 hours on a sit-on kayak....he fed me, he navigated, paddled and generally kept the show on the road!

We arrived at the island around 05:00 while it was still dark but slowly dawn was breaking amid murk and sea fog over the island. One of the boat crew had seen a fish on the radar in the wheelhouse so decided to throw a line over the side hoping to snare a sea bass. It was all rather surreal!

(Thanks to observer John McCarthy for this pic - he's the ultimate professional and helped me just get on with the task at hand. I had trained for this swim in water <60F so 62 at the start was more than doable especially so with my healthy 'bioprene' layer!):

Dan then said it was time to get ready. The scene was also eerily intimidating as the boat rocked and I held onto a rail as Issy took considerable care to apply sun cream, zinc and anti-chafe measures for underarms (mixture of butt paste from CVS and vaseline worked a treat!) that were still sore from RTAI just one week prior.  She did an amazing job and I didn't burn or chafe anywhere which is a first!

I was ready by around 05:30 and a deckhand informed me it was time to lower myself into the water via the ladder on the starboard side (Dan was already in with his kayak) and then to swim around the ship's bow to the cliff edge and touch land to start. 

As I carefully lowered myself into the dark kelp-rich water I noticed a couple of seals playing in the kelp just 10m off the boat and generally felt quite vulnerable in my budgie smugglers as my senses took in the bewildering foreign scenery. 

Swimming through 100 meters of kelp forest I slowly got to Dan where he could witness me start where he took this pic (below). It is hard to see the fact that the swell was probably 2 meters and I was urged just to touch the cliff and not kick otherwise I might cut my legs on the mussels etc.. which were everywhere.

Thumbs up and a yelp from Dan and we were off! After the first 50 meters of kelp I found my usual 50 stroke per min rhythm at the start of these endeavours and we headed out into the morning gloom of the vast pacific. Below the water was reasonably clear but there was a distinct blackness far below as I reminded myself that any real predators generally opt to feed at dawn and dusk!

The currents around the island can be quite strong but we seemed to be making nice progress then on 45 mins I took in my first (low GI) feed mixture of Cyclic Dextrin, fructose sugar, electrolytes and orange squash (thanks to Ray Smith on my Swimtrek LDT week for introducing me to Cyclic Dextrin which involves fewer peaks and troughs than maltodextrin (and available on Amazon from Bulk)). For the rest of the swim this would be the same regime complimented by the odd salty potato and then the last few feeds just flat coke.

The water felt so much saltier than San Francisco Bay and I started to feel queasy worried that if I actually were to throw up that might also attract unwanted wildlife attention!

I was predominantly breathing to the left but I threw in the odd right-sided breath to take in the sight of the famous arch marking the far east side of the Anacapa island group. It was absolutely magical:

(Thanks to observer John McCarthy for this iconic shot)

Getting to the first feed in the slowly-emerging light felt like it took an eternity but then at 90 mins we arrived at feed 2. I had taken on some salty water in my mouth in the chop and felt really sick reminding myself why I mainly do fresh water swims these days. I dispatched of the feed, threw away half of the potato ready to swim. I looked down and immediately saw a large 6-7 foot SHARK 10m below me heading perpendicular to us. I yelled to Dan that there was a shark below me....he asked 'how big is it'....err '6 feet maybe bigger' I replied....'oh that's probably a blue shark' he said nonchalantly as he then just looked ahead ignoring my concern as if I had asked him something totally mundane like what he had last night for dinner....with a whisk of its tail the shark majestically swam away to the west of us and I was relieved that I hadn't freaked out not knowing I would react faced with such a situation.

(I am guessing it was curious and lured by the sound of the boat which spends most of its time out sports fishing so these predators are up for a lazy meal?)

Pic below is an example of a blue shark not THE blue shark. I can 100% guarantee you if you see one of these 10 meters below you in the wild they are easy to confuse with a Great White!

