Ice Mile In Iceland
Courtesy of Iceland TV, Huntington Beach, California.
There has arguably been no one who has swum further or longer in water under 5ºC than South African Ram Barkai.
On New Year’s Eve on his first visit to Iceland, Barkai completed his ninth career ice mile, a swim of 1.7 km in 30 minutes.
“This swim is never easy and dangerous, but the swim went very well with professionalism all around and security guaranteed. It was great,” said Barkai.
Two paramedics escorted him from his start in Hof in southeast Iceland where he was invited by renowned Icelandic swimmer Benedikt S. Lafleur.
“I started better today than I had expected, but after about one kilometer, the wind was tougher to deal with. It cooled down a bit under the water so I decided to stop when I had put in one mile which is the distance I wanted. I feel great to have done this on New Year’s Eve in Iceland and is extremely happy with it. Iceland is a very special place to swim.”
Barkai swam in Antarctica where the sea temperature was -1ºC. “The conditions today reminded me a bit of [that swim]. The sea very dark; there was no sun and cloudy. Antarctica was very cold, but there was no wind when the day began. However, the wind increased to 20 knots and I cannot say which swim was more difficult than the other.
It was hard to swim today, especially because of the wind. When you are wet and there is so much wind, you feel like you are inside a freezer. This is an extreme sport and you have to be very well trained and be in good physical condition. You need to practice very much for such a challenge. But I would say the swim is 80% mental; your mind is constantly screaming at you to stop.”
Copyright © 2015 by World Open Water Swimming Association
Southern California native, born 1962, is the creator of the WOWSA Awards, Oceans Seven, Openwaterpedia, Citrus Corps, World Open Water Swimming Association, Daily News of Open Water Swimming, Global Open Water Swimming Conference. He is Chief Executive Officer of KAATSU Global and KAATSU Research Institute. Inductee in the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame (Honor Swimmer, Class of 2001) and Ice Swimming Hall of Fame (Honor Contributor - Media, Class of 2019), recipient of the International Swimming Hall of Fame's Poseidon Award (2016), International Swimming Hall of Fame's Irving Davids-Captain Roger Wheeler Memorial Award (2010), USA Swimming's Glen S. Hummer Award (2007, 2010) and Harvard University's John B. Imrie Award (1984). Served on the FINA Technical Open Water Swimming Committee and as Technical Delegate with the 2011 Special Olympics World Summer Games, and 9-time USA Swimming coaching staff. Note: WOWSA only recommends products or services used or recommended by the community. WOWSA does not receive compensation for links or products mentioned on this site or in blog posts. If it does, it will be indicated clearly on that specific post. See WOWSA's privacy policy for more information.
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