It's our final swim history episode of 2025! Featuring special guest, ultramarathon swimmer John Hancock who is back for his third episode to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Captain Matthew Webb's English Channel crossing. We talk about:

• Captain Webb's astonishing Channel swim in 1875, a feat that hadn't been achieved before and was not repeated by anyone else for more than 30 years.
• The life story of the Captain – his heroism, his daring escapades, and his tragic final swim.
• The English Channel's swimming legacy, with facts and figures (mostly cobbled together from Wikipedia and the LongSwims database) and high achievers – including Gertrude Ederle, the first woman to swim the Channel in 1926, and Sarah Thomas, who achieved a quadruple crossing in 2019.
• How the English Channel compares with the Cook Strait (John has swum the Strait and was on the support boat for Wellington swimmer Rebecca Hollingsworth when she swam the Channel in 2024).
• Wellington coach Phil Rush's unbeaten records for his double and triple crossings of the Channel in 1987 (Phil also has his own Swim Chats episode).
• Captain Paul Boyton, who in 1875 achieved the first 'assisted' crossing of the Channel wearing an inflatable rubber suit of his own design, just a few months before Captain Webb's 'unassisted' swim.

Photo: Captain Matthew Webb in the 1870s.

A useful source and recommended further reading: Splash! 10,000 Years of Swimming by Howard Means (Allen & Unwin, 2020)

Shona will be speaking at theWild Swimming in Aotearoa: Author Panel event at Newtown Library on November 27.

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If you're an ocean swimmer, you've probably encountered jellyfish at some stage. Depending on the species these watery, tentacled, heartless/ brainless/spineless (literally) invertebrates can dish out a painful sting!

Earth Sciences NZ (formerly NIWA) marine scientist Dennis Gordon came on the podcast to answer my questions. In this episode, we talk about:

• What is the definition of a jellyfish?
• What are their life stages?
• How do they move around?
• How do they still sting people even after they've washed up on the beach?
• Common species such as moon jellyfish and lion's manes, bluebottles / Portuguese Man O'Wars and box jellyfish – how dangerous are they?
• What's the best way to treat a painful sting?
• What are salps and sea lice?

Here's a link to the 'Jiggling Jellyfish' PDF Dennis mentions, with lots of colour photos to learn more and identify the jellyfish we might see in NZ waters.

Have a look at some of Ernst Haeckel's beautiful illustrations from his Art Forms in Nature book (Kunstformen der Natur, 1904).

If you spot anything you can't identify on the beach, in rock pools or in the water, you can send a photo to Earth Sciences NZ and an expert can help to solve the mystery (this is a free service and they welcome new photos).

Lion's mane jellyfish (Cyanea rosea) photo by Richard Robertson and supplied by Earth Sciences NZ. This species is the common New Zealand lion's mane (also found in SE Australia). The photo shows the characteristic warty appearance of the top of the bell.

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Liana Smith was thriving as a competitive swimmer when chronic back pain led to a diagnosis of a spinal fracture. She underwent a spinal fusion at the age of 17. At the time, it felt to Liana as if her swimming career was over – she was on full bedrest and had a long recovery, both physically and mentally. She spent the next seven years out of the water.

Liana was working as a high-country shepherd in Queenstown when she went for a swim with the Southern Lakes Swim Club (SLSC). Realising she could still swim well and enjoyed it – and was fast in the open water – Liana set her sights on NZ's Triple Crown, with the support of swim legend Philip Rush (who has his own Swim Chats episode).

Liana became the eighth person to complete the Triple Crown, is the Crown's fastest female swimmer, and also holds the world record for the fastest-ever Foveaux Strait swim (6h19m). Earlier this year she became the first person to swim without a wetsuit from Kinloch to Queenstown (46km) in the 'fresh' water of Lake Wakatipu. Amazingly, that epic distance wasn't the planned total (she was aiming for a Kingston finish but was thwarted by strong winds) so next summer Liana will tackle the 'full' 74km distance of Lake Wakatipu!

For Liana's ultramarathon swims she raises funds for I Am Hope, a charity that supports young people with their mental health.

• Follow Liana's Instagram page, Swim for Something
• Learn more about I Am Hope
• Learn more about the Southern Lakes Swim Club
• Read about Liana's dip in the remote Lake Unknown (Stuff news article)

The photo of Liane was taken by Wayne Martin.

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I watched JAWS as a kid and was subsequently scared to go in the water, just as the movie's tagline promised. Now I swim in the sea regularly and I know a bit more about sharks, but I wanted to talk to an expert.

Clinton Duffy grew up with a fascination of sharks after encountering a bronze whaler, and he has spent much of his life and career in the pursuit of knowledge about these sharp-toothed ocean predators (as well as other marine creatures, such as rays). He worked in marine science at DOC and is now a Curator of Marine Biology at Auckland Museum – and there's a very cool exhibition about sharks opening in December.

In this episode, we talk about:

• What to do (and not do) if you're swimming and meet a shark

• Where (and when) not to swim if you're actively trying to avoid sharks
• The many and varied species of sharks that live in NZ waters (most of them prefer deep water)
• The likelihood of being attacked by a shark (hint: it's not high)
• How shark populations have declined worldwide due to overfishing and habitat destruction
• Clinton's career as a marine scientist, including tagging and studying great whites (he explains how to tag a shark; definitely a job for the professionals)
• Clinton's favourite shark: it can walk!
• The fascinating sharks of the deep sea (here's a link to the Deep-Sea Podcast)
• How to respect stingrays in the shallows when entering and exiting the water, and how Clinton dealt with a stingray that sat on his head while he was diving.

