34th Sri Chinmoy Marathon Swim Rapperswil-Zurich in the books
By Vasanti Niemz
17 August
On Sunday, Aug. 7th, 2022, 58 swimmers from 15 nations started again the beautiful but challenging 26 km journey from Rapperswil to Zurich Tiefenbrunnen lido (29 solos and 10 relays) – with some DNS due to Covid after effects. The water was an unusually balmy 25°C, with an overcast sky most of the way and a breeze from the east/north-east that created small uncomfortable waves in some patches, slowing swimmers down. It also pushed boats and swimmers to the middle of the lake by the time they reached the half way cut-off at the ferry in Meilen, where you are supposed to stay close to the shore. Which resulted in 6 solo and 2 relay DNFs – as opposed to 2019, where in spite of a chilly 19°C water temp the success rate was 100 %!
First overall was non-wetsuit lady Kirsten Cameron of NZ (living in NL) in fantastic 6h 56m 05 sec. She was so fast her kajaker could not keep up, but luckily a motor boat with motor problems in the morning got fixed and was able to come to their rescue!) Second finisher was wetsuit-swimmer Euan Dow from Glasgow in 7h 27m 44s. Tom Knight from London (Serpentine) and Andrea Marcato - Italian, but a member of the Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team Zurich - finished within 11 seconds of each other in 1st and 2nd place men non-wetsuit in 8h 57m 56s and 8h 58m 07s respectively. More results: Results Sri Chinmoy Marathon Swim Zurich 2022
Remarkably, Andrea Marcato is an ultrarunner who is getting ready again for the 26th edition of the 3100 mile Self-Transcendence Race in NY starting September. (He won the 3100 miles in 2020 and 2021 and ran a number of ultras including a 6 and 10 day race this year). His swim training in preparation of this year's marathon swim (his 5th Lake Zurich finish, non-wetsuit!) was minimal but smart, including visualisation. Here a short interview with him right after his finish: https://vimeo.com/737607904. More below.
Special mention: Chaitanya Tulasi from India– who went on to accomplish his Triple Crown in N.Y. a few days later (which consists of English Channel + Catalina Channel + Manhattan 20 Bridges) - forgot his feeds in the hotel and swam a bit slower than usual, feeding only on water - including drinking some of the very clean lake water!
There were many noteworthy swimmers, like Margarita Llorens Bagur, a Menorca, Majorca and Ibiza Channel swimmer, or Mostafa Said Zaki from Egypt (wetsuit category, who chose to swim without it in "skins") coached by IMSHOF inductee and Zurich lake record holder Mohamed Marouf whose record of 5h 51m 41s from 1993 is still unbroken!
A few "secrets" by ultrarunner and marathon swimmer Andrea Marcato: body weight training, visualisation and mantras
Q: Could you tell as a bit more about your limited swim training for Lake Zurich this year?
Andrea: This year I swam very little. I guess only 15-18 times, as I travel often. Probably one pool swim every 2 weeks on average. Many sessions were just 1 km, 1,5 km or 2 km- around 20/30'- up to 3,5 km / 1h max. Only a few days before the race I had a 4,7 km training in the pool and a 2,7 km session at the lake.
Q: How do you keep your swim muscles in the shoulders and upper body, and also your wrist strength - by doing weights or just lifting heavy things at work?
Andrea: This year I drastically reduced lifting weights (we have a small gym at our enterprise with basic equipment) to avoid bulking up - that would very likely be counterproductive for my running form. Moreover inwardly I felt it's not so useful, therefore I switched to body weight workouts. I have a 100 push up routine before bedtime. Plus I try to stretch often, especially lower back and shoulders muscles. That helps.
Q: How helpful for a marathon swim is the cardio training you get from long distance running?
Andrea: Even more helpful than the cardio is to consistently race in ultradistance events, even in a short span of time. That gives you the right mindset.
Q: Can you tells us a bit more how your meditation practice helps you, apart from staying calm and feeling good before the race?
Andrea: One or two weeks before the race I try to visualise myself reaching the finish. That was my fifth edition so I have a vivid perception of how it looks like. I keep a photographic memory of the critical points of the race. Intuitively I see some reference points (a church, an harbour, a big tree) and I know approximately how many km I already swam and how many I have still to go. Plus I repeat mantras trying to distract the mind when it gets difficult. It's all a mind game. Concentration, visualization and meditation are the tools which help you to go through. I have been meditating with students of Sri Chinmoy for a few years now. That helps, as the Spiritual Master himself practiced and advocated the philosophy of Self-Transcendence - going beyond one's own limits.
Q: Did I hear you say, if you trained more you could be 1,5 hours faster in this swim?
Andrea: You must know I have a big mouth! How can I really know? It was an estimation based on my best finishing time - around 7h40', plus the accumulated experience I get in every edition. But I cannot predict it in advance. Mr. Trapattoni - a well known Italian football coach - once said: "Non dire gatto, se non c'è l'hai nel sacco", which means you can't really boast until it's done. It is so true.
Q: Is running giving you more joy than swimming, and if so, why? Or is it just this feeling of "inner duty" or "inner call"? Sri Chinmoy often used to say he did not really love weightlifting (he loved running), but it was his inner call that he "had" to do it after his knee injury limited his running. Probably the swim would also be more joyful with more training?
Andrea: I don't take joy as a main reference for the time being. That doesn't mean I don't derive satisfaction from what I am doing. If I'd rely on Joy I would have probably swam one edition or two. One year you feel a little discomfort before the race, or you didn't manage to train much, and you don't do it. The joy is not there and you don't do it. What works for me is the inner duty. The inner duty pushes me beyond likes and dislikes. That's a kind of military approach. I have to, I have to. (note. it is also a spiritual attitude to listen to one's inner guidance and go beyond likes and dislikes).
At the moment I give priority to running long distances, swimming comes second. At the same time I know people's mind is ever changing. As you age, different priorities, different approaches come in. Let's see what's happens in the future ....
Thank you Andrea!
Here the link to the 3100 Mile Race starting Sept. 4th, 6 a.m. N.Y. time, where you can follow Andrea:https://3100.srichinmoyraces.org/
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Abhejali nominated again for Open Water Swimming Woman of the Year
By Nirbhasa Mageeauthor bio »
26 January
About the author:
Nirbhasa is from Ireland. He is an enthusiastic multi-day runner, having completed four times the Sri Chinmoy Self-Transcendence 3100 Mile Race - the longest race in the world.
Abhejali Bernardová from the Sri Chinnmoy Marathon Team has been nominated for the World Open Water Swimming Association's 'Woman of the Year' award for the second time in 43 years. In September, Abhejali (44) completed a 1111 km 'channel triathlon' and took her 7 days, 12 hours and 5 minutes - swimming, biking and running from Dover all the way to Prague in her home country of Czech Republic.
Abhejali's previous nomination was in 2018, after she completed the 'Ocean's Seven' list of famous endurance swims around the world - a journey that started with her first English Channel swim in 2011.
Abhejali is definitely in good company this year - the other 14 nominees include Olympic champion Ana Cunha from Brazil and the new "Queen of the Channel", Chloe McCardel from Australia, who recently broke the record for the most crossings.
Abhejali completes a 'channel triathlon' from Dover to Prague
By Nirbhasa Mageeauthor bio »
22 September
About the author:
Nirbhasa is from Ireland. He is an enthusiastic multi-day runner, having completed four times the Sri Chinmoy Self-Transcendence 3100 Mile Race - the longest race in the world.
44-year-old Abhejali Bernardova, a member of the Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team from Zlin in the Czech Republic, swam the English Channel and then biked and ran all the way to Prague - an extreme ultra-triathlon that covered a total of 1111 km and took her 7 days, 12 hours and 5 minutes.
She started on Monday September 13 at 3am from Dover. In very challenging conditions, with the wind at force 5, she swam the English Channel in 15 hours and 33 minutes. The only other successful crossing on the same day was a 5-person relay team. It was her last chance to swim this year and the swim had already been postponed a few times.
Current restrictions did not allow her to stay in France, so she had to take a detour back to Dover and then take a ferry to France. She then cycled from Calais to her hometown of Cheb, near the Czech/German border. The cycling leg, which took her 4 days, was approximately 900 kilometres through France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany. She arrived in Cheb on Saturday afternoon, then ran 182km to Prague, arriving on Monday afternoon. Her daily average was 220km cycling and 2 marathons running.