Anyway, on we went and we swam from feed to feed with not a lot to report other than the agoraphobia of the vast pacific. The crew enjoyed the sight-seeing tour of 5 pods of dolphins or 'dolphins everywhere' as Issy said, a humpback whale and another fin in the water that turned into a sunfish (I didn't see any of them). Glad we brought the binoculars from home. Sophia grew up reading books about sharks and whales so this was heaven for her!

After a number of feeds, I realised I must have been over 4 hours in and still zero major sign of the Gina oil rig anywhere on the horizon which marked 6km to go. In this area there were two clear lines of a bounty of small fish glittering in the sunlight which clearly marked where the deep channel was soon to become more shallow and these herring probably destined for a humpback's stomach. There were millions of them!

Eventually after ca. 5 hours we crawled alongside Gina as my swim was clearly impacted by a stiff ocean current headed against us. As we went passed the oil rig I finally got a sense we were making progress as there was a buoy nearby that we flew past which gave me some reassurance. 

I began to feel tired, continued to feel pretty seasick and could barely even make out the mainland but was told there was about 6km to go. In my head I told myself there was probably more like 10km, so got my head down and grafted playing mind games and counting to 100 over and over (reading Lynne Cox taught me that tick!). I told myself the quicker I got this done then the quicker I could get cleaned up and have a hot shower plus a nice mid-afternoon nap!

I even amused myself by looking at my lucky duck (pic below) who had been with me thru thick and thin since the beginning on most swims and thinking about what we had experienced together. A silly but welcome distraction to help me ignore the task at hand, my sick feeling and my sore shoulders.

Eventually we fed and I looked up, saw a sandy beach at Oxnard in the distance and Sophia shouted out 'you are doing so well you are nearly there'. I probably had 1-2 miles to go. Dan pointed out a few orange roofed houses and gradually I saw the rolling surf (and a surfer) I would have to navigate to get to the finishing beach. 

I continued to reel the swim in until I knew we had it cracked when Dan declared 'just 1000m to go' (I still don't know why he didn't just say 1K?!)

The chunky waves grabbed me and hurled me to the finish...one even started to remove my goggles over the top of my swim cap which I salvaged just in time. I then got to the shallows, fell over twice as didn't want to be pulled backwards and slowly released myself from the shackles of the ocean with arms aloft and receiving the applause of 3 beach lifeguards who asked where I had swum from! 'Anacapa island' I said victoriously......with one lifeguard noting 'you should be rightly so proud of yourself'. I was. I then quickly said my goodbyes, navigated my way back out over and under the surf and back to the awaiting boat for some applause and a chance to get warm in the pleasant Californian sun.

Thanks to observer John McCarthy for this pic as the main boat could venture no further as I went in to land the swim: 

Thanks for Kathy Harrington for this picture below. It was taken on another day but from the finishing beach clearly showing the Gina oil rig and Anacapa in the far distance. A 20km self-inflicted wildlife-rich mullering!

I giggled informing observer John that I declared the Santa Barbara Channel season now 'officially open' as that was the first solo of the year and he nodded. (I was pleased I had trained for water in the low-to-mid 50s as had done a 6 hour swim on the LDT Swimtrek camp in Croatia in 13.8c so mentally & physically I knew I could cope). 

Kate, the trainee observer, asked if I wanted to know my time which I was ready to ignore but informed I had done ca. 8 hours 11 mins (subject to the usual ratification (whatever that means)). Not great but massive ocean counter current all the way to the oil rig and one week post RTAI so probs didn't start the swim as fresh as I could have. I didn't care. I look at other peoples times and it proves that every day is so different in the open ocean.

The California triple crown was complete and I could lay claim to being the 3rd Brit (after Kevin Murphy and Melanie Tyrrell) to complete this made-up list. 

A very short 5 min boat ride back to the dock at Oxnard and we were free to head to our AirBnB at Santa Barbara, have a nap and enjoy our last fully day of holidays! The extra large full fat coke on ice never tasted so good!

