17 August 2012

Dad In Bid To Swim Between Antrim And Mull Of Kintyre

A 43-year-old South African is hoping to be the first person to ever successfully swim the 10.5 miles between north Antrim and the Mull of Kintyre.

Wayne Soutter, who now lives and works in England, told the Ballycastle Chronicle that his training was on schedule.

The father of two visited north Antrim and swam for an hour off the coast of Torr Head to test his own resilience to jellyfish stings and check the currents.

He said: "It was, as expected, fairly cold but working hard enough you managed to keep warm, so it warmed up quite quickly.

“What was a little unexpected was the huge number of jelly fish I saw, about one jellyfish every minute. Now and again some of them were closer to the surface and I had to swim around them.

"The water was good for a fairly calm day, but sometimes we got into a bit of rough water and that made hard work of it. Overall it was good - I'm encouraged."

Mr Soutter has already swum the English Channel.

But the route between Antrim and the Mull of Kintyre is arguably one of the most dangerous stretches of water in the world and has not yet been conquered, though many endurance swimmers have tried.

Mr Soutter is raising money for the Community Rescue Service, which organises search and rescue efforts in Northern Ireland.

(NE)