Season Report - Summer of 2007/2008

Global warming seems to be a real problem for most parts of the world apart from the Cook Strait which seems to be staying warmer for longer each year.  The temperature did not get below 16 degrees from late December until the beginning of May when temperature finally dropped.

COOK STRAIT 2008:

Successful Swims
Forrest Nelson from the USA was the second swim up for 2008.  We put Forrest into the water at Ohau Point on 31 January 2008 at 0743.  The first half of the swim was calm as a bath and we were half way under four hours.  The water temperature on the day was 18-19 degrees.  As the day moved on the conditions gradually got worse.  Forrest and his family stayed in great spirits even though the weather had deteriorated badly for the last five hours of his swim.  Forrest finished just behind Perano Head in 10 hours 51 minutes.

Great work Forrest in a very uncomfortable second half of Cook Strait.

Casey Glover aged 21 from New Zealand has great potential for open water swimming.  The day arrived, we decided to swim North to South due to the 1½ metre swell giving us a nice lift across the Strait.  We entered the water around 8.00 am and finished 4hours 32mins later.  This was something incredibly special.  Casey swam strong and fast for the entire 4½ hours.  His pool swimming and open water swimming gave him a great advantage to be able to keep in front of the tide all day and gave us a perfect line across Cook Strait .  We also need to acknowledge that the pilot and crew had a large part to play getting tide, weather and timing exactly right on the day.

Casey, I believe this record will stand for years to come and you can be very proud of your achievement.

Susan Freeland from New Zealand entered the water the day after Casey at Ohau Point.  The water temperature was 17-18 degrees with a slight chop in the water.  Susan swam well for the first half of the swim, but once she reached half way really lifted her game.  About one km from Perano Head night arrived very quickly with huge winds and a great rain storm which made finishing very difficult.  Susan fought her way for the last 1½ hours to grab the last rock on the South Island in 11 hours 9 mins.  If we had not made that point we would have been swept towards Christchurch.  It was great determination from Susan as we nearly had to pull her from the water due to extreme weather conditions.

Well Done Susan.

Unsuccessful Attempts
Cook Strait got the better of five other swimmers this year.  Some of the reasons were poor preparation, cold water and changing weather conditions.  This piece of water is one of the most changeable and hardest pieces of water to swim in the world.

Please respect Cook Strait.

2008 Summary
Warmer water and great preparation is the key to a successful Cook Strait crossing.

There are things out of our control such as weather and tides which we plan for, but with good training and the great team we put together Cook Strait is achievable.  When you arrive in Wellington for your Cook Strait attempt you need to be well prepared, have your swim food organized for the big day and have confidence in myself and the team.  We are there to make you day as successful as possible.  If you have any queries please do not hesitate to contact me.

Best wishes to all the swimmers who are in preparation for the summer of 2008-2009.

Train hard.

Philip Rush