The Marathon Machine
An Epic Journey Across Cook Strait

James Pittar is a swimming legend; and he looks to continue making his mark on the world of marathon swimming.

The Cook Strait has only been crossed, by human power alone, 56 times.  An extremely exclusive group of 44 individuals take the credit for these grueling swims.  As this stretch of water is subject to winds blowing directly from the Antarctic and immense tidal flows that pass through the two islands of New Zealand, it poses arguably one of the most difficult swims on the globe.

James Pittar, of Killara on Sydney’s Northern Suburbs, added this stretch of water to his already impressive resume on Friday, 5th March 2004.  Upon completion, James was heard commenting, “That was the most difficult swim I’ve done yet”.  This is a telling statement considering he has already conquered the English Channel in 13 hours, the Straits of Gibraltar, the Manhattan Marathon Swim, 6 crossings of the Rottnest Channel, Bordighera Italy to Monaco, a swim from Martha’s Vineyard to Nantucket Island in New England USA, as well as numerous hometown Sydney swims including a journey from Palm Beach to Manly Beach. 

James’ CV reads like a professional touring on the FINA world circuit; unfortunately, of his many accomplishments, none were sanctioned by the world’s open water swimming body   You see, James is completely blind.  Thus, all of his swims are directed with the use of whistles and loudhalers, which fall outside of FINA regulations.

Therefore, James sets his own challenges; and he certainly got that with the Cook Strait.  The following is a meager attempt to describe the feat that was accomplished on the day.

As in every major channel swim, the tides and weather play all too great a role in the event’s success.  ‘Tidal windows’ are deemed when the sea will permit a possible crossing attempt.  In the Cook Strait, roughly 6 of such windows exist per year.  Now, throw in the fact that Wellington, New Zealand, is one of the windiest places ever visited.  Combining acceptable weather with a day in a window poses a challenge to even have a reasonable chance to swim.

James certainly understands this challenge of waiting for acceptable weather.  His tidal window just happened to coincide with the end of two major cyclones which tore through the North Island of New Zealand.  Receiving a ‘windless’ day seemed hopeful.

The 8pm phone call from swim organiser, Philip Rush, which provided the news of a chance to swim the next day or not, provided far too many no’s; and the wait continued.  A little time should be spent here on introduction to Phil Rush.  Phil has crossed the Cook Strait 8 times, and holds the two way crossing record.  Oh, also, he stands as the most decorated English Channel Swimmer with the fastest three way, yes you read that right, TRIPLE crossing of the ‘Old Ditch’.  So, when the call came with his recommendation to not swim, no matter how much our team wanted to give it a go, we respected this man’s word of recommendation.

After 9 not so short and insignificant days, the 8pm phone call finally said ‘YES!’  James was going to get his much deserved chance at a crossing.  The team was to meet at Mana Cruising Club at 5:00am for the South to North crossing.

Here’s a little insight into this extraordinary man.  He can chat.  His world is black and he uses his gift of memory and explanation to describe his experiences and to understand his surroundings.  Only a deep seeded focus that comes from a challenge of this magnitude could silence this man.  What a determination it turned out to produce as well.

Upon arrival at Perano Head, James commenced upon his journey to the North Island 27.5 kilometers away.  Very quickly, his usual rate of 62-64 arm strokes per minute was maintained and the journey was underway.  Conditions weren’t perfect, however, definitely good enough, with a slight 5-knot wind and the sun shining overhead.

If it is required to use one word only to describe this man in the water, it would have to be ‘MACHINE.’  For the first 6 hours, stopping to feed only 10 times, for water, gu gell, and/or Gatorade, James never fell below a rate of 60 strokes/minute, and rarely deviated from his ideal target of 62-64.

The sun continued to lay a warm hand on James’ back for a large majority of the journey; and the Strait proved to be relatively kind.  The crew was calculating an ‘earlier than expected’ arrival and putting in early orders for the first round of congratulatory beverages.

Then, Wellington’s finest came out.  The Wind.  And boy did she make up for her half a day absence.  Before we knew it, we were facing directly into a 25-knot gale, and the clouds steadily advanced.  The headland that we were so tantalizingly approaching started to stand still.

With less than 5km from Ohau Point, the entire crew realised we were in for an epic finish.  The wind continued to blow, and the sea threw a 3.5 meter swell directly into James’ left shoulder.  Lucky, he breathed only to his right.  The machine continued to produce as if nothing was happening around him.

Now we must visit a side of this event that hasn’t been touched on yet; water temperature.  Cold means something different depending on whom you’re talking to.  Unless, of course, you’ve been in 15 degree Celsius water for over 7 hours, then cold becomes a universal term.  It might even venture into absolutely crazy for the wide majority.  Not James, he kept soldiering on as if it was just one additional hurdle in his road to completion.

After fighting through the swell, the wind, the cold and over 27 kilometers of open ocean swimming, James stood poised just 500 meters from the jagged rocks of the North Island.

Phil Rush desperately maintained a close position for the Bill “Sticks” Tricker to deliver the crucial directional whistles to keep James pointing toward his target.  This last section of this particular event lives up to anything memory can summon in terms of shear guts.  The crew FOUGHT against the tormenting swell in the inflatable rescue boat, while swimmer FOUGHT against everything this fickle stretch of water could throw at him.

With just 150m left, and at a point where the support boat could not venture further safely amongst the rocks, James was guided to the finish by support swimmer, Chad Schneider.  Upon touching the firm land beneath him and after 8 hours 29 minutes in a virtual whirlwind of conditions, James could not quite believe the whole ordeal was finally over.

The smile across his face will not be forgotten, and then he displayed for the first time in the 10-day adventure a facial expression not yet seen.  The machine allowed himself to be tired.  The hours upon hours of preparation, the ups and the downs of accepting such a challenge, and the joy and pain of putting himself into the position were all finally paid off.

The verdict of ‘a brutal swim’ was decreed by both James and Phil Rush, both experienced enough to know full well the difference.

Good on you James, you are an inspiration amongst swimmer and non-swimmer alike.