The Czech athlete successfully completed her first English Channel swim 10 years ago. In 2018 she became the 1st Czech, the 10th person in the world, 4th woman and the 1st person from a landlocked country to complete the Oceans Seven - a series of seven difficult long-distance swims around the world.
With her ultra-triathlon she aims to connect people and places and inspire others to break down and cross barriers in their own lives. If she can go from the UK to the Czech Republic under her own steam, then we really are closer to each other than we realise, we just put up unnecessary walls between us. She also tries to inspire others to overcome their own limits and show that these limits are often self-created.
Video: Abhejali gives a TEDx talk earlier this year in Prague
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Interview: Abhejali talks about her 'Oceans Seven' journey
By Vasanti Niemz
25 August
Abhejali Bernardová (43), from the Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team in the Czech Republic, is the 10th person in history to complete the Oceans Seven series of open water swims. In a recent interview with Steven Munatones on the World Open Water Swimmming Association website, shares highlights of her incredible Oceans Seven ultramarathon swimming journey, which began in 2011 when she swam the English Channel. She also talks about her journey from a competitive swimmer to one of a prolific marathon swimmer who travels the world and loves to inspire others to develop their own true potential.
Here a summary of her Oceans Seven Journey in pictures:
The Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team has been involved in open water swimming since the 1980's. In 1985 the first two members of our team swam the English Channel under the CSA (Channel Swimming Association), and since then members of the Marathon Team have completed the crossing almost 50 times, the second-most of any team.
Abhejali nominated for Open Water Swimming Woman of the Year
By Vasanti Niemz
4 November
After becoming only the 4th woman to complete the Oceans 7 Challenge - swimming seven of the world's iconic open water swims, including the English Channel and the North Channel - Abhejali Bernardová from our Czech Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team has now been nominated for the 2018 World Open Water Swimming Woman of the Year. Abhejali completed her seventh and final swim this year on February 24, 2018, by conquering the Cook Strait between the North and South Island of New Zealand in quite challenging conditions. Voting is open to the public until January 1 2019, and can be accessed here.
Her nomination reads:Abhejali Bernardová is a peace ultrarunner (6-day runs + 24-hour runs + 100 km runs) turned swimmer who promotes endurance sports and self-transcendence via media appearances and speeches to the public and at school. The member of the Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team became the 4th woman to complete the Oceans Seven. After achieving the Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming, she crossed the English Channel (14 hours 37 minutes), Strait of Gibraltar (4 hours 35 minutes), Catalina Channel (9 hours 46 minutes), Tsugaru Channel (11 hours 7 minutes), Molokai Channel (21 hours 52 minutes), North Channel (10 hours 23 minutes), and Cook Strait (13 hours 9 minutes) between the ages of 34 and 41 to become the first person from the Czech Republic - a landlocked country - to swim across 7 iconic channels, all successful on her first attempt. She organized a record number of swimmers in a new popular 6-hour pool swim in the Czech Republic shortly after her last channel swim. She teaches about the importance of a calm mind for success in the open water and on dryland. For being a Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team ambassador who achieved the Oceans Seven, for continuing to serve as a peace runner, race director and an organizer of extreme sports that gives others an opportunity to experience their own challenges under safe conditions, and for lending a helping hand and friendly smile with a passion for long distance swimming as a mentor for people of all ages and abilities, Abhejali Bernardová of the Czech Republic is a worthy nominee for the 2018 World Open Water Swimming Woman of the Year.
Other nominees include such distinguished marathon swimmers as Pat Gallant-Charette (67), cold-water swimmer Jaimie Monahan and multiple world champion Ana Marcela Cunha for the women's award, or United Nations Environment Patron of the Oceans Lewis Pugh and trans-Atlantic and trans-Pacific stage swimmer Ben Lecomte for the men's award.
Question (from interview on Daily News of Open Water Swimming): During your Oceans Seven channel swims, what point did you feel the absolute worse? How did you overcome this situation?
Abhejali: It was during the Molokai Channel crossing. The swim started at around 5 pm, it got dark by 7 pm, and I started to be really seasick. We arrived just 3 days prior to the swim - it was before my swim period, so I was tired and jet lagged on top of being seasick and depleted. After being seasick for quite a few hours, I asked how far we were. I usually don't do it, or much later, but I felt so exhausted physically - we also had to battle some strong current at the beginning of the swim. I was told we are not yet in the middle. I remember thinking that some miracle will have to happen for me to have enough physical strength to continue for another maybe 10 hours - it turned out to be much more. The team on the boat notified our friends around the world and they all ate on my behalf, sent their good wishes and prayers. Once the sun came out after maybe 12 hours of darkness, I was fine and could start eating. When all seemed back to normal I got badly stung by a jellyfish and then there was another strong current that had us moving only 1 mile per hour, but the worst was past. Read full interview »
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Adriano becomes the first person to swim ashore from Laje de Santos
By Nirbhasa Mageeauthor bio »
27 September
About the author:
Nirbhasa is from Ireland. He is an enthusiastic multi-day runner, having completed four times the Sri Chinmoy Self-Transcendence 3100 Mile Race - the longest race in the world.
On September 24, 2018, Adriano Passini from the Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team became the first person to swim from Laje de Santos - an islet known all over Brazil for its marine life - to the coastline, a distance of 25 miles (40 km). Adriano reached his goal at 7pm, after a journey of almost 12 hours.
Located a couple of hours away from São Paolo, Laje de Santos was the first ever marine park created by the state government, and is a favourite haunt of divers as well as people who visit for the local biodiversity. Adriano, who grew up in the nearby city of San Vicente, got the inspiration to do the crossing some years back on a a plane trip from Curitiba to São Paulo, when he saw Laje de Santos from the airplane. The conditions for the crossing are generally quite difficult, and there is only a narrow window to make the crossing before the waves become too rough - in May 2016, Adriano spent 3 weeks waiting for the waves to calm before ultimately having to abandon the attempt. This time, he had to wait until the last possible day before he would have had to return to his day job as an engineer.
Adriano was inspired to start swimming by his meditation teacher, Sri Chinmoy, who loved sports and saw that it was a field in which the practise of meditation could be put to powerful use. In particular, Sri Chinmoy encouraged his students to practise the philosophy of self-transcendence, to experience the liberating feeling of challenging one's percieved limitations. In 2013, Adriano swam the English Channel in a time of 11 hours and 10 minutes. (Members of the Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team have crossed the channel 47 times to date - the second most by any team). He later wrote a book about his experiences.
During the crossing from to Laje de Santos to the city of Santos, Adriano had an experienced team accompanying him in the boat - Ashirvad Zaiantchick, who had previously assisted him in his Channel swim, and Adriano's father, Aurélio Passini Júnior, as well as two local navigators, Cesar Elvin Laso and Marcio Pires Lopes Jacaré from the local ATM diving club, both of whom had much experience in navigating the treacherous waters. The area near Santos lies on one of the busiest shipping lanes in the Americas, and Adriano passed around 50 large ships during his swim. The crew departed from the city of Santos at 5:30 a.m, arriving at Laje de Santos at 7:10 am to begin the swim. During the swim, the conditions were partially cloudy with no wind. The water temperature was around 22ºC, with waves of about 1 metre high throughout the crossing. Upon completion, Adriano remarked "Today a dream has been realised, the impossible has become possible; after a lot of effort, I'm really happy to arrive in the city of Santos and complete my goal."
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Abhejali swims the Cook Strait and completes the 'Oceans Seven' challenge
By Vasanti Niemz
24 February
On Saturday, February 24th, 2018, in the wake of cyclone Gita,Abhejali Bernardova, a member of the Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team from Zlin in the Czech Republic, successfully conquered the Cook Strait of New Zealand in rough waters and challenging currents, becoming only the 10th swimmer and 4th woman - and probably the first vegetarian! - in the world to complete the Oceans Seven challenge since its inception in 2008.
The Oceans Seven challenge is the aquatic equivalent to the 'Seven summits' challenge of climbing some of the world's highest mountains. It includes swimming the English Channel, the Strait of Gibraltar, Catalina Channel in California, Tsugaru Channel (Japan), the Irish Channel between Ireland and Scotland, Molokai (Kaiwi) Channel in Hawaii and the Cook Strait. All of the swims are done in accordance with traditional English Channel rules: no neoprene, only a regular swim suit, cap and goggles, maybe some grease, and unassisted (no touching the boat etc.).The first person to complete it was Stephen Redmond from Ireland in 2012, and the first woman was Anna Carin Nordin from Sweden in 2013.
