I SWAM CHANNEL THE HARD WAY
Lewis Pugh is first to make it from Land’s End to Dover
STUMBLING ashore with a clenched fist raised in triumph, Lewis Pugh completes his marathon to become the first person to swim the length of the English Channel – all 330 miles of it. After landing at Shakespeare Bay in Kent, Lewis, 48, embraced his wife Antoinette, and said: “I’m drained. I’ve never done anything so tough.” From a man who has swum in Antarctica in seas so cold waves froze as they hit his support boat, that is a measure of the challenge he conquered.
Over 49 days the man nicknamed The Human Polar Bear for a unique ability to raise his body temperature to protect vital organs, swam from Land’s End to Dover.
Stung by countless jellyfish, scrambling into his safety boat when storms struck, he struggled through the last three weeks with a shoulder injury caused by half a million strokes.
The tendonitis grew so bad he had to stop for emergency physiotherapy at Premier League football club Bournemouth.
Plymouth-based Lewis, 48, said: “The first half was warm and flat, but once I hit the Isle of Wight it was storm after storm.”
He began his swim on July 12 to raise awareness about the threat plastic, pollution, and over-fishing poses in his role as UN Patron of the Oceans. He did two-hour shifts because the sea was so cold, covering up to 12 miles each day. Lewis also stopped to clean beaches, where he joined environment activists including Prince Charles and Surfers Against Sewage.
Lewis had to eat 10,000 calories every day just to maintain his body weight.
His finish line on Shakespeare Beach is the starting point for swimmers crossing to Calais, a feat likened to climbing Everest. Lewis swam 16 times as far.
He has faced many perils in his mission to save the sea. Three years ago he did three miles through a blizzard in Antarctica. He has also swum at the North Pole, in a glacier lake on Mount Everest, and the length of the River Thames. Even so, Lewis spent six months training for The Long Swim.
Lewis said: “Swimming in cold, tidal water, day after day [meant] hypothermia was a real risk, so were jellyfish. There were enormous blooms.”
He added: “I had my first swimming lesson as a little boy in Whitsand Bay near Plymouth.
“I remember playing on this beautiful, golden sand. Today, at the high tide mark you will find pollution everywhere.”
Lewis now heads to the G7 summit in New York to urge world leaders to protect the seas.
Environment secretary Michael Gove, at the finish line to congratulate Lewis, said: “He is a hero. The Long Swim has brought to everyone’s attention how important it is for us all to do our bit to protect our seas.”