Cook Strait New Zealand
Channel number 4 and I was heading down under. Slots for Cook Strait, like a number of other channel crossings, are notoriously difficult to get and slots were becoming available. However, with Katabatic Charters coming onto the scene as a new escort boat, things were looking up. After Gibraltar, I spoke to Mark about the prospect of doing a tandem swim for this crossing. I thought it would be a bit of fun (like Gibraltar) to swim with someone else and it would potentially ease Mark’s concerns about marine life. Make no mistake, this crossing has some serious marine life! Asking Mark to be my swim buddy for this swim wasn’t just about having someone else to swim with, it was also about sharing this with someone who is one of the nicest guys I have ever met and I couldn’t think of a better person to do this swim with. It also helped that we swam about the same pace (a key ingredient for this swim).
Mark and I agreed to do the tandem swim and we locked in a date with Grant. With this being a tandem swim, there would be two coaches onboard – Tim and Matt. Tim would look after Mark and Matt would take care of me during the swim. As it turns out, our squad took 3 of the tidal slots at the beginning of 2024 with Mark and I being the last set of tandem swims. This worked in our favour as we learnt a few things from the two groups who had gone before us with respect to the swim and conditions which helped us prepare for our swim day.
Mark and I agreed on early February as it was a convenient time for both of us. Mark had come out of the North Channel swim worse for wear and wanted some time away from the pool before preparing for Cook. He was also taking a family holiday in January to Japan so early Feb worked for him. For me, our 3rd daughter was going back to boarding school late January in Australia which worked perfectly for me.
As we all of these swims, swim timings are subject to change. With conditions changing, Grant bought our swim forward a few days to 1st February. Abit of a scramble to get ourselves across to Picton on time to prepare for the swim. Thankful that I was in Australia at the time and not flying in from UAE!
One of the things I love about travelling to each of these swims is connecting with people I have known or meeting new people who share the same passion for ocean swimming. New Zealand was an opportunity for me to reconnect with a few kiwi ladies who I did triathlon with in Abu Dhabi, and an old school friend who I haven’t seen since I left my home town in the late 80’s. Talk about a small world!
Mark and I met at the Auckland ferry terminal on 31st Jan and headed across to Picton. We had already agreed that we wanted to stay close to the marina for our convenience. We booked an apartment at Picton Harbour Hotel which was a 5 minute walk to where our escort boat was moored.