Starting at 8:11 a.m. from the North Island in strong swells that made her seasick for hours, and challenged by rough conditions and strong currents that slowed down her progress almost to a standstill, Abhejali stayed focused and positive and finally managed to complete the swim in 13 hours, 9 minutes and 48 seconds, arriving at the tip of the South Island in the dark around 9.20pm. For over three hours during the swim she was fighting strong currents merely to hold her position and not be pulled back towards Wellington. Finally, however, the sea settled and she was able to break through the currents and touch the shore of the Southern Island. Water temperature started out with 20°C, falling to 17°C near the Southern Island.
The timing to complete these crossings is extremely tight, as the swimmers can only attempt during either the full moon or on the half moon. At these times the currents and tides are at their calmest. With cyclone Gita hitting New Zealand on Tuesday and Wednesday, Abhejali had to cancel the planned swim on Thursday due to rough seas. On Friday the boat was not available. Even on Saturday the seas were still rough. It was hard to decide whether it would be wise to start or not, but the swim went off. Right from the start, Abhejali was challenged by high swells, seasickness and a jellyfish that got stuck in her swimsuit. There were moments where she doubted her decision to start that day - but she never thought of stopping. Had she not been able to start or complete the crossing, her next opportunity would have been two weeks later at the earliest, creating logistical, financial and other difficulties.
Abhejali is not only the 10th swimmer and 4th woman to achieve the Oceans Seven challenge, but also the first Czech swimmer. Whereas over 4,833 people have summited Mount Everest (8,306 summits) and around 1800 people have swum the English Channel, not even 100 have crossed the Cook Strait. It took Abhejali 8 years to complete the Oceans Seven swims. Coming from a running background, her first major aquatic adventure was a 4 person English Channel relay in 2010, followed by her first long solo challenge - the Sri Chinmoy Marathon Swim from Rapperswil to Zürich (26,4 km) in 2011. This gave her the courage and inspiration to go for the English Channel (2011), then on to swim around Manhattan Island (New York, 2012) and from Europe to Africa (Gibraltar Straits, 2013). As a natural next new challenge, Catalina came up (2015), followed by an icy and iconic 2 hours 35 minute Robben Island swim in 9°C waters (2016) which gave her the confidence to believe the cold North Channel (2017) was achievable. Before that, however, Tsugaru (2016) and then Molokai Channel, her most difficult swim (2017, almost 22 hours), were ticked off.
What is remarkable about her swims is not only the achievement in itself - battling seasickness, jellyfish, strong currents, cold water and many other challenges on the way - but also the fact that she was successful on her first attempt in each swim. As opposed to running a marathon or ultramarathon, you never really know with all of these Channel swims when and if the weather and tides will actually allow the swim to take place. Also, the swimmer may be forced to abandon the attempt for safety or other reasons after just a few hours into the swim, or even only a few metres from the finish. A clear asset in all her aquatic adventures has been her ability to keep a positive, cheerfully determined attitude, trusting in the power of Grace from above, the supportive prayers and good vibrations sent from her teammates and friends from all over the world, as well as the inner focus and calmness gained by years of regular practice of meditation. Her meditation teacher Sri Chinmoy (1931-2007) was himself a pioneer in the world of sports who inspired many people to believe in their unlimited inner potential and reach unprecedented goals. For his inspiration and service to open water swimming, he was inducted into the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame (IMSHOF) posthumously in 2012.
Abhejali was crewed on her Cook Strait swim by Harita Davies, who in 2017 became New Zealand’s first woman to complete the world’s longest race – the Self Transcendence 3,100 mile race in New York - and who also took part in an English Channel relay in 2014 and has crewed for Abhejali on other swims as a helper and kayaker. Helena Royden, a Czech speaking New Zealander, Stacey Marsh, P. Thorpe and Vera Sevestiyanova were also part of the helper team.
Asked, how she feels after her great achievement, Abhejali simply said: "Grateful and happy." And she is looking forward to more running again - especially in the Sri Chinmoy Oneness-Home Peace Run, which she helps organizing.
Video: Swimming the English Channel Abhejali talks about the inner aspects of her challenges - what she gets out of them, how she started, and how meditation helps her in difficult situations.
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View from the boat: a helper's experience of Abhejali's North Channel swim
By
14 September
Abhejali Bernardova became the first person from the Czech Republic to swim the North Channel on August 15th 2017 in 10 hours, 23min, 48 seconds. Crew member Dhavala Stott was kind enough to write a few words telling us what it was like to be on the boat...
It's 5am and I'm on a converted lifeboat leaving Donaghadee harbour on the eastern Northern Irish coast. There's a little wind, and a faint red glow of sunrise peeps between the clouds as we look across the twenty-one mile stretch of water towards Scotland. This is the day that my good friend from the Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team, Abhejali Bernardova, will attempt to be the first swimmer from her native Czech Republic to successfully swim the North Channel.
It's a body of water that is particularly challenging to swim for several reasons. There are swarms of lion's mane jellyfish, sometimes such that swimmers have been stung over 100 times on a North Channel attempt. Abhejali had been badly stung by box jellyfish on her Molokai strait crossing in April this year - for several months she carried a faint scarring from these stings. Because of this, she was initially quite wary about the threat the jellyfish might pose here. There's also the cold water which averages between 11-14 degrees and poses a serious threat of hypothermia. And there is the variable and unpredictable weather in these parts - think of all the cliches you've ever heard about typical Scottish/Irish summer weather and that's what we were looking to avoid. The ideal day would have very little wind and a good amount of sunshine so the swimmer doesn't get too cold. We were also looking for favourable tides. Many channel swimmers have found themselves at the mercy of the strong unpredictable currents which pull them off course as they approach Scotland.
As Abhejali took her first determined strokes, leaving Ireland at 5.29am, it seemed like a small victory that she had the opportunity to make the crossing at all that day. Abhejali had a six day swim window but the forecast throughout the whole week wasn't promising. Tuesday looked like the only day with potentially swimmable conditions. When the boat pilot for the swim, Quinton Nelson had called us at 6.30 the previous evening he said there was only a 50-50 chance the swim could go ahead the next day. He said the latest forecast had worsened, showing high winds (force 6-7) towards Scotland later in the day which would make it almost impossible to reach the Scottish coast. He asked Abhejali if she was happy to meet at 5am at the boat for a final decision, and made it clear that if the forecast didn't improve we wouldn't be going anywhere the next morning. Abhejali said she definitely wanted to be ready if there was any chance to go. She was completely surrendered to the situation and trusted Quinton that he would make the right call to give her the best possible chance of a successful swim and to keep her safe. It wasn't until the day after the swim that Quinton told us how very close he was to phoning back and cancelling on Monday night. Given how things turned out we were all grateful that he had the patience and experience to wait and see what the morning brought.
We were a support crew of 3 - myself, Jana (Abhejali's younger sister) and Jayalata, also from the Czech Republic who has herself been part of a successful English Channel relay team and been crew on many of Abhejali's previous swims. We had all been part of Abhejali's crew for her English Channel swim in 2011 and were happy to be reunited, a little further north, for this one.
Coming from Edinburgh, I was especially excited about this swim as it felt like Abhejali was swimming 'home'! On Monday evening Abhejali had sent out a message to many friends around the world asking them to pray for the weather forecast to improve. When the morning came we were expecting a discussion about conditions and I think Abhejali was even ready to be faced with a decision whether to go ahead in less than favourable conditions, or take a chance and wait to see if she would get a better opportunity. When we arrived at the marina Quinton looked at Abhejali and asked "Are you good?" She said yes and he turned and walked towards his boat. It was only when the boat started moving that Abhejali realised that brief exchange of words was the agreement for the swim to go ahead!