Here's the track from my swim - the pilots keep to the pre-plotted route out here:

I intend to return for either Santa Cruz or Santa Rosa to mainland swim in future!

Useful links:

Santa Barbara Channel Swimming Association: https://santabarbarachannelswim.org/

New Hustler: https://fishwiththefinest.com/

Dan Simonelli: https://openwaterswimacademy.com/

California triple crown swimmers: https://ultraswimming.org/database/challenges/california-triple-crown

Round-Trip Angel Island (RTAI) - A British First - 22nd June 2026

I was headed to California (with my/our 2 girls) to finish off the California Triple Crown (see Anacapa blog above) which was only completed by 2 Brits (and under 60 people) before me (see full list here). I had the urge to bookend the holiday with a swim near the start of the trip and noticed that acc. to the MSF database that no Brits had completed a Round-Trip of Angel Island (known locally and in marathon swimming circles as just 'RTAI'). Nothing gets me out of bed and training more than a British First attempt! I therefore connected with Erika Gliebe (aka the 'Queen of Angel Island' as she boasts no fewer than 8x RTAIs to her name) via Dan Simonelli and my old buddy Tom Linthcum (aka Reptile) who is an experienced pilot for the route (and guided me on Lake Tahoe so brilliantly in 2018) plus we had connected in 2022 as he kayaked for me at End Wet so this would be our 3rd rodeo together!

The task at hand....according to the MSF website (here), this swim starts and finishes at the same beach at Aquatic Park (AP) near Fisherman's Wharf in the popular touristy part of San Francisco...it's 'only' ca. 10 miles or 16.1 km but swimmers generally have to face the challenge at night, there's often wind (at least to- and from the island), temperatures can be unforgiving with zero sun on your back for warmth, there's tides to contend with plus there's shipping traffic (at least 2 shipping lanes) and it's open water so wildlife considerations can 'prey' on your mind (pun intended). All that probably contributes to this swim being part of the Toughest Thirteen swims around the earth as declared by Evan Morrison who first presented the challenge. Before jumping in the water I had one of the toughest thirteen to my name as had done the Beltquerung/Fehmarn Belt (Germany > Denmark) August 2025 (see separate blog below). 

Map below from MSF site - my swim would be clockwise heading for Point Stuart first:

I had both girls, 24 year old Sophia and 21 (soon to be 22) year old Issy, along for the holiday as apart from 2 swims bookending the break we wanted to take in the magic of Big Sur and what Highway One had to offer. We were all coincidentally at a 'transition' point in our lives. I had been put at risk after 10 years at a bank in the city and considering life as semi-retired after 27 years in the city and 30 years working. Sophia was between jobs and Issy had just finished University (got her grades on the trip and incredibly ended up with a 1st class honours degree like her sister (both luckily take after their Mother!)).

We met Reptile and Queen Erika at 23:20 on Sunday 21st with a view to 'jump' at AP at 00:20 in the early hours of Monday 22nd to time the tide (last hour of the outgoing ebb) plus the wind generally abates from the breezes typically found during the day. 

Pic taken during the day you can clearly see Alcatraz in the foreground right and Angel Island behind from Aquatic Park opening....(the actual start for my swim was on the same beach but 20m west of the Dolphin Club).

Below is the view of the bay to Aquatic Park from the top of Mount Livermore which we climbed on the Saturday afternoon (get the ferry from Ferry Building - great thing to do before the swim to get your bearings): 

Anyway the boat ride from the dock at South Beach Harbor to AP was chilly (San Fran in the summer innit!) and I had totally under-clubbed how cold I would feel prior to jumping off the stern of Reptile's boat 'Ghostrider' just to make the few meters to shore to start the swim. I was also conscious that observer Queen Erika had 8 of these RTAIs to her name so absolutely no pressure whatsoever! After jumping in I immediately felt warmer (the water was around 60c or 15c) and counted my blessings I wasn't spending the next few hours on that boat. (Erika gave me her reassuring experience that AP was the coldest bit and the section behind the island was warmer so I had that at least to look forward to as I was worried that the bay generally would be colder).

