Yesterday, the 250 meter test swim at Portal Point on the mainland of Antarctica Peninsula in the -0.40°C water went exceedingly well for the 13 members of the Antarctica Ice Swimming Adventure.
Hopes were high. The swimmers were confident that the scheduled Ice Kilometers and Ice Miles at the bottom of the world today were doable. With high spirits, everyone woke up for the early 6:00 am with excitement and anticipation.
But as expedition leader Ram Barkai (@rambarkai_iceswimmer) summed up today’s swims, “Antarctica gave us a lesson about humility today.”
Barkai, Dr. Ruth Williamson, Sam Whelpton (@samwhelpton), Neil Hopkins (@neil0212), Martha Wood (@mox_in_sox_2), Wei-Ping Chew (@weipingchew89), Bulcsú Lengyel, Adam Baker, Charlie Fluery, Kate Steels (@waterbabykate), Rory Fitzgerald (@fitzgerald.rory), Lynton Mortensen (@lyntonmortensen), Anel Stydekova, and Maxime Valabregue (@maximevalabregue) were all ready to go as the ship moved from Portal Point to Port Lockroy, the same location where Barkai had led a past expeditions.
In 2018 Sam Whelpton, Alexander Brylin, Yunfeng Wang, Leszek Naziemiec, Paolo Chiarino, Andrey Agarkov, and Sergio Salomone all completed an Ice Kilometer in Port Lockroy. Earlier this year in February Carlos Franco, Conor O Connor, Elizabeth Almond, Filip Jicha, Guillaume Le Loher, Joshua Ackerman, Lynton Mortensen, Marion Joffle, Ranie Pearce, Sam Whelpton, Stève Stievenart , Thomas Baldwin, Diane Lee, Ellery McGowan, Filip Jicha Sr., Martin Jamieson, Jack Van Wyk, Karen Markin, Louise Hyder-Darlington, and Hugh Hyder-Darlington swam successfully in a very similar course and location.
Barkai explained, “However, in February this year the water temperature was a ‘comfortable’ 1°C. Today, it was an uncomfortable -1.4°C with a side wind gusting at 30 knots, little snow, and bad visibility. On top of that, a side tidal current brought floating ice of various sizes into the course. February is end of summer with warmer water and less ice floating around. But in November at the end of winter, thee is lots of ice coming of the glaciers, shelf’s into the water.”
But the adventurers did not know that at their start.
The results were dramatically different from the ice swimming expedition held in 2018 and earlier in 2024 in the same location.
Barkai reported, “We ended with one heat and everyone was taken out after 500 meters with a pace 4 times slower than the test swim yesterday. The average time in the water was 20 minutes for 500 meters. Everyone is fine and safe [but] the rest of the heats were aborted due to safety.“
It was disappointing, but also a realistic outcome.
“This is Antarctica, unpredictable, harsh and hostile,” said Barkai who is on his fifth swimming expedition to the frozen continent. “Yet it remains out-of-this-world beautiful. We will continue the swim tomorrow afternoon [as] we hope for warmer water.”
In a statement that could only be uttered by a veteran ice swimmer, Barkai expressed his hopes for a second attempt, “0°C water would be great- and maybe some sun. We will be in a much more sheltered location so the wind should be fine. What a day. I would like to express a big thank you to the ship resources and expedition team. They saw some ice swimming today.
The penguin were watching us smiling and wondering…“
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