Abhejali arrived in Donaghadee very well prepared. Knowing that staying in the cold water long enough could be the greatest obstacle of this swim, she came to Scotland twice to train and take advantage of our beautifully cool summer temperatures compared to the heatwave in her native Czech Republic! She first visited Edinburgh in early June and swam in the beaches along the East Lothian coast. At this time the water was around 11-12 degrees and she initially struggled to stay in longer than an hour and a half. I then spent a week with her in Ullapool in July where we were hosted by longtime members of the Sri Chinmoy Marathon team Suruchi and Tirthika Gero. Over the course of 6 days she put in a total of 21 hours in the water, including a 6 hour swim in temperatures below 13 degrees. Some days it was probably closer to 11. Through those swims I could see how cold she was, with her hands visibly shaking at times when she came in to feed. Still, she kept returning to the water, knowing that each hour of training would be valuable for her body's ability to handle the hours she would face in the North Channel. Another bonus, if you could see it that way, of these training swims was that Abhejali encountered Lion's mane jellyfish (they love the cold Scottish water!). She was stung a few times by them, and found the stings not as painful as those she got in Hawaii. This meant that even though she was stung about a dozen times on the actual swim (we could see the jellyfish from the boat) it was something she had trained with and knew she could swim through.
Abhejali made a strong confident start and covered 6.5 miles in the first 2.5 hours and was halfway in just over 4 hours. Both the pilot and the official observer said that although the weather wasn't ideal and there would be some wind it was better than we could have hoped for from the forecast and that she had been given a real opportunity for a successful swim. Within the first few hours we saw dolphins, a seal and a rainbow from the boat, all of which we took as good omens. Quinton asked that Abhejali swim the first hour without stopping in order to avoid strong currents close to the Irish coast. She then stopped every half hour to feed. We had a routine of waving a red towel five minutes before feeding. She drank mainly fresh ginger tea with maltrodextrin and 'ate' mainly liquidised porridge. Later in the day she started agreeing to the soup we had been offering her for several hours and she also munched on bananas and pieces of crystallised ginger. Jayalata added a variety of 'extras' to these drinks - magnesium, warming pills, anti-histamine for the jellyfish stings. We fed her these concoctions in bottles attached to a rope which we put in a basket with a long handle. To avoid getting too cold or being carried off course by the currents we tried to keep feeds as short as possible, ideally within 30 seconds and certainly no more than a minute.
All the preparation seemed to be paying off as Abhejali told us after about five hours that she wasn't feeling cold. She was also avoiding sea-sickness, which had plagued her on several of her other swims. We were also happily avoiding sea-sickness on the boat. As recommended by Jayalata I stuck to eating white bread jam sandwiches and the odd piece of chocolate (the chocolate wasn't particularly recommended but I seemed to get away with it!) Somewhere near the middle part of the swim the wind picked up and the sea was noticeably more choppy than at the start. Abhejali commented on one feed that is was like a battlefield to swim through the waves. We counted stroke rate every half hour and Abhejali noted afterwards that it was higher than her usual stroke rate of 48-52 and that she was basically swimming as hard as possible to stay warm. Starting at 57, she dropped to 52-53 between hours 5 and 8, then increased to 55 for the last few hours.
We were sending messages about Abhejali's progress to many friends around the world who were then sending back messages of support. We would write some of the messages on a whiteboard for her to read and she would often smile when she read them. These messages and prayers of encouragement and camaraderie, received both during and after her swims are something Abhejali really treasures. When there was around 5 miles still to go the pilot said she could be on course for a finish of under eleven hours. Jayalata conveyed the message at the next feed stop that if she kept going at the same pace she would finish 'in ten hours'. Abhejali looked extremely confused by this supposedly encouraging piece of information. It was only as she swam off we realised she had misunderstood and thought we were telling her she would need to swim another ten hours to finish !! In hindsight, she took it pretty well! Jayalata wrote her a note on the whiteboard to reassure her that wasn't the case and that she was on for an exceptionally fast time.
We were blessed with blue skies a lot of the way, with the sun giving some much needed warmth as Abhejali did start to feel cold later in the swim. As a crew, one of our tasks was to look out for signs of hypothermia. I was heartened to see that even though she said she was feeling cold, she was still completely coherent, maintaining stroke rate and showing no visible shaking like she had on her training week in Scotland. On the boat we were all wearing around five warm layers most of the way, so warmth is all relative! When we were about 3 miles from the Scottish coast the infamous currents started to come into play. We were fortunate that in Quinton, we had an experienced pilot who knows the North Channel and its tides very well. He had been aiming for Killantringan lighthouse which gives the shortest swim possible. He said we should encourage Abhejali that if she had anything left to give a big push to get through the currents and avoid being taken south, which would mean a longer swim. We could now see dark rain clouds forming to the north while it was still quite bright blue sky to the south. What did I say about typical Scottish weather? When the rain inevitably came it passed over quite quickly and Abhejali ploughed on regardless, undeterred from her goal of touching the Scottish shore. We told her that she was in danger of being taken south and having to swim an extra half-mile; this meant either 1.2 or 1.7 miles to go. She seemed to much prefer the idea of 1.2 miles, as she found the energy to really make a last push.
As she swam for land, only a few hundred metres south from the ideal landing spot, I reflected on how deceptively straightforward she made it look to do something that less than fifty people have ever achieved. She had told me previously that she never thought she would be brave enough to take this swim on due to the cold water. She has been practising meditation for over twenty years, and feels that the inner qualities meditation develops are key to her successful swims. As she ticked off the other Oceans Seven swims it became inevitable that one day she would come to face this one. Her meditation teacher, Sri Chinmoy, teaches a philosophy of self-transcendence, of going beyond any pre-conceived barriers or limits we put on ourselves. By the day of the actual swim, it seemed to me that through the experience gained from her other Channel swims and her meticulous planning and preparation, she arrived both physically and inwardly ready for the obstacles that would be faced in the North Channel.
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Tatiana Kvasova - English Channel Solo in 20 hrs 13 min
By Vasanti Niemz
2 September
On Aug. 29th, 2017, Tatiana Kvasova (32) from Moscow became our first Russian Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team swimmer (male or female) to conquer the English Channel - marking the 47th solo crossing by a member of our international team, and the 4th Russian woman overall.
Background
Born in 1985 in Siberia in Novokuznetsk, Tanya learned to swim from the age of 6 and from then on loved to spend hours and hours swimming in quarry lakes and a huge fresh water reservoir in her region. Her sister used to call her "crazy dolphin".
After meeting Sri Chinmoy in 2004 on his visit to Russia she became his meditation student. Studying at the Pedagogical University in the Ural region in Tchelyabinsk to become a teacher for English and French, she read about swimming the English Channel for the first time on the Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team website. Immediately it gave her a feeling of joy and a sense of freedom – the idea of swimming as long as you wanted to! She talked about the idea with her friends, and they advised her to start training right away if she really wanted to do it. So she started to train - a little bit. However, it all seemed as unreal as going to another planet.
Then, after graduation, Tanya moved to Moscow. During the following years, as an active member of the Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team, she did more running: quite a few marathons (10 or so), a 50 km ultramarathon, a 24 hour race, a 13 hour run. Running just became part of her daily routine and spiritual practice, but she was also inspired by Sri Chinmoy`s motto of "self-transcendence" in general.
As she started to organise SCMT races and other events in Moscow and was working more with athletes, the dream of swimming the English Channel came back again. In October 2013 she started her swim training again, this time more seriously, and in June 2014 she decided to book a boat for the English Channel at the earliest possible date - which was the end of August 2017.
For August 2016 she planned a great training swim, the 26 km Rapperswil-Zurich Sri Chinmoy Marathon swim in Switzerland - but as it turned out she was far slower than expected. In spite of having trained with a coach and gone to Croatia and other places for training, she underestimated her speed in the open water and did not make the halfway cutoff. Instead of 6 hours, it took her about 7:30 hours to reach the 14 km cutoff point in Meilen. Her teammates advised her to postpone her English Channel swim for another year to 2018 – but Tanya was determined.
She took a 4 week rest and then upped the intensity of her training, her mileage and speedwork, and became even more serious about her discipline under the guidance of her new coach Maxim Korshunov. Training in Moscow on a tight budget, eating properly and continuing to organise sports and Peace Run events etc. was quite a challenge for her. In early May 2017, when she had planned a long cold open water swim in the Black Sea during a meeting in Eupatoria on the Crimea, the water was still too cold for a 20 or 30 km swim, so she came back again at the end of May, booking a boat for a couple of days to get some proper training in Channel temperatures and conditions. Her longest swim in the Black Sea was 11.5 hours in quite challenging conditions.
In retrospect, she feels: "This (intense) training already made me another person, I have learned to understand myself better, my mind, my body. By working hard in the training and going forward step by step overcoming difficulties you really become a different person, more determined, more confident, and at the same time you become more patient and learn to understand others better."