I had split the swim into 6 sections to coincide with 45 min feeding intervals. (I had also got the benefit of a day on Angel Island 2 days before getting my bearings and getting a general sense of the whole swim and how the water moves (alarmingly fast down Raccoon strait!))

Section 1 AP to Alcatraz

Section 2 Alcatraz to Point Stuart

Section 3 Point Stuart to Point Campbell (ca. 1/2 way)

Section 4 Point Campbell to Point Blunt

Section 5 Point Blunt to Alcatraz

Section 6 Alcatraz to AP

Anyway, I cleared the water, ensured the green LEDs on my goggles and trunks were working, gave a wave to note I was starting then slid carefully into the water at AP determined just to get to the first feed trying to block all the myriad of nerves out of my mind. The wind was still blowing at a reasonably awkward stiff 15mph from the west (so it would be turbulent wind over tide all the way out) and Tom insisted on my being to the left of the boat breathing to my right (which is NOT my preferred option for these swims) as he was conscious that otherwise the boat would be constantly being pushed into me. 

Although I was wearing clear goggles I was struggling to see the boat clearly thru the strange foreign chop but hoped that would settle down. The sea state was very lumpy and confused and again was thankful the girls had taken some Kwells sea sickness tablets to keep any green feelings at bay. They were being blown all over the place.

After 45 mins we reached just north of Alcatraz and I received my first feed (Highly branched cyclic dextrin made by Bulk, complimented with a bit of fructose powder, electrolytes in warm orange squash).

I took a 2 litre thermos with us from the UK so all the girls had to do was to mix hot water (not easy on a small boat that is rocking) with the 2x concentrated pre-mixed solution then offer me the odd salty new potato if conditions allowed (in the end they didn't to- and from the island)

The shot is blurry but you can make Alcatraz in the background: 

This first feed was the first interaction I had had with a human being for 45 mins and the message from Sophia was clear 'you need to stay with the boat' which she said with some urgency until the boat veered off again and her words got carried in the wind....I shouted (as had ear plugs in) that I was struggling to see them....This fired me up and post-feed I really got stuck into the waves, wind and chop and to my surprise when we fed at 90mins just south of Point Stuart - I was thrilled in my mind to get here so quickly as that meant a calmer jaunt down Raccoon Strait where I could get my rhythm back and even take on board a salty potato (or 2!) which was impossible to administer in the first 2 feeds given the swell etc. The island is a National Park and it was pitch black - a sharp contrast to the stunning lights of San Francisco we had left across the bay behind us.

I knew we had cracked the outgoing leg as Reptile moved me to the right of the boat, we rounded Point Stuart and coasted down Raccoon Strait and fed on the north side of the island where the ferry docks at Ayala Cove and I couldn't believe in my head we were almost 1/2 way in just 2 hours 15 mins!!...there just had to be a catch and I wasn't going to declare victory yet!

Pic below: Taking on board a feed and well-earned salty new potato with the relative calmness of Raccoon Strait near Ayala Cove (I did wonder what on earth could be lurking beneath me and felt rather vulnerable!):

We effortlessly rounded Point Campbell and the stretch to Quarry Point on the east of the island and onto Point Blunt which was all heavily sheltered and I promised myself to save some energy and take on a salty new potato for the exposed section back via Alcatraz to AP. 

As we exited Point Blunt a couple of enormous shipping vessels bore down on us and we, of course, had to get out of their way (unlike the EC where they seem to be more accommodating of smaller vessels and swimmers!). One of the massive tankers even had an angry face lit up in the bow - I thought I was beginning to lose my mind but Sophia later confirmed I was correct and it was very scary. Anyway luckily there was a break in the shipping traffic after these 2 ships so we could start to make a dash towards Alcatraz but it was also clear the incoming flooding tide was extremely significant and filling up the bay. We were getting pushed eastwards by it which was running at 3.0 km/h (my normal swim speed). In the lee of Alcatraz, Reptile suggested I swim towards that island but after a period of time it was totally clear I wasn't moving at all but just swimming on the spot - I informed the crew I wasn't getting anywhere and they all just laughed (but I didn't find it that funny)!!

