Canadian swims across Strait of Magellan

TORONTO — An Ontario software developer has become the first Canadian to successfully swim across the Strait of Magellan.

Madhu Nagaraja says he completed the swim across the treacherous open-water stretch on the tip of South America on Nov. 29.

The 47-year-old from Oakville, Ont., becomes the 23rd person to complete the 3.9-kilometre swim through the strait famed for its strong winds, high waves and frigid waters. The conditions in the strait defeated Nagaraja once before when he attempted a crossing in 2015.

After two hours in the water, the Chilean Navy had to pull him ashore with severe hypothermia.

He says the previous failure made last month’s success, which he completed in one hour and 19 minutes, feel all the more triumphant. “The experience of failure is a tricky thing, and it’s all so massive,” Nagaraja said in a telephone interview from his Oakville home. “How do you face that? How do you build a support system to make yourself believe in the things that you’ve done and get back and focus on getting across?” Nagaraja, an experienced open-water swimmer who had previously crossed the English Channel and completed long-distance challenges in Lake Ontario, said several factors prompted him to make another attempt on the Strait, which serves as a route between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

In addition to a desire to honour Canada’s 150th birthday this year, he said he wanted to pay tribute to the 16th century explorer for whom the Strait is named after.