NEW ZEALANDS COOK STRAIT IS ONE OF THE WORLDS MOST DANGEROUS. ENCIRCLED BY SEVERAL MOUNTAINS UP TO 5,000 METRES HIGH, THE WEATHER PUSHES THROUGH THE NARROW STRAIT BETWEEN NORTH AND SOUTH ISLAND.
There’s a reason, Wellington is known to be windiest capital in the world, as the wind blows with incredible force. Even shipping has great difficulties here at times. Want to see this for yourself? Check out YouTube! So when we arrived in New Zealand in 2019, we had a bit of an idea, what we were getting ourselves into. Above all, we knew that we would probably have to wait quite a while for a suitable start time. Nevertheless, we had hopes for a bit of luck and, above all, calm winds. But the opposite was the case. We had to wait day after day for the “go”. And when we were finally able to start, we had to abort again shortly after, because the weather changed again. Two things go hand in hand with the constant waiting. First, I have to manage to keep my concentration up, since it could start at any moment. In open water swimming, the mental aspect is enormously important. The athletes go into a kind of tunnel before the swim and try to concentrate only on the challenge. With every minute of waiting or another abort, the concentration dwindles. On the other hand, you also have to keep yourself busy during all this time. There must be no camp fever. I sat with the crew for days. Always with the same people. Here, too, creativity is needed to get out of the rut and keep the focus on the goal. After a few days we were allowed to start again. The weather looked good and the sea calm. I went into the water and started swimming, but then Cook Strait struck again. From one moment to the next, the weather changed. And I had to fight very high waves. For hours we tried again and again and finally had to abort. For the challenge in New Zealand, you need optimal preparation, a lot of patience and a bit of luck.
