24. Lynne Cox on the 50th anniversary of her Cook Strait swim, swimming to Antarctica, and building global connections

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. * Support the podcast via ⁠⁠ Patreon.com/SwimChats⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Follow Swim Chats on Instagram⁠⁠ Hit 'Follow' so you don't miss an episode. Thanks for listening! :-)