Swimming to Antarctica
by Lynne Cox · first published 2004
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3recommended by
4HN commenters
2013–2022first – last mentioned
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- At age fourteen, she swam twenty-six miles from Catalina Island to the California mainland.- At ages fifteen and sixteen, she broke the men's and women's world records for swimming the English Channel--a thirty-three-mile crossing in nine hours, thirty-six minutes.- At eighteen, she swam the twenty-mile Cook Strait between North and South Islands of New Zealand, was caught on a massive swell, found herself after five hours farther from the finish than when she started, and still completed the swim.- She was the first to swim the Strait of Magellan, the most treacherous three-mile stretch of
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…http://www.amazon.com/dp/0751536954 "Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination" The first third of the book is remarkable in that Walt Disney constantly struggles with failure. http://www.amazon.com/dp/0679757473 "Swimming to Antarctica: Tales of a Long-Distance Swimmer" by Lynne Cox Her story is all about single focus on doing what you want to do. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0013L8AQQ "Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life" by Steve Martin…
on “Ask HN: What literature do you read?” ↗…and her ability to tolerate swimming in ice-cold water. She has twice held the fastest time record for swimming across the English Channel. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynne_Cox Her autobiography, Swimming to Antarctica, is a great read.
on “Surviving 75 hours alone in the ocean” ↗Lynne Cox did a one mile swim (25 minutes) in Antartic waters (32°F) in 2003: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/swimming-to-antarctica-12-02-20... She swam in even colder Arctic waters (26.6°F) for 5m26s in 2007: http://www.espn.com/espn/feature/story/_/page/Lynne-Cox/lynn... Her book is a fun read: https://www.amazon.com/Swimming-Antarctica-Long-Distance-Swi...
on “What it feels like to swim in sub-zero waters” ↗…were at one time the best in the world at their sports, and they are virtually unheard of. There's amazing athletic talent in the world that is hardly ever recognized. [1] Eat and Run by Scott Jurek and Swimming to Antarctica by Lynne Cox. Two very amazing endurance athletes.
on “The Heart-Stopping Climbs of Alex Honnold” ↗I learned about long distance swimming by reading Lynne Cox' autobiography "Swimming to Antarctica" (2004), which I can recommend if you are interested learning about the sport. She broke the womens and mens speed record for swimming the channel at age 15 and 16 and continued to pile on remarkable…
on “Channel Swimming Association” ↗It can depend on the individual, too. There's an interesting book called Swimming to Antarctica, which is a memoir by Lynne Cox, an incredible long-distance swimmer who discovered she had a talent for cold water and who (after extensive preparation) swam five miles in sub-40º water.
on “Psychogenic death, the phenomenon of “thinking” yourself to death” ↗