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Ram Barkai
“The water feels like ice.” Many swimmers say to themselves or to their coach…
and they really mean it. But Ram Barkai of Cape Town, South Africa is an entirely different breed of swimmer: a hardy man who actually does swim in ice water.
Literally.
“The water feels like ice.” Many swimmers say to themselves or to their coach…
and they really mean it. But Ram Barkai of Cape Town, South Africa is an entirely different breed of swimmer: a hardy man who actually does swim in ice water.
Literally.
Open Water Source Premium Members:
Click HERE to listen to visit the Patagonia Extreme Cold Swim Challenge Facebook page.
Click HERE to listen to visit the Patagonia Extreme Cold Swim Challenge Facebook page.
Literally Freezing!!!
Ram has swum in Antarctica, initially inspired by Lynne Cox and her book, Swimming to Antarctica. As Ram explains, “Lynne showed us what is possible.” But Ram is just beginning to explore what is humanly possible. After his swim Antarctica, he later swam in Lake Zürich – not in summer when it is beautiful, warm and sunny – but in the dead of winter when the water temperature was 3° Celsius – or 37° Fahrenheit – and the air temperature was minus 1°C – literally freezing.
Later, the 53-year-old financial entrepreneur traveled to Alaska and San Francisco to swim and completed a three-swim adventure in the Patagonia region at the tip of South America, near Antarctica. He and his fellow South African cold-water specialists - Ryan Stramrood (37), Kieron Palframan (36), Toks Viviers (47) and Andrew Chin (41) - set a goal and completed it through a combination of intense training, well-planned logistics, mental focus and the assistance of their open water swimming friends and Navy in Chile.
Ram has swum in Antarctica, initially inspired by Lynne Cox and her book, Swimming to Antarctica. As Ram explains, “Lynne showed us what is possible.” But Ram is just beginning to explore what is humanly possible. After his swim Antarctica, he later swam in Lake Zürich – not in summer when it is beautiful, warm and sunny – but in the dead of winter when the water temperature was 3° Celsius – or 37° Fahrenheit – and the air temperature was minus 1°C – literally freezing.
Later, the 53-year-old financial entrepreneur traveled to Alaska and San Francisco to swim and completed a three-swim adventure in the Patagonia region at the tip of South America, near Antarctica. He and his fellow South African cold-water specialists - Ryan Stramrood (37), Kieron Palframan (36), Toks Viviers (47) and Andrew Chin (41) - set a goal and completed it through a combination of intense training, well-planned logistics, mental focus and the assistance of their open water swimming friends and Navy in Chile.
Ram, Ryan, Kieron, Toks and Andrew swam a mile around Cape Horn – the southernmost tip of South
America – in rough water that was cold, daunting and risky…mind-boggling and perilous to say the least. Cape Horn is shunned by ships and
is known as the “sailor’s graveyard”.
Before their Cape Horn swim, Ram and his hardy group from Cape Town swam 5 kilometers in the Strait of Magellan in water that at 6°C (42°F). In less than a 10-day period, they also swam the 2-kilometer Beagle Channel in true testing group for extreme swimmers in 4°C waters. Like Cape Horn and the Strait of Magellan, the swimmers will face enormous risks in the Beagle Channel in the southernmost part of Chile. Here, they faced and overcame the dreaded williwaw which are ferocious ice winds that can stir up the ocean into a frenzy on a moment’s notice.
Like other intrepid swimmers who have conquered these water, the South Africans used no wetsuits or neoprene caps for their swims. As members of the International Ice Swimming Association that Ram founded, wetsuits and neoprene caps are shunned - with a smile and deep confidence in their cold-water abilities and training.
Ram’s definition of an ice swim – at least one mile in water less than 5°C (or 41°F) – is a tough bar to reach. But he has already done received the prestigious red jacket of the Ice Swimming Association four times. In his Open Water Wednesday interview, Ram explains his preferred type of swimming – how he prepares, how he gets in the water, how his body reacts, what his mind goes through and how he protects himself from death in his ice swims.
This Open Water Wednesday is an interview that may shatter what you think if physically possible.
Open Water Wednesday welcomes a man who will be swimming in the “sailor’s graveyard."
Copyright © 2011 by Open Water Source
Before their Cape Horn swim, Ram and his hardy group from Cape Town swam 5 kilometers in the Strait of Magellan in water that at 6°C (42°F). In less than a 10-day period, they also swam the 2-kilometer Beagle Channel in true testing group for extreme swimmers in 4°C waters. Like Cape Horn and the Strait of Magellan, the swimmers will face enormous risks in the Beagle Channel in the southernmost part of Chile. Here, they faced and overcame the dreaded williwaw which are ferocious ice winds that can stir up the ocean into a frenzy on a moment’s notice.
Like other intrepid swimmers who have conquered these water, the South Africans used no wetsuits or neoprene caps for their swims. As members of the International Ice Swimming Association that Ram founded, wetsuits and neoprene caps are shunned - with a smile and deep confidence in their cold-water abilities and training.
Ram’s definition of an ice swim – at least one mile in water less than 5°C (or 41°F) – is a tough bar to reach. But he has already done received the prestigious red jacket of the Ice Swimming Association four times. In his Open Water Wednesday interview, Ram explains his preferred type of swimming – how he prepares, how he gets in the water, how his body reacts, what his mind goes through and how he protects himself from death in his ice swims.
This Open Water Wednesday is an interview that may shatter what you think if physically possible.
Open Water Wednesday welcomes a man who will be swimming in the “sailor’s graveyard."
Copyright © 2011 by Open Water Source
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