Dover and the Swim
Booked for the neap tide (neap = between 5.3-6.1m tidal difference, weaker currents than on spring tides) between Aug. 28 to Sept. 4, she decided to go to Dover a few weeks early to acclimate and do some more serious training in Channel waters. A 10 hour swim in the harbour that went very well increased her confidence that she would be able to do it.
Then, on Aug. 27, the day before the neap tide would start, the call from pilot Eddie Spelling came: be ready for a 3 p.m. start the next day. The weather forecast was extremely good for a couple of days, so good that Chloe McCardel from Australia had already started on her unprecedented quadruple (4-leg) solo-attempt of the English Channel. Everything including two helpers (Manogati and Olga from Belarus) was ready – and on Aug 28 at 4 p.m. Dover time, the big adventure finally started.
We got the news while on our annual international celebrations retreat in New York, and so hundreds of wellwishers from N.Y., UK and Russia, including her family in Siberia, supported Tanya`s swim inwardly, praying for her and sending good vibes – with a few of us outwardly following the tracker on the internet deep into the night and again early in the morning (she started 11 a.m. N.Y. Time).
Tanya knew she was in for a 20 hour swim or more, and she told so to her pilot when he asked about her estimated time. She reached the separation zone dividing the Channel into the two NE and SW shipping lanes only after about 7 hours, in the middle of the night (the halfway point geographically but not necessarily timewise). Around 4 hours later, almost in the middle of the French shipping lane, the tides changed as expected and currents pushed her back northeast, away from the Cap, away from the receding French coastline, but she just ploughed on, undeterred, through the colder hours of the night into the morning dawn. Pilot Eddie posted: "Coming up on our 15th hour she's still smiling". She had looked at a lot of swim tracks of over 20 hour swims in her preparation, and so she was also mentally and psychologically prepared to seemingly go backwards and to do a few "extra laps". However, conditions stayed very favourable and only 4 hours after the first big tidal change the currents started to slacken again, and with the next change of tides, about 16 hours into the swim, she entered French inshore waters where the currents are less strong, moving closer and closer to Cap Griz Nez. However, it would still take her four more hours! The last challenge was to pass the Cap once again, tantalizingly close but out of reach, yet slowly and steadily making headway towards the coast. When we called again from New York at 6:30 a.m. our time (11:30 a.m. Dover time, 12:30 French time), Eddie told us "only 30 more minutes to go" – what a relief! And finally, after 20 hours 13 minutes of determined effort, Tatiana reached her goal, stepped on dry land and manifested her long cherished and hard worked for dream: she had become a true English Channel swimmer (solo, no wetsuit), the 4th Russian woman and the first Russian swimmer in our team - in the 40th anniversary year of the Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team.
Tanya was blessed with amazing conditions right from the start: Eddie posted: 19.9°C water temp (Tanya thinks it was more like 18.5°C - 19.9°C maybe just on the surface, but still), 22°C air temp, waters calm, wind 2 knots NE. Her observer was King Kevin Murphy himself, with 34 EC crossings, the most for a male swimmer. And with Eddie Spelling, she had one of the best pilots who had already helped fellow SCMT member Vijaya Claxton reach her treasured goal in 2007, and took our relay safely to France in 2009 and myself on my Channel-triathlon in 2010.
Tanya`s personal report about the swim is still to follow, and also Kevin Murphy, who never forgets to mention that he was honoured and lifted overhead by Sri Chinmoy in London, promised to write a few words about Tanya`s great swim.
Be courageous,
Be determined,
Be self-giving.
The Goal will be all yours.
- Sri Chinmoy
Abhejali Conquers the North Channel - 6 down, 1 to go in her Oceans Seven Challenge
By Vasanti Niemz
19 August
Dancing with the Lion Mane Jellyfish: Abhejali swims from Northern Ireland to Scotland (35 km) in 10 hours 23:48
On Aug 15, 2017, Abhejali Bernardova, a member of the Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team from Zlin, Czech Republic, completed her 6th Oceans Seven challenge by conquering the North Channel from Donaghadee in Northern Ireland to Portpatrick in Scotland (35km - about the same distance as the English channel) in an excellent time of 10 hours 23:48, assisted by her experienced crew (Catalina, EC, Tsugaru): her sister Jana from London, Scottish team member Dhavala Stott and Jayalata from N.Y. According to the ILDSA (Irish Long Distance Swimming Association) it was the fastest crossing of the six solo swims so far of 2017.
The North Channel is widely regarded as one of the hardest sea swims in the world, due to low water temperatures (10-14°C, warmest in August), ubiquitous Lion mane jellyfish that surface with the sun, strong currents and very unpredictable and changeable weather. Abhejali is the first Czech swimmer – male or female - to swim the North Channel, the 17th woman overall and only the 49th person in the world to successfully complete the swim.
A 50:50 chance of a swim
The night before her actual swim, pilot Quinton Nelson said there was a 50:50 chance for a swim the next morning. Some forecasts were good, some predicted strong winds. It was agreed to meet at the boat at 5 a.m. in the morning to assess the actual weather conditions and make a final decision. On Tuesday morning, conditions on the Irish side were very calm, so it was a go – still with conflicting forecasts for the rest of the day and the distance. The team asked all her supporters to pray for conditions to stay good and swimmable - and maybe it helped. The wind only picked up a little to force 3 or 4 for a few hours later on, even though some forecasts had predicted force 6 or even 7. The sun came out quite soon, and rain came only an hour or so before the landing (it rained heavily on the way back). A few days after the spring tide, the currents were still quite strong and Abhejali was asked to swim hard, to feed only every hour to avoid wasting time and being swept off course, and even hours from the finish the pilot told her to keep up the pace and to give it her all. Still, currents pushed her back south past the nearest landing point, the lighthouse, adding another ½ mile. Water temps hovered around 14°C – but she had trained for that with ice baths at home and arriving early to the Irish Sea to acclimate, plus swimming hard all the way also helped. Special blessings were a dolphin and seal near the start and a beautiful rainbow over the landing point. Jellies were present – but the 12 stings on her arms were nothing compared to the painful stings she got in the Molokai Channel, Abhejali said.
The first successful swim across the cold North Channel actually took place exactly 70 years ago by Brit Tom Blower. The first woman in 1988 was Alison Streeter, the Queen of the English Channel. Abhejali said after the crossing: "I knew it was going to be challenging, because of the cold water, so I put on 12 pounds in preparation. The weather was not perfect, but it was the only slightly possible day in my swim window. In the end I was the only swimmer to attempt a North Channel swim that day. I encountered a lot of Lion Mane jellyfish and got stung by about a dozen of them, luckily not in my face. The weather worsened and the water was really cold, so I tried to swim as quickly as possible. Eventually we were caught up in heavy rain."
The Oceans Seven Challenge
Having swum 6 of the toughest Channels in the world: the English Channel (2011), Strait of Gibraltar (Europe to Africa, 2013), Catalina Channel (USA, 2015), Tsugaru Strait (Japan, 2016) and the Kai'wi Channel (Molokai to Oahu, Hawaii, 2017), only the Cook Strait in New Zealand is missing for Abhejali to complete her Oceans Seven, the marathon swimming equivalent of the Seven Summits mountaineering challenge, which only 7 people (3 women) in the world have achieved so far.
Abhejali has been practicing meditation and a vegetarian lifestyle since 1995, and she clearly feels that wholesome plant-based nutrition and the inner peace, poise and focus gained by her regular meditation practice are helping in her athletic endurance challenges in many ways. She also is a multiple Czech running champion for 100k and 24 hours and completed a six-day race in New York with 616 km. In March 2017 she organised the first 6 hour indoor swim race in the Czech Republic, which was quickly fully booked out. In her free time she also runs in and organizes the Sri Chinmoy Oneness-Home Peace Run, the longest relay run for Peace and Friendship in the world.
Through her channel swims Abhejali tries to connect places and people and inspire others to overcome their own perceived limitations.
For more information or to interview Abhejali, please contact: [email protected]
And here a very inspiring video about Abhejali's North Channel swim:
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News from Hawaii: Abhejali swims the 26-mile Ka'iwi Channel
By Vasanti Niemz
9 April
Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team member Abhejali Bernardová completed her 5th 'Oceans Seven' swim on March 28, 2017 – the 42 km (26 mile) wide Ka'iwi Channel between the two Hawaiian islands of Molokai and Oahu.
