Among The Pantheon of Ice Swimming Polar Bears Is A Sea Bull

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A Zero Ice Mile is among the most difficult and riskiest achievement to attempt and accomplish in the open water swimming world.

To achieve a Zero Ice Mile, the water temperature must be below 1ºC (33.8°F) as defined and ratified by the International Ice Swimming Association.

60-year-old Lynton Mortensen (@lyntonmortensen), an Australian swimmer known as the Sea Bull, has great range in his open water abilities and ambitions: from his prolific channel swims and Oceans Seven achievement and his Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming achieved in less than 3 months to his most recent Zero Ice Mile.

On his recent trip to Antarctica, he swam 3 times in 4 days:

250m test swim in Portal Point in -0.4°C water
Ice Kilometer in Port Lockroy in -1.4°C water with 30 knot winds in 25:53
Zero Ice Mile in Argentinian Station in -1.0°C

His Zero Ice Mile was performed in -1.0°C water was just in the nick of time before he and his Antarctica Ice Swimming Adventure colleagues had to return to Shetland Islands and Deception Island on the last boat out before a storm hit.

Swimming with Ram Barkai (@rambarkai_iceswimmer), the duo started swimming at 5 am under the direction of expedition leader Diego Punta Fernandez by the Argentinian Antarctic Base and scientific research Station with dozens of penguins watching them from land while other penguins were swimming in the water with them.

Barkai said, “Lynton has swum the coldest Ice Kilometer ever swum ever swum at – 1.4°C water with 30 knot gusts as well as the coldest Ice Mile ever swum at -1.0°C. Together with Jaimie Monahan and Ger Kennedy, Lynton is one of the three people in history to have swum an Ice Mile in both the North Pole and South Pole. Of those, he is the only one and first person to have ever swum both Polar Ice Miles at below zero degrees. He swam with Craig Lenning in Svalbad and just now at -1.0°C in Argentinian Station.”

With his Oceans Seven achieved in 2018 and a Zero Ice Mile in both Antarctica and within the Arctic Circle, Mortensen has achieve the unprecedented Oceans Ice Extreme.

But with strong winds, his Ice Kilometer performed two days before in -1.4°C water and 30 knot gusts and floating ice was, as he said, “absolutely brutal. I was running into blocks of ice with my hands and head, coupled with poor visibility due to surface chop, snow and ice, made the swim even more brutal in the already frigid ice waters. Frostbite can damage skin and tissue can typically occur when temperatures drop below -0.55°C. Seabull quickly became an Ice Seabull.”

Historical Zero Ice Miles:

Lynne Cox in 2002 in Neko Harbour, Antarctica swam 1.96 km in 0.00°C water in 25:00 at 64.8°S
Lewis Pugh in 2005 in Deception Island, Antarctica swam 1.65 km in 0.00°C water in 25:00 at 62.9°S
Henri Kaarma (50) in December 2012 in Tyumen, Russia swam 1.66 km in 0.3°C water, -33.0°C air in 25:25 at 57.16°N
Aleksandr Brylin (47) in December 2012 in Tyumen, Russia swam 2.2 km in 0.0°C water, -33.0°C air in 1:05:06 at 57.16°N
Andrey Sychyovy (58) in December 2012 in Tyumen, Russia swam 2.2 km in 0.0°C water, -33.0°C air in 1:06:30 at 57.16°N
Ram Barkai (67) in March 2013 in Murmansk, Russia swam 1.61 km in 0.0°C water, 0.0°C air in 32:43 at 68.97°N
Kieron Palframan (50) in March 2013 in Murmansk, Russia swam 1.61 km in 0.0°C water, 0.0°C air in 31:00 at 68.97°N
Ryan Stramrood (51) in March 2013 in Murmansk, Russia swam 1.61 km in 0.0°C water, 0.0°C air in 30:00 at 68.97°N
Henri Kaarma (50) in March 2013 in Murmansk, Russia swam 2.16 km in 0.0°C water, 0.0°C air in 33:00 at 68.97°N
Henri Kaarma (50) in December 2013 in Tyumen, Russia swam 2.4 km in 0.0°C water, 0.0°C air in 41:57 at 57.16°N
Ryan Stramrood (51) in March 2014 in Neko Harbour, Antarctica swam 1.61 km in -1.0°C water, 0.0°C air in 32:08 at 64.90°N
Toks Viviers (62) in March 2014 in Paradise Bay, Antarctica swam 1.61 km in 0.50°C water, 0.0°C air in 25:30 at 64.90°N
Gavin Pike in March 2014 in Paradise Bay, Antarctica swam 1.61 km in 0.50°C water, 0.0°C air in 25:57 at 64.90°N
Ger Kennedy (55) in January 2016 in Wild Water Armagh, Ireland swam 1.61 in 0.77°C water, 4.0°C air in 32:30 at 54.35°N
Jaimie Monahan (45) in December 2016 in Tyumen, Russia swam 1.66 km in -0.03°C water, -31.0°C air in 30:20 at 57.16°N
Ger Kennedy (55) in December 2017 in Tyumen, Russia swam 2.01 km in 0.50°C water, -18.8°C air in 43:10 at 57.16°N
Kate Steels (55) in December 2017 in South Lake, Shuangyashan City, China swam 1.63 km in 0.9°C water, -22.10°C air in 35:05 at 46.65°N [shown below on right]
Jaimie Monahan (45) in March 2018 in Paradise Harbour, Antarctica swam 1.63 km in 0.57°C water, 1.0°C air in 30:49 at 64.90°N
Cath Pendleton (52) in February 2020 in Hanusse Bay, Antarctica swam 1.61 km in 0.03°C water, -3.2°C air in 32:54 at 66.60°N
Paul Georgescu (45) in February 2020 in Hanusse Bay, Antarctica swam 1.61 km in 0.0°C water, 2.0°C air in 22:44 at 66.60°N
Ger Kennedy (55) in February 2020 in Paradise Bay, Antarctica swam 1.66 km in 0.53°C water, -1.1°C air in 34:02 at 64.90°N
Annabel Médard (45) in February 2021 in Surfplas Reeuwijk, Netherlands swam 1.61 km in 0.76°C water, -17.9°C air in 52:24 at 52.06°N
Jerwin Tholen (52) in February 2021 in Reeuwijk Plas, Netherlands swam 1.61 km in 0.76°C water, -17.9°C air in 37:05 at 52.05°N
Antti Mäkinen (32) in January 2022 in Kyrö, Finland swam 1.61 km in 0.6°C water, -13.0°C air in 28:19 at 60.70°N
Craig Lenning (45) in May 2022 in Svalbard, Norway swam 1.61 km in -0.77°C water, -16.2°C air in 31:45 at 78.22°N
Elina Mäkinen (30) in May 2022 in Svalbard Longyearbyen, Norway swam 1.61 km in -0.77°C water, -15.9°C air in 31:47 at 78.00°N
Lynton Mortensen (60) in May 2022 in Svalbard Longyearbyen, Norway swam 1.61 km in -0.77°C water, -15.9°C air in 33:56 at 78.22°N
Krzysztof Gajewski (32) in December 2022 in NaturEisPalast, Hintertux Glacier, Austria swam 2.0 km in -0.02°C water, 0.0°C air in 43:08 at 47.06°N [shown below on right]
Lynton Mortensen (62) in November 2024 in Argentinian Station, Antarctica swam 1.61 km in -1.0°C water in 31:32 at 78.22°N