English Channel Swimmer Sets Sights On Strait of Gibraltar

Yesterday I posted a story about quadruple amputee Philippe Crozon, who swam across the English Channel this past weekend in 13.5 hours with the help of specially designed prosthetic legs with built in flippers. Now, according to the Washington Post, the Frenchman has even bigger plans for a future swim.

After completing the 21 mile crossing of the Channel, Crozon announced that he next hopes to conquer the Strait of Gibraltar, a narrow strip of water that separates Europe from Africa near the mouth of the Mediterranean Sea. The Strait is just 9 miles wide, but offers a different challenge from the Channel in that the waters are much rougher and there can be a lot of shipping traffic moving through the area as well. No date has been set for this attempt just yet, but he hopes to make it in a year or so after completing more training.  (Thanks to the Outside Blog for the tip!)

Checkout the video below about Crozon's Channel swim which comes our way courtesy of Newsy.com.

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Quadruple Amputee Swims English Channel

Philippe Crozon, a 42-year old Frenchman who had his arms and legs amputated more than 15 years ago, swam across the English Channel this past weekend with the aid of special prosthetics.  The challenging swim was expected to take as much as 24-hours to complete, but he managed to finish up in just 13 1/2 hours instead.

Philippe began his journey on Saturday at the British town of Folkerstone  and ended at Wissant on the French side of the Channel. He covered 21 miles of open water in between, and was joined for a time by three dolphins who helped to keep pace.

The Frenchman lost his limbs back in 1994 when he climbed a ladder to adjust his television antenna. The antenna was touching electrical wires and the resulting shock did severe damage to his limbs. That hasn't stopped him from living his life to the fullest, and back in 2007 he made similar headlines when he went skydiving.

For this swim he used specially designed prosthetics that include flippers built into the legs, while his arms go through the typical motions of a swimming crawl. Crozon breathes through a snorkel and manages to propel himself along and surprisingly good speeds.

So? What did you do this weekend? I know I didn't do anything close to this!

Thanks to Clay Abney from Adventure World Magazine for passing this my way over the weekend.

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The World Tri Update: English Channel Conquered!

Remember the World Tri? I first wrote about it back at the end of June when adventurer Charlie Wittmack set out on his 12,000 mile "triathlon" that was to begin with a swim leg across the English Channel, after which Charlie would climb on a bike and ride from France to Calcutta, India. The third, and final leg, would be a journey on foot from Calcutta to Nepal, where he would complete the "tri" by making an attempt on the summit of Everest next spring.

According to this report, Charlie has conquered the first leg of the journey by swimming across the English Channel yesterday in 11 hours and 59 minutes. He set out from Dover, England and swam 21-miles before coming ashore in Calais, France, becoming just the fourth person to climb Everest and successfully swim the Channel. Wittmack topped out on the world's highest mountain back in 2003.

Now, he'll rest up for a few days before getting on the bike and starting the next leg of the trip. It's a long peddle to Calcutta, but that'll probably seem easy once he gets on foot for the final trek to the Himalaya. But if it is any consolation, most triathletes say that the swimming leg is the hardest. We'll see if that proves to hold the true here as well.

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The World Tri: A 12,000 Mile Long Triathlon

Now here is a very cool expedition for you. Adventurer Charlie Wittmack is setting out on what he calls his "World Tri" today, which will incorporate all the elements of a standard triathlon, and in the same order, but on a much larger scale.


Charlie will begin in London, where he'll swim down the River Thames, then across the English Channel to France. Once safely on the other side of the Channel, he'll get on his bike and ride to Calcutta, India, where he'll then proceed on foot to Nepal, up the Khumbu Valley, and attempt to climb Mt. Everest. All told, the journey is expected to cover more than 12,000 miles through 13 countries, over the span of about 11 months. If all goes as expected, he'll be making a summit bid on Everest in May of next year. 


Wittmack is no stranger to adventurous pursuits. He successfully climbed Everest back in 2003, and attempted to swim across the English Channel back in 2008. On that attempt he had to be pulled from the water mid-swim due to the cold conditions. This time he is wearing a wetsuit to help keep him warm on his swim. 