I then reached out to kick and noticed that something resembling a football was hitting my feet (it must have been a seal's head I thought rather than a real football!) and gave it more of a kick and it went away. The thought came into my head of the seal taken by a shark near this spot off Alcatraz a few years prior which I had seen on YouTube (here) but told myself to get a grip knowing that shark's prefer to feed at dawn or dusk and I might be in the final hour of the swim.

Reptile then suggested we try to head for the Palace of Fine Arts way up to the west of AP but in some respect we had become victims of  our own success doing the first half too fast as now were waiting for the tide to abate. 

The  next thing I knew Reptile said we should head for the Ghiradelli sign (above AP) but we still didn't make the entrance to AP but instead got dumped at Pier 39 which meant hugging the dock walls to crab our way back up to AP. Slow progress was made but eventually it was clear we would make it.

(Pic below of me 'crabbing' back up to AP having made it across to Pier 39 - it shows how west I had been dragged with Alcatraz in foreground and Angel Island behind it):

Pic below: Heading towards the Golden Gate bridge (crabbing up the coast to the wall opening of AP in the distance) - how iconic just as dawn broke! 

Note the track below impacted by tide and crabbing up the bay from Pier 39: NEVER GIVE UP! 

Eventually we hit the opening to Aquatic Park (where the boat left me to swim in on my own as there were other swimmers in the venue at 06:00). I really knew then I had cracked this swim and the first British swim of this course which felt truly amazing. We had nailed it! Given I mainly train in fresh water this salt/brackish water felt a good 25% easier. I looked at the boat crew and genuinely thought they had had a tougher night (especially Sophia who looked cold to the bone). (Note - if you crew on this swim take loads of clothes!)

Cathy Harrington was awaiting my arrival on the beach to the right of the Dolphin Club and when I exited the water she said to me it was 06:11 in the morning which meant I had cracked this swim in 5 hours 42 which is a time I would have bitten your hand off for beforehand (given the average is around 6 1/2 hours). From Reptile and observer below:

I then re-entered the water and swam to the opening of AP where Ghostrider was waiting to get into some warm clothes. Cheers all-round and it was then that I realised how cold it had been on the boat with Sophia borderline hypothermic herself. 

Never in doubt when you have the A-Team in your corner. From left to right - Tom 'Reptile' Linthicum, Issy Sheridan, Shez, Erika Gliebe (aka The Queen of Angel Island) and Sophia Sheridan. 

We then made it back to the boat dock at South Beach Harbor, ordered ourselves another cool Waymo (driverless taxi) back to our accommodation, followed by a warm shower, breakfast and a sleep followed by the finest sushi known to man (link below) which sorted all of us right out!

Various links

My pilot Tom Linthicum (everyone calls him 'Reptile') has his own website and does RTAI's when he isn't at Tahoe in the summer. He's one of my best pals and one of my favourite people to spend time with. He knows this water better than anyone. His website is here

Erika Gliebe is a marathon swim coach (as well as the Queen of Angel Island). She also has a swim blog which you might find useful in taking on this challenge: https://greenswimmergirl.com/blog/

Stay at The Suites at Fisherman's Wharf (here). Our apartment had a kitchen which was great as eating out in San Fran is crazy expensive plus we could then mix drinks etc. It's also just 2 blocks from Aquatic Park (ideal for acclimatisation/recovery swims) and you can walk to the Golden Gate bridge from here if you are feeling adventurous.

