Meet Ross Wisby, a man who likes a Record. Ross currently holds the Record for the fastest solo swim Around Jersey Island. The record, to swim the longest distance in under 24 hours. How? Easy ! To complete 5 lengths of UKs longest Lake, Windermere.
Ross got in touch with Uswim 2 years ago and the plan began. Unfortunately due to his work commitments the swim could not happen in 2018 and was therefore deferred to this year. Ross had planned a 2 way Windermere training swim followed by a 3 Way , a few weeks rest and then the Record attempt.
Ross set off on his 2 way Windermere, it was a clear day with a nice water temperature of 17 degrees. We were so excited for this first training swim , a chance for Ross to get to know us and us to get to know him in prep for the long one. Ross is a super strong swimmer and a super fast feeder. He literally took 10 seconds to down his feed and off he went. His 2 way came to a surprise end when he began to complain of a nerve pain in his elbow and with his 3 way 2 days later, he did not want to jeopardise a further injury. After 5 hours and 11 minutes Ross called it a day after a 1 way Windermere.
The original plan was to start in the dark to ensure Ross got some crucial night swimming in, but in order to rest his elbow as much as possible, we chose to delay the start time to give him the best chance of recovery. Ross had arranged physio the day before which had obviously left his muscles tender. He also had a "dodgy" stomach since waking up. and was not feeling 100%.
Within the first hour Ross hat kept slipping off so he chose to remove this, he then relayed to us at his feed that he had been sick and wasn't feeling great at all. He had already made the decision that if he was unable to keep his feeds down he would call it a day. He made it to the halfway point in 2 hours 46 minutes and chose to end the swim. Although he did continue to swim up to Storrs Hall.
With the 2 training swims not going to plan Ross came back even more focused for the 5 way. A discussion was had a Ross decided to take the pressure off the record and aim for a 5 way regardless of time.
Fully prepped we set off from Fell Foot Park on Monday 2nd September. Onboard Gemini Warrior was myself , Dave Quartermain and Thomas Swain . Ross started his swim like a steam train, fast and powerful. He fed every 30 minutes fluid and on the hour we added a solid in.
Ross smashed out his 1 way in 4 hours and 45 minutes, touched the jetty at Waterhead, a cheer from his wife and daughter and off he went.
Ross continued on his 2nd leg maintaining the same stroke count with a slight head wind now towards him. He powered to Fell Foot, touched the jetty and started his 3rd Leg. 2 lengths completed in 11 hours
We watched as it got darker and concentrated on the 2 green lights that were Ross. Ross is a man of few words on a swim, he is focused and does not want to add time on for chat. As we approached the half way point and stopped for a feed, Ross said he was cold. Ross does not do warm feeds so difficult once a swimmer is feeling the cold as he would not have a warm feed. When encouraged to have a feed and see how he was at the next one, Ross said he had tried that at the last feed and he was sure he wanted to finish. Ross swim ended after 14 hours. His longest swim to date.