Abhejali celebrated her 40th birthday with a rather atypical Hawaiian holiday - swimming the Ka'iwi Channel (also called the Molokai channel) protected by nothing more than a swimsuit, goggles, cap, sunscreen and a light stick at night, supported by her crew of helpers and hundreds of wellwishers from around the world.
Abhejali is the first Czech person to complete this noted swim without a wetsuit and unassisted, following English Channel rules. Only 46 swimmers in the world (with 50 swims), 19 of them women, had ever succeeded before (see list). Many swimmers’ attempts over the years had to be aborted, sometimes only after one or a few hours of swimming, due to life-threatening jellyfish stings, sharks, currents and numerous other factors. But Abhejali was very lucky, in spite of at times very difficult conditions.
The beeline route between the Pacific islands of Molokai and O'ahu is exactly marathon distance - 42 kilometers or 26 miles. Abhejali did not have an easy time during her 21 hours and 52 minute challenge, and was pushed quite a bit off the straight line between the two islands. Her first challenge was to swim to the beach for an official start at 5:21 p.m. through a huge surf. She was then pushed to the north for a few hours, with the currents changing just in time to allow her westward journey (It seems our prayers worked in this regard – the pilot told her helpers to ask for higher support, and then the currents started to change!) Swimming through the pitch black new-moon night for 12 hours, with nothing to see apart from the lightsticks bobbing up and down on the kayak, made her seasick until the morning dawn. (The start was timed so as to allow her predicted landing to coincide with the slack or rising flood tide on Oahu.) Then for the last 9 hours, her progress was slowed down to 1 mile per hour by unfavourable currents again.
Her crossing of the Ka'iwi channel is Abhejali`s 5th successful Oceans Seven swim. The Oceans Seven challenge is the ocean equivalent to the Seven Summits (climbing the highest peaks on the seven continents) and involves conquering some of the toughest channels and straits around the world. With the English and Catalina Channel, the Straits of Gibraltar and Tsugaru in the bag, the next steps for Abhejali will be the North Channel between Ireland and Scotland in summer and the Cook Strait between the North and South islands of New Zealand at some later point. In addition, Abhejali is currently still the only Czech holder of the “Triple Crown” of open water swimming (English Channel, Catalina Channel and Manhattan island).
Abhejali, who works in a publishing company as a translator, has been a vegetarian for 20 years and practices meditation, which definitely helps her in preparing and enduring her athletic challenges. She is also a multiple Czech running champion over 100km and 24 hours and ran the 6-day race in New York, covering 616 km. Less than 3 weeks before her Molokai swim she organized the first Czech 6 hour indoor pool swim in her home town of Zlin, with over 100 solo and relay participants. She had this to say about her crossing: "You might say this is Hawaii - so what could be difficult? But believe me, it was definitely not about 'hanging loose'. Even swimming to the start, over enormous waves, was a challenge. Then came the current pushing us north after it got dark, plus I got really seasick during the whole 12 hours of the night, unable to take anything in and throwing up for a long time. Only after daybreak was I able to normally eat and drink and get some energy again. Then I swam into two box jellyfish. I knew this could happen and it would be painful and dangerous, but I had no idea it would hurt so much and for such a long time. For the last 9 miles (about 15km) the waves and currents were against us, so the last part took me nine hours instead of the usual four.
I was very grateful to have a shark shield attached to my helper kajak, supplied for free by e-sharkforce, a company based in Hawaii. Sharks were one of the great topics before my crossing, especially since they had appeared in recent swims, so I was grateful for the protection and peace of mind that it brought. Luckily we did not encounter any sharks, but we saw humpback whales and dolphins. Bottom line: it was a beautiful and unique experience, but I'm glad - at least for the moment - that it is over and I made it across. Swimming in the mighty Pacific Ocean with its enormous power and erratic currents, wind and waves, was definitely an unforgettable experience.”
Dedicated to Peace and Self-Transcendence
With her long distance swims Abhejali is trying to connect places and people, and to inspire others to transcend their own perceived limits and boundaries. In celebration of the 30th anniversary of the Sri Chinmoy Oneness-Home Peace Run this year, an global torch relay which Abhejali helps to organise in her spare time, she dedicated her Molokai Channel swim to peace, international friendship and world harmony. “You can say, every stroke in such a swim is a prayer - a prayer invoking and sending out positive energy, peace and harmony. Just as conquering an ocean takes an enormous amount of inspiration, dedication, determination, physical training, mind power as well as heart power, courage and persistence against all odds, plus the faith and conviction that something seemingly impossible can be made possible, so also peace-building is a slow process against many odds where every little effort counts and adds up, where the power of the heart is needed – by more and more people! And both are always team efforts!”
Speaking of team effort, she is extremely grateful to all her inner and outer supporters, including her helpers Harita (New Zealand), Rupasi (USA), Jayalata (Czech Republic) and Jayasalini (Russia), as well as the experienced boat captain Mike Twigg-Smith, co-Captain Mike Scott, kayakers Ecar Roush and Chris Harmes, and Jeff Kozlovic from the Ka'iwi Channel Association.
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Video: Getting to know yourself better - by swimming the English Channel
By Nirbhasa Mageeauthor bio »
2 March
About the author:
Nirbhasa is from Ireland. He is an enthusiastic multi-day runner, having completed four times the Sri Chinmoy Self-Transcendence 3100 Mile Race - the longest race in the world.
Abhejali Bernardova, who swum the channel in 2011 and is currently pursuing the 'Oceans Seven' list of the world's seven most challenging swims, talks about what she gets out of challenges such as swimming the English Channel, how she started doing it in the first place, and how the inner peace she gets from her meditation practise helps her through the hard times. As she says: "its a great achievement on the outer plane, but for me, its about getting to know myself better. When you are in your comfort zone, you don't need to bring forward your best capacities. So the self-transcendence on the physical plane brings a transcendence on the inner plane, in that you are trying to be the best person you can be."
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New book: A spiritual approach to swimming the English Channel
By Vasanti Niemz
28 September
For Adriano Passini from Brazil, with a longstanding love for triathlons and warm water, the cold English Channel was something like a myth in his youth – fascinating, but impossible to achieve.
However, Adriano's life changed when he started to practice meditation. Inspired from within, and by his teacher Sri Chinmoy`s philosophy of inner and outer self-transcendence, he decided to take up the challenge of the Channel. In his new book The Challenge of the English Channel: A Spiritual Approach to the Mount Everest of Swimming, Adriano shares the joys and hardships of his two-year-journey of physical and spiritual preparation and reveals to the reader how, with sincere dedication, the power of the heart, and God`s Grace, seemingly impossible dreams can become a reality.
The English Channel is often called the Mount Everest of Open Water Swimming. There may be longer or more difficult swims, but the challenge of swimming the English Channel remains stupendous. Swimmers will have to brave not only the vastness of the sea and all the elements, but also face their inner demons and weaknesses. Cold water, currents, waves, fog, sudden weather changes, cargo ships, jellyfish, seeweed, swimming in the dark, increasing fatigue, doubt, fears and hours of solitude force the swimmer to dig deep to be able to reach the “Golden Shore.”
Praise
"This book is one of the best I have seen on the subject. It covers how to increase chances of success, what is out of the hands of the swimmer and what will likely contribute to failure. ... A most inspiring telling with great tips that are very readily applied to other sporting and life events....The attempt to capture the inner lessons, seeing everything as a practice session for the next life adventure, was remarkable in its sensibility and practically."
Adhiratha Keefe, fellow SCMT member and first United Nations staff member to swim the Channel solo in 1985.
Video: Interviewwith Adriano after his English Channel swim in 2013
Famous Channel quotes
"An English Channel swim will always be a battle of one small, lone swimmer against the savage vastness of the open sea." - Michael Read, MBC, King of the English Channel (1979 - 2005) with 33 EC solos, President of the CSA
"Nothing great is easy." - Famous quote by Captain Matthew Webb, first person to successfully swim the English Channel unassisted in 1875
"If you want to successfully swim across the English Channel – you have to leave any doubt on the beach." - Lewis Pugh, pioneer swimmer and ocean advocate
"Self-transcendence-joy
Unmistakably knows
No equal." - Sri Chinmoy
Swimming Tsugaru Strait: Abhejali achieves her 4th 'Oceans Seven'
By Vasanti Niemz
13 August
Prayers, focus, visualisation and serious preparation nicely worked together! After the strong wind conditions caused by a typhoon blew out any chances for swimmers only few days earlier, Abhejali Bernardova (39) of our Czech Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team had almost perfect conditions for her attempt to cross the Tsugaru Channel between Honshu and Hokkaido in northern Japan, which is about 19.5 km wide at its narrowest point.