The World Tri isn't just about the adventure however, as Charlie is on the expedition to help raise awareness of a couple of causes in the Health and Education area. The first of those causes is the incredible maternal mortality rate in Nepal, where a woman is 100 times more like to die during childbirth than here in the U.S. When the expedition reaches Kathmandu, a team of doctors and students will provide clinics to help educate local women on steps the can take to be safer and more healthy. In the field of Education, Charlie is working with the Adventure Institute to develop a year long curriculum program to help bring learning communities together, allowing students and educators to share in the experience.


Charlie, along with his wife and son, let out for the London today, and he is expected to begin his swim in the River Thames tomorrow. Hopefully everything will go well, and he'll complete the swim leg of his triathlon without issue. If not, he says he'll continue on no matter what, but it shouldn't be too long before he's on his bike and peddling his way toward India. 

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Lewis Gordon Pugh Completes Himalayan Swim!

Last week I posted about Lewis Gordon Pugh, and his attempt to complete the highest altitude, long distance swim ever. At that time, Lewis had arrived at Gorak Shep, the last village before Everest Base Camp in Nepal. He was going to acclimatize for a few days, then go for a 1km swim in Lake Pumori, located at 17,700 feet. According to his blog, the British environmentalist was successful in that attempt, completing the swim yesterday, but it wasn't without some scary moments first.

Pugh is considered one of the top long distance swimmers in the world, and has gone for a dip in cold waters across the planet, including both the Arctic and Antarctic. That experience would serve him well in the Himalaya, where the water was a chilly 36ºF. But it wasn't the cold water that had him worried, but the altitude, which could completely mess with his breathing. It seems that was the case on Friday, when he made a test run, swimming 300 meters, and found it nearly impossible to breath. Lewis even says he nearly "went down" on more than one occasion, and remarking that it was "The Most Frightening Day of My Swimming Career".

But, after he took a day off to rest, and further acclimatize, things got better. He also worked on pacing himself for the 1km swim in the glacial lake, and as a result, he managed to complete a swim that some had said would be impossible. It took him 22 minutes and 51 seconds to cover the distance, and at the end, he was relieved and happy at the same time.

Pugh, who has long campaigned to promote awareness of global climate change, was making this swim to shine a spotlight on the shrinking glaciers in the Himalaya and beyond.

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Swimming in the Shadow of Everest

When you think about remote places to go for a swim, Mt. Everest isn't a location that readily comes to mind. After all, it is tucked away in a remote corner of the Himalaya, along the border between Nepal and Tibet, and the region isn't well known for its large bodies of water.

That isn't stopping Lewis Pugh however. The Brit has practically made a career out of swimming in remote places, having completed a long distance swim in every ocean of the world, and becoming the first person to swim across the North Pole back in 2007 as well. He has also taken the plunge off the Antarctica Peninsula, and is widely considered the best cold water swimmer in the world. He is presently in Everest Base Camp, acclimatizing, and preparing for his latest expedition which will see him swimming in a glacial lake to raise awareness of the disappearing Asian glaciers.

The lake that he has chosen is situated at 5300 meters (17,388 feet) and has a temperature of 34ºF. He hopes to swim for at least 1 kilometer, which would make this the highest altitude long distance swim ever. Pugh also says this will probably his most difficult swim ever as well, since he'll be dealing with the bone chilling cold and the altitude at the same time, something that has to be incredibly hard.

While making the trek to Base Camp last month, I noticed some of the glacial lakes in the area. Just looking at them made me shiver. The water just looked incredibly cold, with large chunks of ice floating in it. I know I certainly wouldn't want to come anywhere close to hopping into one of those. Brrr...

Good luck to Lewis! I'll keep everyone posed on his progress.

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Remember That Woman Who Swam Across the Atlantic...?

A few days back I posted a story on Jennifer Figge, who reportedly swam across the Atlantic Ocean at the age of 56, an awe inspiring feat at any for sure. Shortly after I made that post I updated it with a link to this article, which was calling into question Figge's claims. Now, it seems that the reports of her record may have been a bit premature.

The Associated Press has issued a statement retracting elements of the story, which they reported on February 1st, 7th, and 8th. The statement, in its entirety, is as follows;

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – In stories on Feb. 1, 7 and 8, about Jennifer Figge's long-distance swim in the Atlantic, The Associated Press reported erroneously that she had swum across the ocean. Figge swam only a fraction of the 2,100-mile journey. The rest of the time, she rested on her crew's westward-sailing catamaran. Her spokesman, David Higdon, told The AP on Tuesday that her total swimming distance has not been calculated yet, but that due to ocean hazards including inclement weather, he estimates she swam about 250 miles.

