Lewis diving into the seas off Antarctica (Photo by Terje Eggum)
There’s no better time to call out Lewis Gordon Pugh than during the COP15.
Pugh dons nothing more than a cap, goggles, and a Speedo to call attention to shrinkage. He’s set long-distance, cold-water swimming records all
around the the globe in an effort to raise awareness of climate change. In the process he’s established a healthy competition with the polar bear for attracting news related to global warming. So which land mammal is the best cold water swimmer?
World’s Best Cold Water Swimmer: Lewis Gordon Pugh vs. The Polar Bear
After tackling saltwater records all over the globe, in April of 2010 Pugh plans to swim in a glacial lake on the Khumbu Glacier under the summit of Mt. Everest.
“This swim is being billed by a number of swimming websites as the most
difficult swim ever to be attempted,” said Pugh. “The combination of the water
temperature (approximately 0 degrees centigrade), fresh water (no
buoyancy compared to salt water) and the altitude contribute to this.”
We all know that ice cold is cooler than being cool, but Pugh his extreme plunge a step further with a do-good message.
“My greatest hope is that it will make world leaders raise their heads
above the parapet and understand what is at stake. The glaciers on the
Himalayas are retreating fast due to climate change. They provide a
constant supply of water to over 1.3 billion people. They feed the
Ganges, Yangtze and Indus Rivers. They are not just ice but a
lifeline. We need to dramatically reduce our CO2 emissions to protect
these rivers and the people who depend on them.”
Pugh is building strength through weight training, and endurance through long distance runs on hills. Soon, he’ll head over to the Andes to train for swimming at altitude.
He’ll also add insulation. In 2007, Pugh stroked
across the geographic North Pole for 18 minutes and 50 seconds in water temperatures ranging from 35 to 32 degrees Fahrenheit. The 6-foot-1-inch, 190-lb. Brit
started gorging two months before his attempt, adding an extra 29
extra pounds by eating six balanced meals a day, including his favorite
cravings of ostrich meat and milk.
When
the average person enters cold water the number one danger is shock. Exposure to the extreme cold can cause people to panic, hyperventilate, and drown. Pugh’s training (he swims in water of decreasing temperatures for increasing lengths of time) helps his body anticipate the cold. Before he enters
the water he’s like a horse chomping at the bit. He gets agitated and hot. He
says his core temperature rises by 2.5 degrees Fahrenheit before he even dives in.
Once in, he keeps his face and
appendages from freezing through constant movement. (The swimming actually cools his core faster because the blood vessels in his appendages interact with the cold water, bringing chilled blood back to his vitals.) To ensure that he doesn’t push
himself too far, a doctor on a zodiac records his pulse, core
temperature, and time in the water. His body has dropped below the clinical
diagnosis of hypothermia, to 91 degrees Fahrenheit. When he swam the North Pole, he had two main fears. The first was
contracting hypothermia. The second?
“Polar bears.”
His fear was not without reason. Consider the polar bear as hunter based on bits from Richard Ellis’ dense new book “On Thin Ice: The Changing World of the Polar Bear.” Polar bears have been known to swim under ice floes and surge up through ice to snare unsuspecting resting seals. They stalk floating seabirds from underwater. A polar bear estimated at roughly 285 pounds (the largest one ever was estimated at 2,200 pounds) once dragged a 2,000 pound beluga whale out of the sea.
Ellis packs the book with stories and facts about the polar bear as a capable long-distance swimmer. There’s a reason Constantine Phipps named the polar bear Ursus maritimus in 1774. It spends more time in water than any other bear, and bears as a whole are pretty good swimmers. In the first edition of Origin of Species, Charles Darwin postulated that bears could have evolved into whales after seeing one swim with its mouth open to catch insects just above the water line. Though the polar bear spends only part of its life in water, it spends much more time walking on ice (a.k.a frozen water). The polar bear likes to wander. A single bear may cover 100,000 square miles during its lifetime. Still, they’re built to swim. They have smaller ears and tails than their brown cousins to prevent heat loss. Their broad front paws (13 inches long and 9
inches wide) contain webbing between the toes and act as super
efficient paddles, while their shorter hind legs serve as rudders. A
nictitating membrane on their eyes allows them to see underwater, where
they hold their breath for two minutes before rising up to surprise
prey. A healthy layer of fat covers most of their body, including their
head and paws, and may reach five inches thick on their rump. They use
all that insulation to keep their body temperatures at 98.6 degrees,
or the same temperature as the average human. They can swim for days at a time and maintain an average speed of six miles per hour. They’ve been spotted in the water more than 100 miles from land or ice. And when they get out, their hair does not mat, allowing them to shake the water off before it freezes.
Which brings us back to the reason Pugh dove into arctic waters for a swim with the alpha predators in the first place. Increasingly, polar bears have been sighted swimming far from shore, likely due to shrinkage of the polar ice cap. Pugh wanted to call attention to this, because as the ice cap shrinks, the bears have less time on the floes to hunt and a greater distance to swim when returning back to land in warm weather. Though they are excellent swimmers, the longer distance could lead to fatigue, and leave them more susceptible to hazardous conditions and storms. In 2004, scientists found four polar bear carcasses floating in the water, presumably after drowning.
The Winner: Hands down, the polar bear beats Pugh as a long-distance, cold water swimmer. Pugh would want it that way, considering all the recent shrinkage.
If you want to learn more about the polar bear, pick up Richard Ellis’ book. It’s packed with stories of human encounters with the bears, the possible effects of climate change on the alpha predators, and the amazing physical feats that define the animals as hunters, parents, and explorers.
Original post by Travel Robot