In the early morning of Friday, Aug. 12, 2016, at 3.30 am, shortly before sunrise, the accomplished English Channel swimmer and "Triple Crowner" (EC, Manhattan Island and Catalina Channel) stepped into the unusually warm (23°C) waters of the strait on the shores of Tappi Misaki, taking advantage of the calm after the storm, to tackle the 30km distance. As you can see on the map, Tappi Misaki is not the closest point to the other shore, but experience shows it is one of the best points to start a swim factoring in the currents constantly pushing from the west through the straits.
Expertly guided by captain Mizushima of the Tsugaru Channel Swimming Association, who uses a white underwater "streamer" to help the swimmer stay on course, and supported by a great team with observer Mika Tokairin from Tokyo, sister Jana Bernadova from London, sister`s fiancé Tiago, and good friends Uddyogini Hall from Australia and Harashita of the Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team Japan, Abhejali experienced one of the calmest swim days of the year. Her helpers texted: "There were only tiny waves and almost no wind. In the middle she was visibly slowed down by the strong current passing through the strait, but she managed to stay west of the perfect line, which was ideal to avoid any tricky currents at the end." She had a perfect finish at the foot of the lighthouse in a time of 11 hours 07 min 58 sec. According to the captain, only some 3 swimmers or so have managed to land right at the lighthouse before.
Abhejali is the first Czech swimmer to successfully cross the Tsugaru Channel. Having completed 4 Oceans Seven solo swims now (the "classic way" without wetsuit!) - English Channel (2011), Gibraltar Strait (2013), Catalina Channel (2015) and Tsugaru Strait (2016) - she is already planning her next big swim adventure. Abhejali is inspired on the one hand by the challenge of the "Oceans Seven" launched by Open Water visionary Steven Munatones, as well as by the philosophy of self-transcendence of her late meditation-teacher Sri Chinmoy, founder of the international Sri Chinmoy Marathon team, who is known for his pioneering inner approach to athletic endurance feats in running, swimming and beyond.
"Our philosophy
Is progress.
In our self-transcendence
Is our tremendous joy."
An interview with our eleven-time Channel swimmer, Karteek Clarke
By Nirbhasa Mageeauthor bio »
30 May
About the author:
Nirbhasa is from Ireland. He is an enthusiastic multi-day runner, having completed four times the Sri Chinmoy Self-Transcendence 3100 Mile Race - the longest race in the world.
Hiyamallar Shalom spent a few days with our eleven-time Channel Swimmer Karteek Clarke in his Edinburgh home, and pressed him for a few stories about his Channel swimming feats:
Picture this: it is a beautiful summer morning, and you are awakened by the sound of Bach being played on the violin as the sun splashes through the windows of your room in a lovely tree-lined city with almost fairytale architecture...idyllic, perhaps. On the other hand, you are crazy cold, hugging your blanket, because this is Edinburgh, a city which has no decent respect for the seasons, and your flatmate has already a) gotten up b) gone to the Commonwealth Pool (in the early morning!) and c) swum laps for hours. So begins another day in Scotland in the flat of Karteek Clarke, swimmer extraordinaire.
While I was staying in Endinburgh with Karteek, I was able to have my ever-modest, if not self-effacing friend, talk about some aspects of his swimming not found elsewhere. I began by asking how he got the initial inspiration to take up long-distance swimming.
In 1994, after reading some of the thrilling adventures of our earlier Channel swimmers, Karteek had the idea that he might like to try doing this. However, unlike most people (such as 99.99% of us), he went down to Dover shortly after and spent only a few weeks swimming in the harbor, perhaps doing one six-hour swim, his longest swim ever up to that time! (to put this in perspective, he routinely does two back-to-back days of six hours each for his crossings these days)
Three weeks later he attempted his first Channel swim, and achieved an incredible twelve hours in his first experience of swimming in open water, before his inexperience and relative lack of training led to an end of that try. The following year, after having had more time to prepare, he was fully trained and ready to go, but one hour prior to the scheduled departure of his boat, the weather turned and he lost his spot. Due to other commitments, he was unable to stick around and try again.
Finally, in 1997 he had his breakthrough first successful Channel crossing, which he describes as a "long hard swim" that took 11 hours and 57 minutes. That August, he vistied Sri Chinmoy in New York, and recieved his spiritual name, Karteek, the basic meaning being that of the "Divine warrior", who "places his teeming victories at the feet of the Lord Supreme".
In 1999 Karteek successfully entered and completed the Lake Zürich 26-km race put on by the Swiss Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team. He had an excellent experience, and this reenergized his swimming. Thus inspired, he wondered if he could repeat his earlier crossing and decided to give it another go in 2000. What followed was one of his most difficult races, in windy conditions and with the development of sea sickness, which took him over fifteen hours to complete!
At point afterwards, Sri Chinmoy called and asked Karteek how many times he had swum the Channel. When he was told that he had done it twice, he asked Karteek to swim the Channel two more times. Karteek agreed readily and proceeded to do just that, undergoing adverse conditions and having difficult crossings on each occasion. After four successful crossings, Sri Chinmoy again called and this time told Karteek that he should swim the Channel three more times!
In reminiscing about these phone calls, Karteek remembers that while outwardly at times he might wonder what the point would be in repeating the swim, in each case Sri Chinmoy acted as the “perfect psychologist” as he puts it. To quote Karteek, he “picked up on my wish” to keep challenging himself, and his request came at just the right moment each time. On every occasion he was asked to swim the Channel, he had the feeling of intense joy, adding that he never felt forced to do this event, recognizing that Sri Chinmoy was confirming what he already felt - despite the fact that the fifth, sixth, seventh (and even the eighth) crossings were all accomplished under difficult conditions and took over sixteen hours! Sri Chinmoy told him that while patience was needed to do long distance swimming, “you also need to develop speed,” as “speed is determination”.
Now that Sri Chinmoy is no longer with us physically, Karteek still feels an inner urge to continue his Channel swimming; he has completed eleven at the time of writing.
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Abhejali's Robben Island swim - a helper's view
By Nirbhasa Mageeauthor bio »
4 May
About the author:
Nirbhasa is from Ireland. He is an enthusiastic multi-day runner, having completed four times the Sri Chinmoy Self-Transcendence 3100 Mile Race - the longest race in the world.
Abhejali Bernardova from the Czech Republic completed the swim from Robben Island to Cape Town in South Africa. Stacey Marsh was assisting her from the boat and gives this account:
This was one of the shortest swims Abhejali has done, but one of the toughest. The ‘Freedom Swim’ as it is know, is the swim from Robben Island - where President Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for 18 years of his 27 years of imprisonment - to Blougberg in Cape Town. It’s a ‘short’ 7.5km swim in shark infested COLD water.
Abhejali arrived with a window of a week to find the perfect conditions to swim. In preparation for the expected 13 degree water Abhejali had been trying her best to do cold-water swims in an already cold Czech winter.
We arrived in Cape Town on Thursday to find the water temperature slightly less than ideal at 11 degrees! Not fazed by this Abhejali soon jumped in and spent a good half hour catching waves and doing some swimming to see how her body will cope with the decrease in temperature. That evening someone who had swam this many times, informed us it probably was not going to get any warmer over the next few days. And looking at the weather charts Saturday seemed the most ideal time to do it.
As the day approached, each person we contacted to confirm Abhejali was going to try on Saturday gently asked if we knew it would be extremely cold, and that no one else would be swimming it that weekend! After a brief pause to take note of all the warnings, Abhejali decided to continue a Saturday swim. The day arrived, the conditions looked good, and we made our way to the start. Our pilot gave Abhejali a stern talking to, telling her it would be tough — the distance may be small, but this swim is a hard one, and with these water temperatures it would be nearly impossible for anyone to finish.
As she jumped in to start her swim, our pilot radioed ahead to let them know someone had started, not giving a predicted finish time, as he privately expected he would have to pull her out. He noted that the temperature had dropped to 9.5 degrees — where it stayed for about half the distance — a detail we decided not to pass onto Abhejali. As she progressed she complained of cold and numb feet. Our pilot said that was a good sign — if she could not feel them it would be bad. Abhejali couldn’t talk much as her throat and mouth were too cold, but still managed to yell instructions to us from time to time — another good sign!