So there you have it. She swam an estimated 250 miles of what was thought to have been a 2100 mile journey. The question here is were we purposefully duped or was there some mistake in the reporting process? Why would someone set out to complete, what was reportedly a life-long dream, only to sit in the boat for most of it. Perhaps what she really wanted to do was cross the ocean in a catamaran, but take a dip in the water here and there.

This is an odd story that doesn't make a whole lot of sense at this point, but as that article that I linked to above stated, she would have had to have swum more than 80 miles a day to have completed it in just 24 days. That doesn't seem likely, but until we here from Jennifer directly, we'll not know the motivations. She's reportedly sailing... *ahem*... I mean swimming the 900 miles from from Trinidad to the British Virgin Islands. I'm guessing that should take long enough for everyone to forget all about this.

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56-Year-Old Woman Swims Across The Atlantic

56-year-old Jennifer Figge has become the first woman to swim across the Atlantic Ocean, when she reached the Caribbean last week, completing a goal that she had dreamed about for more than 40 years. She set out on her epic swim on January 12th, from the Cape Verde islands off the western coast of Africa, and proceeded to cover more than 2100 miles in a variety of weather conditions.

Escorted most of the way by a sailboat, Figge encountered a variety of wildlife including whales, turtles, and dolphins, but thankfully no sharks. She would begin her day around 7 AM, loading up on carbs, before dropping into the cold Atlantic waters. Most days she would swim for 8 hours straight, but depending on weather conditions, this would sometimes be shortened. At night she rested on the boat, and work to replenish some of the more than 8000 calories that she would burn on any given day.

Jennifer isn't quite done with the water just yet. Before heading home to Aspen, Colorado and her beloved Malamute dog, she will now swim from Trinidad to the British Virgin Islands, where she'll finally get out of the water at the Bitter End Yacht Club sometime in the next few weeks.

This is a pretty amazing display of endurance and athleticism. It takes a lot of energy and strength to be able to swim for eight hours of time in a calm pool, let alone the Atlantic Ocean. I have a lot of admiration for what Jennifer has accomplished, and I congratulate for achieving her dream. I'm exhausted just thinking about it!

Update: It seems that there are some questions and controversy around Jennifer's Atlantic crossing as highlighted in this article from The Guardian. According to this story, it took Figge just 24 days to swim across the ocean, which would mean that she would have to have swum at least 80 mile per day. Some of the days were supposedly cut short as well, which would make it even harder for her to have crossed the Atlantic in that time frame. So far the team hasn't responded to these questions about the swim, as they are preparing for the 900 mile leg to Virgin Islands. Guess we'll have to wait to see what she has to say when she's all done.

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American Attempts "Peak and Pond"

The Des Moines Register published a story yesterday about native Iowan Charlie Wittmack, who later this week will attempt to become the first American to complete the "Peak and Pond" challenge, which entails climbing Mt. Everest and swimming across the English Channel.

Charlie already knocked off Everest back in 2003, when he reached the summit of that mountain at the age of 26, becoming the first person from his home state to do so. Despite the fact that climbing Everest was, up until that point, his lifelong dream, it just wasn't enough, and hence the plan to swim the Channel and become just the fourth person ever to do both.

Swimming across the English Channel has long been one of the most challenging physical human endeavors. It's 21 miles from the U.K. to France, but due to tidal forces, it generally ends up being more like 30-40 miles. Charlie estimates that it'll take him about 12 hours to cross, with hypothermia and exhaustion his greatest concerns.

Good luck Charlie and thanks to the Outside Blog for the news on this one.

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Martin Strel Completes Amazon Swim!

This news is a week old now, but sue me, I've been busy. ;)

Martin Strel has completed his 5,265km swim down the length of the Amazon River according to the Globe and Mail.

I first reported on his attempt a few months back, and now he's done it. The swim began in Peru and proceeded through Brazil, and along the way he encountered piranha, sickness, and exhaustion as he averaged more than 80km per day. At one point, he was even told by doctors to give up on his quest, and yet he pressed on, setting another world record for long distance swimming.

I can't even imagine swimming that far. The endurance and determination for such a task is simply amazing. Congrats Martin!

Thanks Adventure Blog

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