SWIMMING WITH THE POD

Justine Nolan, Director of the Australian Human Rights Institute at UNSW, has swum all 45 of Sydney's glorious ocean pools. Inspired by Places We Swim (have a listen back to our podcast ep with Caroline and Dillon), Justine journeyed across Sydney at the end of covid, enjoying our newfound freedoms, to explore one of Sydney's most unappreciated yet sublime features. Songs in this episode - all licensed under a Creative Commons License: Upper Harbour Highway - Sci-Clone Blue Harbour - EuLiLa Pools - Grizzly Beatz Sapphire - Tobu Photo by me! (Bilgola)

Anthony Blazevich is a Professor of Biomechanics in the School of Medical and Health Sciences at Edith Cowan University. He is also the head of the Centre for Exercise and Sports Science Research, so is a fabulous person to talk to about biomechanics, body types and how our physiology affects our ability to move through water. Listen in to hear how you could tweak your stroke for quicker times, and why we still may see many more world records in the pool (and ocean). He has also conducted extremely interesting research on the benefits (or not) of stretching. Songs in this episode - all licensed under a Creative Commons License: Biomechanics - Bit Funk & Jason Gaffner Biomechanics - I.D.L.E Biomechanics - Greyscale Music Sapphire - Tobu Photo created by me using Bing AI Image Creator

Michelle O’Shea is a Senior Lecturer at Western Sydney University whose research interests dive into the areas of sport, culture and society, particularly with regard to swimming. She has looked into issues such as why swimming lessons for kids are important, as well as the role of the swimming pool in society. Her research particularly examines issues relevant to gender and diversity, and how the pool and the beach, despite the great Australian egalitarian myth, can be quite exclusionary places. Songs in this episode - all licensed under a Creative Commons License: The Magic of Diversity - The Egotwisters Inclusion - Tenshou Kikiko Diversity - Africk Culture Vulture - Vincent Remember Sapphire - Tobu Image from wikicommons

Seena Mathew is Assistant Professor of Biology, University of Mary Hardin-Baylor. As a neurobiologist, she studies the effects of swimming on the brain, which are many! You can read her article in The Conversation (Swimming gives your brain a boost – but scientists don’t know yet why it’s better than other aerobic activities) or tune in here! Songs in this episode - all licensed under a Creative Commons License: The brain cells strike back - Lofi Factory Stuck in my brain - Atch Planetary alignment - Dr Brain Sapphire - Tobu Photo from StockSnap

Rolf Hut is a hydrological scientist from Delft University of Technology. Or perhaps he's better described as MacGyver scientist, attacking problems from different and interesting angles. One such problem was the infamous 1962 escape from Alcatraz, in which inmates Clarence Anglin, John Anglin, and Frank Morris escaped from Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary, by tucking papier-mâché versions of their heads into their beds, escaping their cells through the ventilation ducts, climbing through an unused utility corridor, across roofs and over fences, before leaving the island on an improvised inflatable raft made of rain jackets. Rolf helped build perhaps the most sophisticated model of the currents in the bay area on the night of escape to look at the question of whether the inmates could possibly have survived the journey, and then tested the research in his own Mythbusters-esque escape from Alcatraz. Songs in this episode - all licensed under a Creative Commons License: Form Flow - Rolf Oca - John Hut Chicken Hut Bluegrass - Silverman Sound Studios Sapphire - Tobu Image from Rolf's page at Delft

Pedro Ordenes is an Alcatraz legend, having swum the famous route over 1000 times!! Pedro runs Water World Swim that organizes many swims in San Francisco Bay, California and across the world. I was lucky enough to swim Alcatraz with Water World Swim recently in April 2023. Pedro is an exceptionally accomplished open water swimmer, perhaps the highlight being swimming the Strait of Magellan in South America, in 3.5°C with 60 km/hr winds and 3-5 feet swells against 12-14 knot currents! He has also swum a double crossing of the Beagle Channel between Chile and Argentina. Pedro is now also a very well respected open-water coach. Songs in this episode - all licensed under a Creative Commons License: Out In The Sticks - Escape From The Alcatraz - CVMR Prisonnier D Alcatraz - Deadline313 Sonus Locus: Doors of Alcatraz - Analog Soul Jail - J-Seiei Beatz Sapphire - Tobu Image from Water World Swim

