Incredible feat ... British explorer and endurance swimmer Lewis Gordon Pugh dives into the freezing waters of the North Pole in just his Speedos, cap and goggles. Picture: Push Pictures Source: AP
AN ENDURANCE swimmer dubbed “the human polar bear” is set to swim in freezing Antarctic waters — wearing just his Speedos.
British environmentalist Lewis Pugh will brave icy temperatures, leopard seals and killer whales to complete five 1km swims over five weeks in Antarctica’s Southern Ocean.
The ocean advocate wants to break the world record for most southerly swim in three of the five subzero dips and raise awareness of moves to protect the region’s pristine Ross Sea.
“When you have been there before and felt that pain, it’s all the more daunting to go back there,” Mr Pugh, an experienced ocean swimmer, said. “These will collectively be the most dangerous swims ever undertaken in the world.”
Icy plunge ... endurance swimmer Lewis Gordon Pugh is set to undertake five swims in Antarctica’s Southern Ocean. Picture: Push Pictures Source: AP
Brave ... British ocean advocate swims in the icy waters of the North Pole in 2007. Picture: AP Photo/ Jason Roberts, Push Pictures Source: AP
Lewis Pugh's seven swims
Arctic dip ... British long distance swimmer Lewis Gordon Pugh swims in the Magdalena fjord off the Arctic archipelago Svalbard in 2005. Picture: AP Photo: Terje Eggum/SCANPIX Source: News Limited
The swims include a long distance jaunt around Cape Adare, home to the largest colony of Adele penguins in the world and patrolled by the penguins’ predators, leopard seals.
Four of Mr Pugh’s swims will be further south than the current world record — held by him — for the most southerly swim.
The author will also be swimming at Cape Evans, where British explorer Captain Robert Falcon Scott built a hut before his journey to the South Pole.
Next week I sail to Antarctica to undertake #5Swims. Pse support our call for the Ross Sea to be urgently protected. pic.twitter.com/m783u1YwWi
— Lewis Pugh (@LewisPugh) February 2, 2015 Another swim will take place in the Bay of Whales, named by explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton due to the large number of killer whales seen in the area.
The UN Patron of Oceans hopes his swims will encourage the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), 24 countries and the EU responsible for creating marine protected areas in the region, to designate the sea as a protected area.
Follow Lewis Pugh’s adventures on Facebook and Twitter.
Ocean advocate ... British environmental campaigner Lewis Pugh gives the thumbs up after completing his swim in Lake Pumori below the summit of Mount Everest in 2010. Picture: AFP/Lewis Pugh/PlankPR Source: News Limited