OWN CORRESPONDENT
“The swim was a solidarity swim for Israel,” explained Yach who usually swims Robben Island o Cape Town in temperatures averaging 12 – 14c, in a media release.
The swim was arranged by Ilan Ben Dror , who owns the Speedo licence in Israel and is the sponsor of the annual short race Sea of Galilee mass participation swim that attracts 10 000 swimmers every year.
To avoid the sizzling mid-day heat, Yach started his swim at 04:00 “The water temperature was 22c at the start, rising to 29c by 09:00 when the air temperature had reached 31c. With the freshwater dramatically reducing my buoyancy, the crossing was a pretty tough 8 hrs 2 mins.”
Yach had to adjust his stroke and feeding pattern to cope with the extreme conditions as he realised he would not make it if he kept to his usual routine. Instead of feeding every 30 minutes, he did so every 20 minutes and slowed his strokes down from 650 per half hour to 500.
Turek swam the entire way with Yach. Tamara Kuperman swam the first 10 km, while Yach and Turek were joined by several Israeli swimmers for the final two hours.
