Video courtesy of Jeff Tseng.
The Cook Strait is a beautifully challenging 23 km channel between the North Island and South Island of New Zealand where swimmers encounter rough water swimming against strong tidal flows, wind, and waves, and swim amid abundant marine life.
The strait is part of the Oceans Seven challenge – the only channel in the Southern Hemisphere – and one of the World’s Top 100 Open Water Swims and the World’s Top 100 Island Swims.
Swimmers who have successfully crossed the Cook Strait include its pioneer Barry Devonport, a 27-year-old from New Zealand who crossed in November 1962 in 11 hours 20 minutes (see below). The complete list is here on the Marathon Swimmers Federation LongSwims database.
- Lauren Lesyna
- Tsanko Tsankov
- Kamil Resa Alsaran
- Sayani Das
- Cynthia Aguilar Valdéz
- Murat Öz
- Aysu Tükoğlu
- Andrey Bozhko
- Paul Georgescu (Oceans Seven)
- Rob Lea
- Petar Stoychev (Oceans Seven)
- Ryan Utsumi
- David Edgar
- Suwei Chen
- Toni Enderli
- Bengisu Avci
- Mark Sowerby (Oceans Seven)
- Joanne Norman [shown above in video]
- William Smith
- Paul Leonard
- Jamie Mackay
- Robert Woodhouse
- Anshuman Jhingan
- M. Tulasi Chaitanya
- John Batchelder
- Victor Pineiro
- Greg Johnson
- Loren King
- Glyn Eason
- Marcia Cleveland
- Dina Levačić (Oceans Seven)
- Herman van der Westhuizen (Oceans Seven)
- Andrew Donaldson (Oceans Seven)
- Prabhat Koli (Oceans Seven)
- Bárbara Hernández Huerta (Oceans Seven)
- Callum Eade
- Nathalie Pohl (Oceans Seven)
- John Zemaitis
- Joe Zemaitis
- Alessandra Rossi Cima
- John Hancock
- Mark Lenaarts
- Zach Margolis (Oceans Seven)
- Omar Vaquero Martinez
- Eliza Cummings
- Nick Hobson
- Nicholas Shanks
- Corrina Connor
- Liana Smith
- Fraser Dunbar
- Susan Sherwen
- Rebecca Hollingsworth
- Raewyn Winsley
- Sarah Poplar
- Brett Richardson
- Adrian Sarchet (Oceans Seven)
- Jorge Crivilles Villanueva (Oceans Seven)
- Dean Summers
- Jonathan Ratcliffe (Oceans Seven)
- André Wiersig (Oceans Seven)
- Mariel Hawley Dávila (Oceans Seven)
- Nora Toledano Cadena (Oceans Seven)
- Elizabeth Fry (Oceans Seven)
- Sarah Thomas
- Samuel Percy Muir-James
- Jonathan Ridler
- Kieron Palframan (Oceans Seven)
- Thomas Pembroke (Oceans Seven)
- Breanna Ward
- Lynton Mortensen (Oceans Seven)
- Cameron Bellamy (Oceans Seven)
- Steven Walker
- Abhejali Bernardová (Oceans Seven)
- Anthony McCarley
- Royce Evans
- Rohan More (Oceans Seven)
- Julie Isbill
- Paul Feltoe
- Ion Lazarenco Tiron (Oceans Seven)
- Attila Mányoki (Oceans Seven)
- Chloe Harris
- Antonio Argüelles (Oceans Seven)
- James Barber
- Caitlin O’Reilly
- Kevin Cassidy
- Marty Filipowski
- Zoltan Boros
- Steven Kennedy
- Tim Robinson
- Marilyn Korzekwa
- Patti Bauernfeind
- Toshio Ogawa
- Anna Plunkett
- Adam Walker (Oceans Seven)
- Simon Olliver
- Phillipa Wrenn
- Dan Abel
- Anna-Carin Nordin (Oceans Seven)
- Craig Lenning
- Darren Miller (Oceans Seven)
- Mark Krynen
- Jason Coombe
- Kimberley Chambers (Oceans Seven)
- Stephen Redmond (Oceans Seven)
- Tom Hecker
- Emma Aitken
- Christian Pieter Anderica Jongeneel,
- Andrea O’Fee
- Emily Morris
- Stephen Junk (Oceans Seven)
- Michelle Macy (Oceans Seven)
- Peter Cook
- Pam Dickson
- Andrew Rowan
- Susan Freeland
- Casey Glover
- Forrest Nelson
- Stephanie Bennington
- Hana Wolzak
- Dan Kennedy
- Jei Zhang
- Scott Coleman
- Penny Palfrey
- Robert Binney
- Tania Hockings
- Cara Sibtsen
- Aditya Raut
- John Gatfield
- Chris Hains
- James Pittar
- David Yudovin
- Jeremy Gray
- Bula Chowdhury Chakraborty
- Yvonne Merrill
- Kate Johns
- Gráinne Moss
- Tammy van Wisse
- Thomas Pearson
- Rupali Romdas Repale
- Jo Kane
- Taranath Shenoy
- Myra Williamson
- Karena Doig
- Richard Davey
- Philip Rush
- Philip Rush
- Philip Rush
- Jeffrey Reid
- Ingrid Greenslade
- Helen Barrett
- John Koorey
- Denise Anderson
- Donna Bouzaid
- Karen Bisley
- Scott Barry
- Meda McKenzie
- Meda McKenzie
- Sandra Blewett
- Philip Rush
- Philip Rush
- Wayne Jack
- Karen Bisley
- Sheryl McLay
- Alan Vincent
- Elizabeth Horner
- Elizabeth Horner
- Michael Quinlivan
- Kristine Carr
- John Koorey
- Carolyn Wordsworth
- Belinda Shields
- Rhonda Smidt
- Mohammad El-Meseery
- Philip Rush
- Pat Benson
- Alan Christie
- Chris Hurdley
- John Coutts
- Meda McKenzie
- Meda McKenzie
- John Coutts
- Lynne Cox
- Perry Cameron
- Keith Hancox
- Barry Devonport
Antonio Argüelles of Mexico tells of his Cook Strait experience here. Always a right-side breather, Argüelles was told by his escort pilot (and reigning King of the Cook Strait) Philip Rush to move to the left side of the boat due to the current and winds. He recalls, “I don’t even have time to think that I never breathe on my left side—or that, when I’ve tried to, I get out of rhythm and my back hurts. I just concentrate on what I’m doing. Every three strokes I move my head a little to the left. I find I am able to follow the boat without too much difficulty; now to keep up and just get there as soon as possible.“
Argüelles was told before the swim by Rush, “…in the second part of the swim you will face a complicated sea...”
And so it was.
And so it usually is.
It is a long swim to the other shore (photo below of Mark Sowerby by Katabatic Charters):
It is never easy – and that is why smiles abound when the crossing is completed as shown by Oceans Seven swimmers: Petar Stoychev (with handler Ivan Zlatinov) of Bulgaria on left, Lynton Mortensen of Australia on right, and Elizabeth Fry, Nora Toledano Cadena, and Mariel Hawley Dávila below:
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