Lynne Cox is arguably the most accomplished ocean swimmer of all time. She set the record for the English Channel in 1972, was the first woman to swim the Cook Strait in New Zealand in 1975, famously swam between the US and the USSR in 1987 across the Bering Strait in bone-chilling 3 degree waters, and then even colder in Antarctica and Greenland. She has a list of achievements too long to list here. Lynne is also an author, and has a new book called Tales of Al - The Water Rescue Dog, detailing her experiences with Italy's elite, highly specialized corps of water rescue dogs who jump from helicopters and save lives. Thanks very much to Knopf for sending me a preprint. Songs in this episode - all licensed under a Creative Commons License: Rescue Dog - Dav Blues Rescue Dog - Ross J. Miller Rescue Dog - Electrophonvintage The New FoundLand EP 18 Guest Mix UNK - UNK New Found Land - Mojis Only my winnings - New Found Land Sapphire - Tobu Photo from Lynne Cox

Eli Ball is training to swim the English Channel... butterfly. Yes, you read that correctly. Butterfly. He is an exceptionally accomplished butterflying ocean swimmer, having completed a plethora of marathon ocean swims, including the 20km Rottnest Island swim, along the way setting the butterfly record. Songs in this episode - all licensed under a Creative Commons License: Butterfly - takashi_d Butterfly - Adam Andrys Butterfly - Joachim Heinrich Butterfly - ReMiXis Butterfly - Britney Starr Butterfly - Phòng Thu Âm Nguyễn Báu Butterfly - 李雨寰 Lee Johan Sapphire - Tobu Image from Eli fan page on Facebook I would like to acknowledge the horribly sad tragedy here in Sydney last week, with a swimmer killed in a shark attack at Malabar, a place at which I have swum many times. Sharks are an ever present thought for ocean swimmers, and they are one of the topics in today's episode, which was recorded a few weeks before the incident. My sincerest condolences are with Simon's family and friends.

Brendan Cullen is training to swim the English channel, but what makes his journey exceptional is that he is a sheep farmer from Kars Station, east of Broken Hill in NSW, and is about 350 km from the nearest coastline. Four mornings a week, Brendan swims in the murky waters of Lake Pamamaroo and Lake Copi Hollow in the Menindee Lakes, where he can't typically see more than 20 centimetres in front of his face (video). And there's not a lot of open water in the desert! Brendan already has some major swimming achievements under his belt, such as swimming for 8 hours non-stop, and he an ambassador for lifeline, raising awareness and money for mental health. Songs in this episode - all licensed under a Creative Commons License: Broken - dikomm Hill - Valance Broken - Mind Over Mayhem Hill - Damien Bronieki Broken - trifonic Sapphire - Tobu Image from Jacinta Cullen / smh.

Jaimee Rogers hosts the Big Sports Breakfast program on Sky Sports Radio, is a national level swimmer in the 200m breaststroke, and is now tackling the English Channel. She is raising money with Gotcha4life to support mental health programs. You can sponsor her here. Songs in this episode - all licensed under a Creative Commons License: Balmoral - Peyrius Winter - Datasuck Calais to Dover - Binder and Howorth Cliffs of Dover - Fabio Mazzo Sapphire - Tobu Image from Jaimee on instagram

If you live on the east coast of Australia, your ocean swimming season has been rudely interrupted by the weather, with swims cancelled up and down the coast because of high swells and flooding. Australia has just experienced its wettest summer for five years because of a climate cycle known as La Nina. Associate Professor Andréa Taschetto is an oceanographer and ARC Future Fellow at the Climate Change Research Centre, UNSW. Songs in this episode - all licensed under a Creative Commons License: La Niña Y El Lobo - Jesus Adrián Romero La nina que yo ame - Tumi Music Ltd. La Nina De Tus OjoS - Daniel Calveti (DJ PRE Remix) Sapphire - Tobu Image from hippo px Some links from the show: Andrea on twitter, Marc on twitter, Marc on strava

John Sheely is head gardener at the Warrnambool Botanical Gardens, an acclaimed ocean swimmer who, with pools closed due to covid, has now swum 300 consecutive ocean swims, and is aiming at 365 - a fair achievement when you consider he's swimming without a wetsuit off the coast of Victoria! It will end up being over 1000 km swum. He's also got quite the take on beer and steak as sports nutrition! You can find John on Strava and Twitter. Image from The Standard. Songs in this episode - all licensed under a Creative Commons License: Beer - The fishermen and the priestess Pepper Steak - User 21293509 Turkish Delight - Mark Armstrong 303 Wellerman - Argules Sapphire - Tobu