ENDURANCE » GREAT BRITISH SWIM
ENDURANCE » GREAT BRITISH SWIM
fter 157 days, 3 200km, 37
jellyfish stings, a rhino neck
and a rotting tongue, Ross
Edgley hobbled out of the
water at Margate Harbour on
4 November 2018. “It was
so strange,” the 33-year-old
adventurer told reporters afterwards. “I
was just really worried I was gonna stack
it and face-plant the floor.”
Ross had set off from the exact same
spot on 1 June, swimming clockwise
around Great Britain without once
setting foot on land. “It needed to be
done in the spirit of a true adventure,” he
explained. “I couldn’t touch the shore,
not even once.”
He swam an average of 12 hours a
day, in six-hour stints, timing them to
use the tides to his advantage. Between
swimming, he rested and refuelled on
a Wharram Catamaran, called Hectate
after the Greek goddess of the moon.
“Mastering the tides was absolutely key,”
he explains. “Pentland Firth in Scotland
has some of the strongest currents in
the world. If you get those currents with
you, you can be travelling at 11 knots,
the cruising speed of a dolphin. If you
get those tides wrong, you’re going back
at the cruising speed of a dolphin. You
could be the best swimmer in the world
and you’re still not going to make it.”
"I WANT TO INSPIRE OTHER PEOPLE TO GET OUT THERE AND CHALLENGE
A TRIATHLON, OR YOUR FIRST PARK RUN - FIND SOMETHING THAT YOU
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