When The Water Warms Up to -0.4°C, This Group Is Happy

It is often said, “No risk, no reward. No guts, no glory.”

The saying summarizes the Antarctica Ice Swimming Adventure led by Ram Barkai (@rambarkai_iceswimmer) of South Africa this week.

On his fifth visit to Antarctica (and second this year), Barkai and IISA Medical Officer Dr. Ruth Williamson conducted their test swim at Portal Point on the mainland of Antarctica Peninsula after sailing across the Drake Passage. They all swam safely and courageously with Sam Whelpton (@samwhelpton) and Neil Hopkins (@neil0212) of South Africa, Martha Wood (@mox_in_sox_2) of the USA, Wei-Ping Chew (@weipingchew89) of Malaysia, Bulcsú Lengyel of Hungary, Adam Baker, Charlie Fluery, Kate Steels (@waterbabykate) and Rory Fitzgerald (@fitzgerald.rory) of the UK, Anel Stydekova of Kazakhstan, Lynton Mortensen (@lyntonmortensen) of Australia, and Maxime Valabregue (@maximevalabregue) of France.

Barkai reported, “Our [250m] test swim is done. Everyone swam and everyone is happy. We swam in Portal Point, Antarctica surrounded by ice and penguins. The water did warm up to -0.40°C. All is good and we are ready to gut the main swim tomorrow. Well done to all.”

Whelpton said, “The hardest part of the swim was getting dressed afterwards, with two spades for hands.”

Tomorrow, the group is expected to attempt and achieve a lot of Ice Kilometers and possibly a few Ice Miles.