Whilst recovering from travel/jet lag head out to Angel Island before the swim (https://angelisland.com/). Hiking Mount Livermore was a highlight of our 5 days in San Fran

Post swim recovery sushi at Tamago Sushi near Pier 39 is a belter: here

If you are going to visit Alcatraz, get tickets from the official site (here) as there's loads of others offering the same thing and taking a cut. I made that mistake and paid $25 more than I should have done for our 3 tickets which was a bit sickening.

After the swim we then headed down to Santa Barbara over 3 days so we could take in whale watching in Monterey Bay, Big Sur and the magic of highway one then closed out the trip swimming the Santa Barbara channel (see Anacapa blog) before the 5 hour drive back to SFO to fly home. 

The 22.5km Beltquerung (Fehmarn Belt swim) from Germany > Denmark - A British First 12th August 2025

Labelled (by Evan Morrison of the Marathon Swimmers Federation) as one of the "Toughest Thirteen" swims on Earth (https://longswims.com/challenges/toughest-thirteen/), we clocked ‘only’ 22.5km when all was said and done (in ca. 8 hours 14 mins) - more than the MSF database, which has it as 19km (wide of the mark, as you really go nowhere near the ferry, which takes the shortest distance!).

I had never swum in the Baltic Sea before, but the name itself conjurs up a cold image, which I needn't have been apprehensive about tbh as the water was generally a perfect 18c! The other bonus was given my preference for fresh water over salt water, the Baltic sea offered a unique experience as it is barely salty at all at 1/5th of normal sea salinity (given >200 rivers enter the Baltic and only narrow Danish straits allow water in from the North Sea). See here to understand more: https://marine.copernicus.eu/access-data/ocean-visualisation-tools/baltic-sea-salinity. We even saw swans swimming in the sea (with their cygnets) and the only jellies were Moon Jellyfish, which don't sting.

The Fehmarner Belt or Beltquerung is the stretch of water which separates the beautiful island of Fehmarn in Germany with the island of Lolland in Denmark. There's not much tide, but it's notoriously windy, which accentuates unique local currents (or Strommungen in German) in the straits and around the islands. We had to reserve our slot for a week on Fehmarn which is no struggle as it's a peaceful place (mainly farming, cycling, wind farms, kite surfing) but if you want more action you'd be bored pretty quickly - luckily we got the swim away early in the week so we could just swan around and chill.

The actual swim route marked by the red line below (if starting in Germany) begins at the beach at Altenteil and finishes around the area of Kramnitse in Lolland. This adds about 3.5km compared to the route taken by the Puttgarten > Rodby ferry (which of course any pilot would be forced to avoid). We clocked the swim at 22.5km.

Ca. 40 people successfully completed (including one 2-way), but zero Brits ratified (to my knowledge) before getting into the water. At the start of 2025, I registered my interest with the Beltquerung admin (Jens Glaesser) here: http://www.beltquerung.de/en.html (they are in the process of upgrading the website to new code thankfully!)


Anyway, a 1:30am alarm clock on Tuesday 12th August for a 3am boat & pilot meet before a 2.5 hour boat ride to the start in the northwest part of the Fehmarn (as we swam Germany > Denmark given whatever wind that was forecast was set to be mainly southerly). The pilot's boat 'Rochen' is slower than any boat I've ever been on and quite exposed so if you do this swim in the rain it would be pretty miserable for your crew tbh!

Shock to the system at dawn-o-clock... a decent 250m swim from the boat to shore at Altenteiler beach just to clear the water to start…boat’s horn marked the off in the breaking dawn gloom.

Another moment where my brain said to myself "what on earth are we doing here?!".

But we were in for a proper treat... after a tough first hour with the entire swim ahead, we were gifted a stunning sunrise (pics below) and an eerily calm sea. It was so calm it looked like it was oil... I have never experienced such calm swimming in the open ocean.

The sun's dawn rays were dancing thru the sea in front of me and certainly helped to mitigate the daunting task ahead with a welcome distraction

My hourly feeds passed broken up by the odd super-tanker clunking past in front of us and we zoomed past the Fehmarnboje (pencil buoy) which meant we were almost 1/2 done.