When Abhejali reached the 5km mark, we could see she was still strong. We relaxed a little, realising she might actually be able to finish! Our pilot was getting more confidence in her as she continued swimming strongly and even picked up the pace a little.
However, as we got closer to the shore she started to go ‘walkabout’ — instead of staying with the boat she started to swim sideways, parallel to the shore. At that angle she was going she was heading straight for rocks 800 metres from shore. We pulled her back on course, and as the boat could not go any further, I was told it was time to jump in and try and guide her to the shore. With strict instructions from the pilot and a buoy full of warm clothes and a hot drink for her, I headed into some freezing cold water.
It was tough keeping up with her even this late in the swim but she was now in the correct orientation as we made it into the shore. With large waves pushing us in, she landed on dry land 2 hours 35 minutes after starting on Robben Island.
In the lead up to Abhejali’s swim in Cape Town she was invited to speak to students at a primary school in Johannesburg — a school visited by the Sri Chinmoy Oneness-Home Peace Run in 2015. The Principal loves the Peace Run so much he invited anyone from the Peace Run who visits South Africa to come to his school and speak to the students. He was thrilled to hear Abhejali was coming to do the Robben Island swim, and jumped at the chance for the students to hear the motivation behind her long-distance open-water swimming.
The students congregated after lunch, loudly talking and giggling as they arrived. However when we started chatting with them before the talk, they fell silent, and shushed each new group of students arriving, so as not to miss a word. Abhejali spoke for about half an hour, showed videos of her swims and answered many questions. As the students made their way back to class, some hung back to talk some more with us. When they saw the Principal they quickly turned to leave, but he was happy they wanted to ask more questions; he told them they could stay and speak with us for as long as they liked. Students told us what they had learned from her talk: never give up; go after your dreams; nothing is impossible.
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Abhejali Bernadova completes Robben Island Strait Crossing
By Manavasu Polansky
12 March
Abhejali Bernardova (39), a member of the Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team from Zlin, Czech Republic, completed the famous crossing of the strait between Robben Island and Cape Town in South Africa on 12 March 2016. Abhejali became the first Czech person to cross the strait, taking 2h 35 minutes to cross a distance of 7.5 km at a water temperature of only 9-11° C.
The first swim from Robben Island to the mainland to Cape Town was completed by South African Henry Hooper in 1909 in a time of 6h 55min. Robben Island is famous for being the site of the apartheid-era prison of Nobel Peace Prize laureate and former South African President Nelson Mandela, and current President Jacob Zuma.
According to Abhejali: "The water was really very cold, I was hoping for a temperature of 13° C. Nine degrees is really low (The English Channel has a temperature of 15 to 18 degrees), we were worried that I could contract hypothermia. After about an hour, I was not sure I could endure it. But I thought that if Nelson Mandela could endure so much, then I could handle this swim. During the swim, I had to occasionally repeat my phone number - if I could not do it, it would mean hypothermia."
"President Mandela for me was always a great inspiration. His dream of a free society is still alive and we need to commemorate it and work for its fulfillment. His ability to forgive his captors and cooperate with all to build an equal society is incredible. Our world needs more people like Nelson Mandela."
Abhejali is also currently the only Czech person to complete the triple crown of long-distance swimming (crossing the English Channel, the Catalina Channel in California, and the round trip of Manhattan Island). In addition, she has also swum the Gibraltar Strait and completed a six-day ultradistance race in New York with a total of 616 km.
In addition to the physical training, Abhejali also meditates, which helps her to maintain her endurance capacities and concentration to overcome physical and mental fatigue and pain, as well as a way to work on herself and be a better person.
(This article is an English translation of this report on the Czech Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team site)
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Video Highlights from the 6 Hour Self Transcendence Swim in Graz, Austria
By Nirbhasa Mageeauthor bio »
8 January
About the author:
Nirbhasa is from Ireland. He is an enthusiastic multi-day runner, having completed four times the Sri Chinmoy Self-Transcendence 3100 Mile Race - the longest race in the world.
This year's event featured 23 teams as well as individual swimmers. Below you can view a nice video shot by members of the Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team from Hungary. Maybe it will inspire you to join us next time!
Channel Swimmer Vasanti Niemz participates in this year's swim, and gives the following report:
44 solo swimmers and 18 relay teams representing 18 nations headed off early on Sunday morning of July 26, 2015, in Rapperswil, Switzerland, to conquer the length of Lake Zurich (26,4 km) in the 28th annual international Self-Transcendence Marathon-Schwimmen organized by the Swiss Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team (SCMT).
Solo swimmers - without and with swimsuit - started at 7 am, followed by the relay teams at 7:15 am, each swimmer or team accompanied by either a rowing, sailing or motor boat (trying to find your boat or your swimmer is always the first challenge!). Weather conditions were excellent. Although there were storm warnings on the lake the evening before, it calmed down and the lake was incredibly peaceful most of the way (maybe because it had been rededicated as a Peace Lake just a few weeks before?), with just a tiny bit of chop for some time after Meilen, the halfway cutoff point. The water was a comfortable 24°C and the air 23°C (not good for training for the English Channel!). The morning was sunny, later it became nicely overcast with the sun peeking out here and there again. Only close to the cutoff at 12 hours the usual bit of rain came, so helpers of the slower swimmers also got a bit wet. Only three soloist did not make the 6 hour cutoff at Meilen and had to stop.
The fastest finishing times were 6 h 14 for the relays (Uusschwümme :), CH), 6 h 52 (Felix Lenz, GER) for the wetsuit men, 7 h 40 for non-wetsuit (bioprene) men (John Zemaitis, USA), a new woman`s wetsuit masters record with 7 h 53 (Frederike Wachs, GER), and the fastest woman sans wetsuit was 8 h 21(Jo Yetman, GB).
SCMT members participating (again) were: Abhejali Bernadova (CZ), solo, 3rd place women main category (8 h 39)
Vasanti Niemz (GER), 2nd place women masters (10 h 19)
Pataka Spacek (CZ, 11 h 15, wetsuit)
And our boys relay: Kallol, Harkara, Sukinkar (GER, 10 h 41).
All the finisher faces were beaming as usual, every finisher received a medal and a flower garland. The huge buffet with Chi and tofu sponsored by the Secrets of Perfection Flames (http://www.soyana.ch) was amazing as always. Knowing there is some great food waiting always helps to make it across the last almost never-ending stretch from Küsnacht to the finish!
Catalina Channel - Abhejali becomes a Triple Crowner, Aug 18, 2015
By Vasanti Niemz
18 August
On August 18, 2015, Abhejali Bernadova (age 39) from Zlin, Czech Republic, became the first member of our international Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team and first Czech swimmer overall to achieve the “Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming”. Starting around midnight and swimming through the night from Catalina Island to California mainland, she conquered the Catalina Channel faster than expected in 9 hours 46 min. - after swimming the English Channel solo in 2011 and successfully swimming around Manhattan Island (MIMS) in 2012 (always without a wetsuit). Having crossed the Strait of Gibraltar in 2013, she now also has three of the “Oceans Seven” swims in her pocket. (⇒ Oceans Seven Openwaterpedia)
She said it was a very nice and peaceful swim for her, easier than expected, with calm and unusually warm waters (EL Niño!), lots of bioluminescence and even dolphins accompanying her for some time. She was supported by a great team inlcuding her good friend Harita Davies from New Zealand and Jennifer Cluck from San Diego, as well as the experienced crew on Outrider, the pilot boat.
Catalina Channel Swimming Federation observer Monica Bender reported: “Abhejali and her team were wonderful to team up with across the channel. We had smooth waters for most of the journey except a little chop in the middle. The water was mostly 70/71°F (21°C) the entire way. Huge pods of dolphins were spotted near the finish, and they swam around her for a small portion of the swim. The phosphorescence was beautiful." (see more photos here)
Abhejali – like most of our team members – has been a vegetarian since she started practicing meditation over 20 years ago. Her daily meditation practice, she feels, not only helps her in training by increasing focus and improving regeneration, but also it helps to keep the mind calm and positive during the swim, allowing her to experience the peace and beauty of open water swimming on an even deeper level.
Abhejali is not only an accomplished swimmer, but also a great runner with multiday experience (10 day race New York). She also loves to carry the Peace Run torch across many parts of this world.