British swimmer Lewis Pugh this week broke two world records, for the most southerly swim ever undertaken in the ocean, and the longest-duration polar swim ever completed. In completing the two feats, he battled temperatures that would kill you or me in minutes. So what does he have that we mortals don't?
On 14 December, Pugh swam a kilometre in the seas off the Antarctic Peninsula at a latitude of 65º South, some of the world's coldest waters, where the sea's saltiness allows temperatures to dip to just below 0 ºC without freezing. The feat, which took 18 minutes and 10 seconds, required him not only to maintain a safe body temperature throughout the ordeal, but also to stave off the crippling effects of the body's natural reaction to icy water.
Two days later, he swam a mile off the nearby Deception Island, spending 30 minutes and 30 seconds in the water - longer than any other polar swimmer. Physiologist Tim Noakes of the University of Cape Town, South Africa, who accompanied Pugh on the trip, said: "I did not believe it possible to swim for 30 and a half minutes in 2-3 ºC water in just Speedo trunks.
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