Swimmer seasick for 5 hours

Seasickness, a jelly fish in her swimsuit and huge post-Gita swells could not stop Abhejali Bernardova from completing her Cook Strait swim on Saturday.

Bernardova, of the Czech Republic, completed the 22.5-kilometre swim in 13 hours, 9 minutes and 48 seconds, becoming the first person from a landlocked country to complete the Ocean’s Seven challenge.

The challenge, considered the marathon swimming equivalent of the Seven Summits, includes the North Channel (Scotland), the Molokai Channel (Hawaii), the English Channel, the Catalina Channel (USA), the Tsugaru Strait (Japan) and the Strait of Gibraltar (Spain).

While hundreds have completed the Seven Summits, the highest mountains in each of the seven continents, only 10 have completed the Ocean’s Seven. Bernardova is the fourth woman to do so, and the first person from a landlocked country.

Bernardova said her Cook Strait swim, from Ohau Point in Wellington to Perano Head in the Marlborough Sounds, was the ‘‘second toughest’’ swim she had done.

‘‘It wasn’t easy, I was seasick for maybe five hours and then a little bit more towards the end and the waves were quite big,’’ she said.

The 41-year-old was supposed to tackle Cook Strait on Thursday but ex-Cyclone Gita postponed her attempt until Sunday. The skipper of the support boat considered putting the crossing back again because of the choppy conditions in the strait.

And to make matters worse, Bernardova was stung by a jelly fish within the first 30 minutes of her swim.

‘‘It went into my swimsuit ... They were wondering on the boat like ‘what is she doing?’ ... But it was good to take my mind off the fact that I had just started.’’

She spent the first five hours of the swim throwing up from seasickness.

‘‘I was seasick on some of my previous swims so I know that I can keep going, so you throw up and then you feel better,’’ she said.

Bernardova said she had been practising meditation for more than 20 years which helped her in her swim.

‘‘I can find strength and really concentrate on what’s the next task, basically it’s one stroke after another until you get there.’’

Bernardova said it was an ‘‘amazing’’ feeling to achieve a world first, being the first person from a landlocked country to complete the Ocean’s Seven challenge.

‘‘It feels amazing... You have all the water around you [in New Zealand] and we have all the countries around us so it’s very special.’’