Archipelago Yachts Polar Swim Challenge
2 poles, 1 goal
The Ice Swim
Our aim was to swim an official ‘Ice Kilometre’ ratified by the International Ice Swimming Association. As part of the rules we were only allowed to wear a standard swimming costume and swim cap with goggles.
'WHEN YOU GO INTO THE COLD, YOU CANNOT THINK. YOU HAVE TO BE. YOU LEARN TO BE. TO BE THE BEST VERSION OF YOURSELF'
Wim Hoff
Now a kilometre, that doesn’t seem too bad right?
It’s 40 lengths of a standard swimming pool; what's the fuss? It's the extreme cold that makes this swim a brutal challenge.
To give you an idea of how cold it was
UK COLD SHOWER
10°C - 15°C
The cold water in an average UK shower is between 10°C - 15°C.
UK SEA TEMPERATURES
6°C - 20°C
Average UK sea temperatures are 15-20°C in the summer and 6-10°C in the winter.
ICE WATER
<5°C
Ice water is considered to be temperatures lower 5°C.
That's chilly!
In the first 3 minutes of the swim
We had to overcome cold water shock
After around 3 minutes in the water we started to get cooling to our nerves and muscles, predominantly in our arms and legs due to their body mass to surface ratio. This is a huge problem for ice swimmers as control of your arms and legs is pretty essential for swimming! For every 1°C drop in local temperature around these muscles there is a 4-6% decrease in muscular performance.
When the local temperature in your arms and legs cools to <20°C the electric signals that control muscle contractions start to slow. When this drops to <15°C your arms and legs will start to feel dead.
We also experienced hypothermia as cold water conducts heat away from the body 24 times greater than cold air.
And if the cold isn’t enough of a concern we had to watch out for polar bears, leopard seals and orcas!
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.
