David Edgar's Cook Strait swim in 2024. Photo: Supplied / Mark Grammer Photography
An army major who is gearing up to swim the challenging Foveaux Strait at the end of this week says he is not worried about getting "nibbled by a shark".
Only 15 people have successfully swum the 28 kilometre stretch from Stewart Island to the bottom of the South Island, known for unpredictable weather and chilly waters.
Major David Edgar, who lives in Blenheim, was aiming to be the 16th. It was the last hurdle in his goal to complete the New Zealand triple crown of open water swimming - the length of Lake Taupō, Cook Strait and Foveaux.
The 52-year-old was also doing the swim to raise money for children with dyslexia.
Edgar's swim was planned for 7 February, and he aimed to do it in 8 to 10 hours.
"My strategy is to swim continuously for one hour... then I pretty much feed every half hour and I'm fed off pretty much an old climbing rope that has my drink bottles and my food on, quick stops, warm drinks to keep the body temperature up so just trying to maintain that rhythm the whole way over."
Edgar said he had been training hard.
"With true open water swimming the first challenge for a start is it's all non-wetsuit open water swimming... you've just got your togs, your cap and your goggles. So you have to be able to sustain swimming in fairly cold water anywhere from 12 to 13 degrees for a long period of time," he said.
"I do a lot of cold water training, I live in Spring Creek in Blenheim and the actual Spring Creek is very cold all year round 300 metres from my house so I'm in there all the time I can, as well as I have an ice bath at home. And it's just the distance, it's a blimmin' long way to swim. I train in the sea as well as the pool and it's just conditioning yourself along with I do a lot of strength training."
David Edgar's Cook Strait swim in 2024. Photo: Supplied / Mark Grammer Photography
Beyond the physical challenge, there was also the chance of encountering great white sharks in the water.
"With open water swimming the thing people always say is 'oh are you scared of the sharks' and it's like 'oh thanks for that'. As an open water swimmer we try to put that to the furthest of our minds but that's the first thing everyone likes to remind you about. But I am pretty comfortable with it, I've probably got more risk of walking outside of my office and getting hit crossing the road to grab a coffee than I have of getting nibbled by a shark."
But Edgar said the shark risk was taken very seriously with a number of precautions in place.
"We have crew that are spotting, there's a shark deterrent on the boat which sends out a shark guard; an electronic signal and I also have like a surf band, a shark deterrent that can go round my ankle that sends a sort of frequency that puts off sharks," he said.
Edgar said through the Foveaux Strait swim attempt he wanted to raise funds to support young people with dyslexia, something that was personal to him.
"I've suffered from dyslexia and learning challenges, I'm 52 now and back in my day you were sort of more so cubby-holed at school that you were 'not good at this' or 'bad at this', I faced all this and I left school.
"I went to university at age 27 after being in the military for quite a while, loved the military always challenged sort of in that academic space, and then finding my own way of learning I managed to a couple of years ago complete my PHD in sleep and recovery. You know, never thought I'd have a degree let alone get to that level," he said.
"So I just want to tell the story that if you're challenged by dyslexia, don't give up, we just have to find our own way to learn."
A Give-A-Little page for Edgar's Foveaux Strait attempt has raised more than $5000.
