Bernard Stone had been training and planning with his characteristic focus and dedication for his second Guinness World Record attempt of his career. But life occasionally takes unexpected twists and turns.
Two weeks prior to the One Day Wonders tackling a relay crossing of the 37 km Loch Ness in Scotland, Stone’s well-laid plans suddenly changed.
The shock came without warning – in the comfortable confines of his local training pool.
A heart attack followed by three cardiac arrests stopped Stone cold. The reality of surviving replaced the swimming sets that he had occupied his mindset.
There would be no more swimming – either in a pool or the cold Loch Ness – for Stone for quite a while. Fortunately, he survived the scare of a lifetime – and still had the wherewithal to recruit a replacement swimmer on the Loch Ness relay.
Fellow teammate James Bell stepped into the unexpected void and the One Day Wonders carried on.
On August 22nd 2022, the One Day Wonders set a Guinness World Record for a skins relay with James Bell, Daniel Hanlon, Jonathan Exall, and Matthew Chadwick [shown above on left] swimming across Loch Ness in 10 hours 32 minutes, piloted by Stewart Griffiths of Loch Swim Alba.
It was a fitting feather in the swim cap for all.
Stone had wanted to be part of the team that had previously set another Guinness World Record across the Dál Riata Channel from Mull of Kintyre, Scotland to Cushendun, Northern Ireland in 6 hours 31 minutes in July 2018. On that day, Stone was joined by James Brent, Will Collings-Wells, and Daniel Hanlon [shown above on right]. The crossing was ratified by the Irish Long Distance Swimming Association for the fastest wetsuit one-way relay crossing of the Dál Riata Channel.
Background
The One Day Wonders were created in 2009 by Stone, Exall, and Daniel Hanlon who had a collective background as pool sprinters, water polo players, rugby players, and basketball players.
Since its inception, the group have grown to 12+ members ages from 25 to 70. The pod has ventured into open water world, tackling different solo swims, relays and tandem crossings in Europe and beyond. Largely swimming in bioprene, the One Day Wonders have swum in the Dardanelles Strait, Cook Strait, English Channel, Strait of Gibraltar, Dál Riata Channel, Round Jersey, Loch Ness, Windermere, Manhattan Island, and others.
2018 Dál Riata Channel Crossing
The One Day Wonders crossed the Dál Riata Strait in neoprene on July 22nd 2018. They set a Guiness World Record of 6 hours 31 minutes.
Stone explains, “Once Pádraig Mallon explained the dynamics of the channel, to the team Danny, James, and I put our hands up. However, we were short of one other. I contacted the English Channel Open Water Swimmers Facebook site and Will Collings-Wells looked like a perfect match with his recent English Channel swim and love of real ales. After a couple of team swims down at Eastbourne where James tested us swimming with and against the tides, Will bravely joined our unruly mob for an unforgettable adventure.“
The team consisted of Stone with a two-man Cook Strait relay that was aborted due to bad weather 2 km from shore, a solo Strait of Gibraltar crossing, and an English Channel relay, Hanlon with a two-man Cook Strait relay attempt that ended 2 km from shore due to the weather, an English Channel solo crossing, a Strait of Gibraltar solo crossing, and a 20 Bridges circumnavigation swim around Manhattan Island, Brent with a Strait of Gibraltar solo crossing, a Lake Windermere solo crossing, a Coniston solo crossing, and an English Channel relay success, and Will Collings-Wells with his own English Channel solo crossing, a Strait of Gibraltar solo crossing, a Round Jersey circumnavigation solo swim.
Stone explained why they first went after the Dál Riata Channel, “As we had not ventured north of the English borders, I looked at the shortest route across from Scotland to Northen Ireland and noted Dál Riata. This is where we teamed up with Pádraig of the Infinity Channel Swimming and Piloting Services Infinity Channel Swimming and Gary Knox of the Irish Long Distance Swimming Association.
At the planning stage, we explained to Padraig that – although we were experienced marathon swimmers and fast swimmers capable of swimming faster than 4 kph – we were not used to the cold waters of the North Channel and, unfortunately not able to spend the time to acclimatize, while having utmost respect for all swimmers who have set foot in this channel before us.
So, Padraig set us a year’s training plan to attempt a Dál Riata Channel crossing which we all worked hard on. We decided to swim in
wetsuits to help negate the cold.
Pádraig met us at our man cave at Ballycastle a couple of days before the swim. He explained who the crew would be, the boat to be used and the possible conditions. On the day we met at Ballycastle harbour the Infinity Channel Swimming and Piloting dream team with pilot Charles Stewart, task master Jack Boyle and swim technician Afreen Ahmed and off we sped to Mull of Kintyre. When the tide was ready, we set off.
I can’t praise enough the Infinity team for helping us cross those complex tidal currents, pushing and guiding us all the way with encouragement. Their comments ranged from ‘happy hour ends in 30 minutes’ to ‘swim faster and you could be back in time for Love Island’. We unbelievably arrived at Cushendun where Charles Stewart guided us to swim up the slipway straight into the pub for pints of Guinness.“
Their swim order was Daniel Hanlon, Bernard Stone, Will Collings-Wells, and James Brent.
Stone continued, “It’s great when a well thought out plan succeeds, and really chuffed that we crossed the Dál Riata Channel with a perfect combination of teams Infinity Channel Crossing and One Day Wonders relay swimmers. We felt 100% safe – apart from encountering those Lions Mane jellyfish – and had a lot of laughter and fun along the way.”
2022 Loch Ness Skins Relay
Stone contacted Stewart Griffiths, the pilot expert of Loch Swim Alba and the British Long Distance Swimming Association. After their attempt was approved, the One Day Wonders trained for a fast swim. The original One Day Wonders swim team chosen was Stone, Hanlon, Chadwick, and Justyn Larcombe.
Stone recalls, “Training went exactly to plan for speed, stamina and cooler waters. Unfortunately, Justyn had to drop out so was
replaced by speedo Jonathan Exall. Two weeks prior to the swim, I also had to drop out because of a heart attack and three cardiac arrests in the pool caused by a Covid blood clot on the heart and was replaced by another speedo James Bell.
Our desire to revisit Scotland this time for a longer period than a fleeting departure from Mull of Kintyre for the Dál Riata crossing was reignited together with a wish to swim in skins and attempt to break the previous Guinness World Record.
We arrived at Loch End the day before the swim – August 22nd 2022 – and acclimatized with a baptism of a fire dip in Loch Ness. On the day, the swim went perfectly and fast in calm conditions.
Jonathan, the leanest of the group, was like a beached salmon shivering on the deck of the boat after his first swim, but he recovered enough to swim a second and last round – whereby he announced he was retiring from Scottish cold-water swimming. Our swim order was Matthew, James, Daniel, and Jonathan.”
The Future
A Guinness World Record in 2018. Another Guinness World Record in 2022. Four years apart.
What will happen in 2026?
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