The photo of Clinton holding a tagged school shark was taken by Brit Finucci, Earth Sciences NZ, in Dusky Sound this year. Clinton was assisting Dr Alice Rogers, Victoria University of Wellington, and Dr Finucci tagging broadnose sevengill sharks and school sharks.

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I had the pleasure of interviewing my swim coach Barbara (Barb) Watson, who has dedicated over 60 years to coaching in Wellington. It was recorded while we sat in her car at Freyberg Beach early on a Wednesday morning, watching the sunrise and drinking coffee.

In this episode you'll hear some of Barb's life story and much of it is an oral history of swimming in Wellington, from the early 1950s to today.

Barb was always drawn to the water and it ran in the family because her dad, Frank, was an open water swimming champion in the 1920s before he took on coaching and pool management. He worked at many Wellington pools including Karori Pool, Thordon Pool, Riddiford Baths in the Hutt, and Naenae Pool. He also swam in the open-air (and gender-segregated) Te Aro Baths before it was replaced by Freyberg Pool in 1963.

Barb was a strong freestyle and butterfly swimmer. She competed in national championships and won the prestigious Annette Kellerman Cup for open water swimming. She trained mainly at Naenae Pool, where her father was the manager, under the coach John Hamilton. She started coaching herself at the age of just 12 and has been coaching more or less ever since. As a solo mum in the 1970s she worked hard to make ends meet and today, as a great-grandmother, she still has a houseful of young people.

Barb's coaching philosophy is about enjoyment, accessibility, and community – she teaches us, and also values what we give to her. She has dedicated decades to teaching and mentoring swimmers of all ages and levels, from newcomers scared of the water to ultramarathoners. She coaches at Kilbirnie (WRAC), Cannons Creek, and Te Ngaengae pools, and at Freyberg Beach on Wednesday and Sunday mornings where she gives us a pep talk, looks after our valuables, and provides jet plane lollies after we get out.

Barb has been recognised for her services to the community but she doesn't like a fuss, so this is a rare interview. Our full conversation lasted for three hours and included people coming and going to have a swim and collect their gear, so this is the abridged version of 1h15. Grab a cuppa and enjoy.

Thanks Barb, for all that you do for us! <3

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Image: Barb handing out jet planes to swimmers at Freyberg Beach. Artwork by Fifi Colston to commemorate Barb's 75th birthday in 2023.

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Dan Feisst is a big part of NZ's swim community – he runs the Ocean Swim Series, the Summer Swim Series, the Beach Series, and Swim Vanuatu. He's also a swim coach in Auckland and owns The Swim Shop, which sells gear for pool and open water swimmers.

In this episode we talk about:

• the upcoming 2025–26 NZ Ocean Swim Series: which events are running around the country and when? There are the classics (such as Rangitoto, Beach to Bay in Russell, Legend of the Lake in Rotorua) and some exciting new ones!
• listening to swimmers' feedback and making adjustments each year – such as introducing a Newbie Tent to support newcomers and nervous swimmers
• the Beach Series and Summer Swim Series including SwimRun events
• Dan's own swimming and career path to retail, coaching and event management; what drives him to run these swim events?
• Dan's annual Swim Vanuatu camp and all the cool places and adventures it entails (I hereby volunteer as Vanuatu podcast correspondent)

• Dan's Swim Shop on Mt Eden Road in Auckland and online

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Lynne Cox is an American open water swimmer who has set records, and brought people together, around the world.

• In 1972 at the age of 15 she broke the men's and women's world records when she swam across the English Channel – and she did it again the following year.
• In 1975 she was the first woman, and fourth person, to swim across New Zealand's Cook Strait (in extremely rough conditions!).
• In 1987 she swam across the Bering Strait between Alaska and Siberia during the Cold War – a swim that Reagan and Gorbachev both acknowledged as helping to bridge the divide between the two nations.
• She was the first person to swim across the Strait of Magellan at the bottom of South America, and also to swim around the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa.
• She swam the first 'ice mile' in Antarctica in 2002.

Lynne chronicles all of these magnificent swims and many others in her memoir 'Swimming to Antarctica: Tales of a Long Distance Swimmer' (2004). She has written a number of other books too, including the children's books 'Yoshi, Sea Turtle Genius' and 'Elizabeth, Queen of the Seas', a true story about an elephant seal that lived in Christchurch's Avon River.

Visit Lynne's website to learn more about her swims, her books, and guest speaking appearances.

The photo of Lynne with Saki the seal is courtesy of Lynne Cox.

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Outdoor Swimmer magazine is the world's only monthly, printed magazine about open water or wild swimming (as far as we know!). It was founded by Simon Griffiths in 2011 and October 2025 is the magazine's 100th issue, edited by Ella Foote who has been Outdoor Swimmer's editor since 2022.

Simon and Ella are (unsurprisingly!) very passionate about swimming. They have both written books and accomplished many impressive swims in all sorts of locations. Ella is also a swim coach and provides guided swim experiences through her company, Dip Advisor.

In this episode we discuss the highlights and challenges of publishing a swim magazine that celebrates the fun, joy and connections of swimming outdoors, from dipping to ultramarathons, and which includes safety tips and swim gear advice. We also talk about Simon and Ella's own swimming journeys and the importance of swim communities.

• Visit the Outdoor Swimmer website where you can subscribe to the magazine (they deliver the print version internationally and/or there's a digital option), sign up for their free weekly newsletter The Dip, and read feature articles, gear reviews, and swim tips.
• Simon's book is 'Swim Wild and Free: A Practical Guide to Swimming Outdoors 365 Days a Year.' (Bloomsbury Sport, 2022)
• Ella's book is 'How to Wild Swim: What to Know Before Taking the Plunge.' (DK, 2023)
• Ella's Instagram page
• Outdoor Swimmer's Instagram page

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  Thanks for listening! :-)