German swimmer Nathalie Pohl is one channel away from becoming an Oceans Seven swimmer.

The 28-year-old completed her sixth stage of the Oceans Seven across the Cook Strait in March (see below) and only has the North Channel between Scotland and Ireland left on her schedule.

Guided by trainers Joshua Neuloh and Adam Walker, Pohl started her Oceans Seven journey with an attempt across the 33.5 km English Channel in 2015, but she aborted the crossing after 11 hours due to a respiratory infection.

A year later, she restarted the Oceans Seven with a 14 km crossing of the Strait of Gibraltar between Spain and Morocco, setting a record in 2 hours 53 minutes.

Next up was an attempt of the 33.5 km English Channel, but she aborted the crossing after 11 hours due to a respiratory infection in 2015. 13 months later, she completed her second attempt of the English Channel in 11 hours 10 minutes.

She completed the third stage of the Oceans Seven with a 32.3 km crossing of the Catalina Channel in Southern California in 9 hours 9 minutes. She was the first German woman and fastest European woman to complete this crossing.

In 2018, she was on her way to an attempt of the 19.5 km Tsugaru Channel in northern Japan, but her escort boat hit an unseen rock at night en route to the start and she was never able to start.

In 2019, fate got in the way again when strong current and waves 2.5 km from the finish in New Zealand led to aborting her first attempt at the 23 km Cook Strait after 12 hours 13 minutes.

Later that year, she returned to Japan 5 and completed the fourth stage of the Ocean’s Seven with a 10 hour 9 minute crossing of the Tsugaru Channel. She became the fastest European woman and the first German to complete the swim.

In 2020, she made her second attempt at crossing the Cook Strait, but again Mother Nature got the best of her after 11 hours when strong currents 6 km from the finish led to aborting the crossing.

In 2022, she completed the fifth stage with a tough 15 hour 5 minute crossing of the Molokai (Kaiwi) Channel in Hawaii between Molokai Island and Oahu as the first German woman.

This year on March 1st, she finally got the job done in the Cook Strait on her third attempt. She described her experiences, “The Cook Strait was probably my toughest personal challenge. The forces of nature in New Zealand have already forced me to break off twice.  Mentally it was incredibly exhausting to return to the place where I had already made two unsuccessful attempts.  But deep down, I knew I could do it. 

In the end, all the effort, the energy, the deprivation and the hard training paid off. I swam the Cook Strait – as the first German and also the fastest European – in a time of 6 hours 33 minutes I reached the finish on Arapawa Island. This swim was definitely the biggest challenge of my life so far.

It is not without reason that the Cook Strait is so notorious: the strait between Ohau Bay on the northern and Arapawa Island on the southern main island of New Zealand is considered one of the most treacherous of all.  Depending on the strength of the current, swimming can be delayed by several hours.  In 2019 and 2020, I experienced firsthand how hard it is to fight to progress in the stormy and unpredictable seas.

This time, I really wanted to finish. The training was extremely hard and lasted several months: swimming for up to six hours a day at a time plus individual strength training and physiotherapy.  To prepare, my team and I went to the Atlantic, with waves two meters high and a water temperature of 16°C.

I had been looking forward to this swim for so long, but nature had her own plan this time too.

She sent me a cyclone, strong winds, an earthquake and endless rain. In my mind, I was already on the plane home, but then I got the chance to try again.  After waiting more than three weeks and checking all weather apps every hour, the time had finally come in the early morning of March 1st. 

I gave it my all from the start because the forecast for the afternoon looked very bad. The first three hours flew by and I really enjoyed swimming.  Halfway through, however, the wind picked up sharply, the waves pounded higher and I struggled hard.  Then I saw dolphins and felt like I was part of the ocean. 

At some point, I realized that I would make it and I started crying with relief. 

Finally, when seaweed and sand appeared from underneath me, all the pressure fell off – it was the happiest moment of my life so far.

This strait taught me one thing: you have to go out there and try. And if it doesn’t work out in the end, that’s okay too – as long as you don’t give up. You can achieve your dreams if you firmly believe in yourself and fight hard for your goals.”

Along the way her marathon swimming global travels, she has also swum 12 km across Lake Constance in a record of 2 hours 50 minutes in 2014, finished second in the 2014 26 km International Lake Zürich Swim in Switzerland in 7 hours 43 minutes, finished third in the 2014 1.5 km New World Harbour Race in Hong Kong, completed a 35 km Three Countries Swim in Lake Constance in 9 hours 19 minutes in 2016, finished second in the 2017 Bosphorus Cross-Continental Swimming Race in Istanbul in 58 minutes, was the fastest European women at the 2018 19.5 km Rottnest Channel Swim in Western Australia (20 km) in 5 hours 13 minutes, achieved the Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming in 2018 with the 45.9 km 20 Bridges Swim around Manhattan Island in New York City in 8 hours 12 minutes, was the fastest woman in the 2019 7.5 km International Red Sea Swim Cup in Eilat, Israel in 1 hours 46 minutes, set a record in 2020 for crossing the 22.5 km Jersey Channel in 5 hours 29 minutes, set the women’s record for crossing the 40 km Menorca Channel in 2021 in 9 hours 50 minutes, and was the fastest women in the 20–29 age category in the 10 km Oceanman Dubai in 2 hours 38 minutes in 2022.

When on dryland, Pohl serves as a founding member of the Menschen brauchen Menschen, a charity where she encourages children to take up swimming and supports charities and projects in the areas of education and development, science and research, and nature and the environment.

Now her sights on focused on completing the notoriously difficult 35 km North Channel next month. If all goes well in September, she will become the 25th member of the celebrated Oceans Seven club.

For more information, visit nathaliepohl.de.

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