Antarctica
64.30 - 74.43°S
An Ice Swim in
Antarctica
Adam & Charlie completed the second part of the Archipelago Yachts Polar Swim Challenge, completing an ice swim in Antarctica in some unbelievably brutal conditions.
Adam
11th November 2024
Test Swim
Portal Point, Antarctica
64.30°S
Sea temperature: -0.4°C
250m
5 minutes, 12 seconds
13th November 2024
Main Swim
Danco Island, Antarctica
74.43°S
Sea temperature: -0.8°C
950m
28 minutes, 48 seconds
Charlie
11th November 2024
Test Swim
Portal Point, Antarctica
64.30°S
Sea temperature: -0.4°C
250m
5 minutes, 10 seconds
12th November 2024
Main Swim
Port Lockroy, Antarctica
64.49°S
Sea temperature: -1.4°C
750m
21 minutes, 38 seconds
"We can't even begin to describe how unbelievably challenging this was, the swim itself was indescribably brutal"
Adam & Charlie
Our Swim Track
Coming soon .....
Icebergs
+++
Charlie had to weave in and out of large chunks of ice that were being blown across her swim field by winds gusting over 30 knots!
Hypothermia
31°C - 33°C
Predicted core temperature based on clinical signs, managed closely by an expert team to ensure our safety at all times.
Shivering
> 2 Hours
It's the coldest we have ever been in our lives so the rewarming took a long time. It took around 24 hours to feel 'normal'
Progress Report
It is hard to describe just how challening this swim was. The Arctic circle swim felt cold enough but the water was 4.7°C and 4.1°C colder respectively. Although this may not sound like much it made the swim so much more brutal.
Charlie faced some incredibly challenging conditions for her swim. At -1.4°C her swim is the coldest EVER International Ice Swimming Association swim and on top of this she faced winds gusting at over 30 knots! The winds caused large blocks of ice to to drift into her swim field. Charlies official distance is calculated as a straight line from start to finish but she had to take quite a meandering course to weave in and out of the icebergs - her GPS suggests she swam just under a kilometre. Adams swim was postponed after Charlies as the conditions were considered 'unswimmable'.
Adams was able to attempt his swim the following day in a different location and thankfully the winds had died down. His mouth became so numb that he was unable to tell when his mouth was above or below the water surface and he started to both swallow and aspirate water. He was assisted into a support boat around 975 metres, just shy of his 1 kilometre target spending an incredible 28 minutes in sub zero water!
The rewarming was particularly prolonged and brutal following this swim. Adam and Charlie had periods of amnesia from both swims between 15 minutes - 1 hour and interestingly the amnesia was shorter for the Antarctica swim. The tips of their fingers and toes remain numb weeks after the swim!
HERE ARE THE REAL HEROES
Our Polar Swim Charities
For our Polar Swim we have chosen two charities that our close to our hearts
We aim to raise £20,000 for these amazing charities.
