Andreas Waschburger (Germany, 37, MSF bio here, IISA bio here, @andreaswaschburger) seems to either set a course record or win a world championship whether he dons his swimsuit and swim cap.

But sometimes, the German Olympian simply gets the job done, effectively and efficiently.

And such was the case in New Zealand where he took a quick 5 hours 13 minutes to cross the 23 km Cook Strait (Te Moana-o-Raukawa) on his third Oceans Seven channel.

Waschburge was not as quick as Andy Donaldson of Scotland who crossed in 4 hours 33 minutes from South Island to North Island or by 21-year-old Casey Glover (New Zealand, MSF bio here) who crossed in 4 hours 37 minutes from North Island to South Island April 2008, but it was good enough to finish the third of seven channels – and the fourth fastest crossing in history.

Top 10 Fastest Cook Strait Crossings in History

1. Andy Donaldson (Scotland, 32, MSF bio here) 4 hours 33 minutes, South-to-North, March 2023
2. Casey Glover (New Zealand, 21, MSF bio here) 4 hours 37 minutes North-to-South, April 2008
3. Denise Anderson (New Zealand, 21) 5 hours 4 minutes, South-to-North, January 1986
4. Andreas Waschburger (Germany, 37, MSF bio here, IISA bio here) 5 hours 13 minutes, South-to-North, March 2025
5. John Koorey (New Zealand, 36) 5 hours 37 minutes, South-to-North, February 1981
6. Cara Sibtsen and Tania Hockings (both New Zealand, 17) 5 hours 48 minutes, South-to-North, March 2005
7. Royce Evans (New Zealand, 32) 6 hours 13 minutes, South-to-North, February 2018
8. Daniel Abel (New Zealand, 37, MSF bio here) and Jim Barber (USA, 57, MSF bio here) 6 hours 15 minutes, South-to-North
9. Jonathan Ridler (New Zealand, 29, MSF bio here) 6 hours 22 minutes, North-to-South, February 2019
10. Tsanko Tsankov (Bulgaria) 6 hours 23 minutes, South-to-North, April 2024
11. Nathalie Pohl (Germany, 28, MSF bio here) 6 hours 33 minutes, March 2023

Waschburger’s Oceans Seven journey began with a 6 hour 45 minute crossing of the English Channel [see video below by young filmmakers Rouven Pagliarini and Janis Scheuermann  in Through High & Low.

https://youtu.be/WSYq6IygpOA

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