Guernsey Press

Icy water defeats Sea Donkey and international relay team

GUERNSEY sea swimmer Adrian Sarchet has achieved another international swimming feat, after taking part in the coldest-ever swim relay crossing of Lake Baikal.

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Flying the flag for Guernsey. Sea Donkey Adrian Sarchet with the other eight swimmers from seven countries who completed 60km across Lake Baikal in Russia, but gave up on an attempt to swim up the Angara River to the ancient city of Irkutsk, due to how cold the water was.

But it was so cold that he and his eight fellow swimmers were unable to complete their original mission of continuing up the Angara River to Irkutsk, collectively deciding to abandon the swim in the interests of safety.

‘I’ve never swum anywhere where the water temperature is so variable,’ he said. ‘We expected it to be about 12C when we reached the river but instead it was 4C.’

When crossing the lake, the swimmers took half-hour shifts in water at around 7-8C but as they entered the unexpectedly cold water of the river, each shift was reduced to five minutes.

‘By the time each swimmer came out of the water and got transferred in the Rib to the main boat and into the two-person sauna, they only had 10 minutes to warm up before making way for the next swimmer and preparing to go back in,’ Mr Sarchet said.

The Baikal Great Swim was too much for Sea Donkey Adrian Sarchet and another eight swimmers from seven countries.

‘We kept that up for way longer than I ever expected, but if your body is already cold as you’re about to enter the water, that’s when it becomes a medical risk.’

The swim was eventually called off after 26 hours, with 71 of the intended 120km completed.

Mr Sarchet, who lost 8kg during the challenge, is determined to return to the Russian location to complete the full journey, describing it as unfinished business. However, there may be some changes as a result of what has been learned from this swim.

‘The team needs to be bigger so there’s more recovery time,’ he said. ‘It is just a swim, after all – there’s no need to be risking people’s health or their life.’

Sea swimmers have already contacted Mr Sarchet – nicknamed Sea Donkey during his successful quest to complete the Oceans Seven series of endurance swims – expressing their interest in taking part in any future attempt.

‘We could invite full international teams to take on the challenge and make it a race,’ he said.

It's unfinished business as far as Adrian Sarchet is concerned and he would like to give the swim another go with more swimmers to allow for longer rest periods.

However, it will not be an event for the faint-hearted.

‘I have done plenty of night swimming but the sight of huge swarms of bats feeding only a few centimetres above the water was something else,’ Mr Sarchet said.

‘It is fairly common to get the heebie jeebies when swimming at night with a huge black expanse below you, but Lake Baikal is over a mile deep, so my imagination was putting in some serious overtime about what might be down there in the depths.’