Teens conquer strait faster than expected
5 March 2005 |
Two plucky Taranaki teenagers yesterday conquered Cook Strait in near record time.
And when New Plymouth's Tania Hockings
and Cara Sibtsen stepped out of the water at the bottom of the
North Island, they became the first tandem team to swim the
Strait.
The New Plymouth Girls' High School
students completed the 26km swim, from the South Island, just
before noon yesterday.
SWIM SUCCESS: Cook Strait
swimmers
Cara Sibtsen (left) and Tania Hocking get
showered in bubbly on their arrival in
Wellington
after their successful swim yesterday.
DOMINION
POST
They came to shore north of Oteranga Bay on Wellington's south coast, clocking a time of 5 hours and 48 minutes.
Only two swimmers have crossed the Strait faster.
Back at the Wellington Marina, where they received the traditional celebratory spray of champagne, the exhausted girls said they couldn't have done it alone – especially when things got tough.
"It was really calm at the start. But the last 6km was horrible, it was so rough," said Cara.
But she never thought about giving in. "That wasn't going to happen."
Tania said their time blew them away after they had counted on being in the water for eight or nine hours.
"We are stoked, definitely," said Tania. "It's just so much better with two people."
The pair, both 17, got the call to go on Thursday night after an anxious few weeks waiting for the right tides and conditions.
Phillip Rush, the Wellington-based swim co-ordinator, said the girls started off at 5.55am yesterday from the South Island.
By 9am they had swum 16km of the 26km journey before they encountered rougher swells. The water temperature for much of the crossing was 17.4
"We started in the dark, but the conditions were excellent to start with. They got past the halfway stage in excellent time," said Mr Rush.
By 10am the girls had swum 20km of the journey.
Tania's mother, Beth Pottinger-Hoskings, said there was no sign of the pair slowing up at that stage and they were not experiencing any problems.
She did, however, expect the last stretch to be tougher because of changing tides and currents. They were supported during the crossing by their parents, and Mr Rush's crew.
Their Bell Block swim coach Sue Southgate had not been able to support them during the swim, but she surprised them all when she joined them at the marina after flying from New Plymouth.
Their successful crossing comes just over a week since 11-year-old Indian boy Aditya Raut became the youngest person to swim the notorious Strait.
Their success breaks a 19-year drought for Taranaki swimmers after Helen Barrett swam it in 1986 when 16.
Yesterday, Ms Barrett said she was thrilled for the girls, whose progress she had been following during the day.
"I'm just really impressed and stoked at their efforts and at sticking at it. Well done," she said.
* KIWI swimmer Denise Anderson holds the fastest crossing record with 5hrs 4mins. The 21-year-old swam from south to north on January 20, 1986.
* NEXT fastest is Australian John Koorey, who at the age of 37 swam the strait in 5hrs 37mins. He did that on February 1, 1981.
* THE first person to conquer Cook Strait was New Zealander Barry Devonport, on November 20, 1963. The 27-year-old completed the swim in 11hrs 20mins.