Courtesy of Adherbal Treidler de Oliveira, North Channel.

It is considered by many to be the hardest channel to swim across in the world: 35 km across cold, jellfish-strewn water between Northern Ireland and Scotland.

And nothing could be further from the waters of Brazil than the North Channel.

But Adherbal Treidler de Oliveira from Rio de Janeiro wanted to give it a try. To date, no Brazilian had ever been successful across the North Channel.

“Unfortunately, I did not make it this time,” reported Adherbal. “I was beaten by the North Channel. It was very hard to swim with jellyfish and 12°C water.“

After 27 km behind him, he had 8 km to go, but Adherbal was facing a tough decision in consultation with his coach Renato Ribeiro. “The elements were affected my body. I had difficulty in understanding what the direction the boat was heading and my left hand was almost closed, and I thoroughly exhausted. So after 7 hours in the water, I aborted the swim. It was an extremely difficult decision.”

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