However, weird local currents had moved us further east and Didi got on the rail with stern look and arms folded telling me to up my effort level to break it (and counting my strokes complaining to Amanda that I wasn't hitting >52 per minute which is tricky when you are 6 ft 3!). I insisted to the crew that I was pushing as hard as I could  & gave it everything until the end. (Observe the lucky duck hanging from rope in front of Didi - my lucky mascot on each swim!)

I fed every hour, mainly with cooked new potatoes (very easy to hand to swimmer from boat), alongside heavily diluted squash with maltodextrin. I then switched to flat coke and biscoff cream biscuits for final quarter. These biscoffs were great and ideal for end of swim - we smashed the rest of the packet before we got back to port (along with the remainder of the potatoes and the flat coke)!

Anyway, the finish never came closer but knew the end was in sight with Amanda putting on her cossie then jumping into the water with 1.3km to go….I swam like stink when she got in to leave her behind but she captured the money shot! (Clearing the water on a beach between Kramnitse and Rodby in Denmark)

If you ever want to look like you've done a few rounds with Mike Tyson, then spend 8 hours in the Baltic Sea!

Picked up a beautiful pink granite pebble - a huge mixed feeling of both joy and relief. Back to boat, handshakes with Didi and Kevin then 4 hour slow boat ride back to base in Orth. Long day out for just an 8 hour 14 mins swim!


Special thanks to my firm Berenberg for sponsoring my trunks and hat! Given our company HQ is ca. 2 hours down the road, this was special being the first Brit!

Complete with the Scharz/Rot/Gold-ribboned medal that was presented to me by Did post-swim:

The Crew (with the good ship Rochen in the background): (from left to right) Dieter 'Didi' Lorenzen (pilot), Amanda Bell (crew), Shez, Ursula 'Uschi' Lorenzen (admin), Kevin (local observer). I am fortunate that I studied German at Uni and lived in the country for 4 years so am reasonably proficient. Didi and Ursula don't speak much English and sorting contracts/wiring money/correspondence would have been tougher without that. They are a lovely couple with hearts of solid gold and only wanted me to succeed!

I even made it into various papers in the northern part of Germany and am famous with probs 5 grannies in Luebeck: https://www.bundle.app/en/breaking-news/weitere-beltquerung-brite-schwimmt-durch-die-ostsee-von-fehmarn-nach-danemark-17ED71D2-0FD7-40C7-9B73-83C437FC260F

Proof of completion here: http://www.beltquerung.de/de/Disziplinen/bestenliste.html

As ever, over 50% of this achievement is down to the crew. Amanda did all the driving, cooking, organising (you name it) on the trip so all I needed to do was to turn up and deliver. She's one of the finest crew members anyone could wish for so if you fancy this swim in the summer give her a nudge. Pictured with Amanda championing the Yorkshire flag (and before you ask it is the correct way up!)

Didi's boat 'Rochen' is not the fastest but is pretty stable, easy to feed a swimmer from and has a loo (ideal for female crew). However, a solid 2+ hours to the northern part of the island for a Germany > Denmark swim but easily 4 hours + to make the start-line for a Denmark > Germany swim in the event of predominantly northerly winds...

If you ever plan on doing this swim, I would absolutely insist you stay at the sweet little village of Marienleuchte (on the north east of the island) as that has the best jetty to get into and out of the water (I've exaggerated its welcoming with a filter but you can either dive in off the end of the pier or enter in a civilised manner down the ladder!):

This swim is dedicated to my Father, Richard Sheridan, who died on this very day 2 years prior. He ensured the conditions were propitious and pulled me all the way to the finish line.
(Pictured below with me in Feb 2023 boasting our Blackheath 'Club' blazers after beating Guernsey away en route to the Nat 2 East title. (We didn't miss a game between us that season (home or away)).