Last week the Patagonia Extreme Cold Swim Challenge team put up a post on their Facebook page to say that they’d successfully completed the Cape Horn swim, the third and final extreme cold swim of their expedition.
They swam around 3km in water with a temperature “around 7-8C, warmer than expected, but enough to shock the system. Ambient temperature at 8c and wind chill factor of around 4.5c”. Conditions were on their side with mild wind (10-15 knots) and a slow, big swell.
The team of extreme open water swimmers includes Ryan Stramrood (37), Kieron Palframan (36), Toks Viviers (47), Ram Barkai (53) and Andrew Chin (41). They’re all from Cape Town.
The person posting on Facebook said of the swim:
It was a much longer swim than we have anticipated, the swell was high and seeing forward wasn’t always possible. The currents played with us right and left and it was getting very cold. We knew that the Chilean Navy would jump in to help us if we got into serious trouble, however, until then we were on our own swimming in this dark sea. At one point, Ryan, Kieron and Andrew found themselves in the middle of thousands of small sardines.
The swim took them around 1h10 – double the time they anticipated – and it was around 3km in distance (they were expecting around 2km).
Close to the rocky land below the Albatross Monument on Isla Hornos they were plucked from the water by the navy, transported by Zodiac to their main boat.
We were all elated and properly frozen on the zodiac with only towels around us. But soon we were on the main boat and after twenty minutes or so of hard-core shivering and several failed attempts to have conversations, senses of humour slowly crept back and the usual personal insults brought everyone back to life. It was the hardest one of the three swims, but it was well worth it. The looks of disbelief and continued chanting of “Muy Loco!” (Very Crazy!) from the navy and crew, remind us what we have just achieved. Just the boat trip to and from the Horn was enough to keep most at home and is a full story all on its own. Rounding this off with a world first swim around the most southern tip of the American continent is a dream come true that still hasn’t sunk in yet.”
This swim around Cape Horn wraps up the final,of three, swims accomplished by the team.
On Tuesday, 15 February 2011, the team swam 4km across the Strait of Magellan in conditions of rough seas, wind gusts of up to 35knotts (64km/hr), heavy chop and a water temperature measured at 3.5°C to 4°C by the Chilean Navy, who accompanied them across the Strait. The first swimmer was out of the water in 1h03 and the last in 1h20.
On Saturday, 19 February 2011, they crossed the Beagle Channel – twice! The five-man team swam the icy and remote Beagle Channel from Chile to Argentina. Then, after walking onshore in Argentina, they turned around and swam back to Chile to complete their 3.2-kilometre double-crossing of the Beagle Channel. In an article posted on the Daily News of Open Water Swimming website, Kieron said, “This [Beagle] swim of felt colder than our earlier Strait Magellan crossing. The Chilean and Argentinean navy measured the water temperature at 4-5°C, while we measured it at 8°C. The big unexpected factor thrown at us during the swim was the current which pushed us sideways. We had to correct our course against the current constantly“.
The five wear only standard mens swimming costumes, a swimming cap and goggles.
Images from the team’s Facebook album.