An environmental campaigner has smashed the world record for swimming around Isle of Wight.
Plasterer Oly Rush from Upton, Dorset, circumnavigated 65 miles around the island in 15 hours and nine minutes – smashing the previous best of 26 hours.
He set off at Seaview Yacht Club near Ryde at 11am on Monday and climbed from the water at 2:09am.
The first thing the vegan powerhouse did on clambering onto terra firma was to down a bottle of beer.
Last year Oly swam the length of Jurassic Coast to raise awareness of plastic pollution in the oceans and to raise money for environmental charities.
He then set himself the round-island challenge that is particularly difficult because of the tides.
On one of his training swims he was surrounded by 50 smooth-hound sharks at night.
Shortly after the swim, which went anti-clockwise, Oly, 36, said,
“It was mostly plain sailing.
“However, the most difficult bit was right at the end – the last 10K – because the tides were against me.
“We knew they would be and that it would be the most difficult part. But the tidal planning was brilliant.
“My support team including Brian Thompson and Scott Dawson planned everything in detail and all I had to do was swim.
“In my wildest dreams I thought I might be able to do it in 17 hours if everything went well, but I never imagined I could do it in just over 15 hours.
“I also had great sponsors including Reverse Nature and their support means all money raised will go direct to charities.”
Craig Frampton from sponsors Reverse Nature, said,
“Oly stands for what we believe in and we couldn’t just make a donation and leave it at that.
“We wanted to be more involved and help take the stress off him with the money so all donations will go to the charities.
“Plastic in the oceans is a big problem and there are alternatives that can be used – such as hemp. And as a CBD research company it really interests us.
“We had every faith in Oly and he absolutely smashed it.”
To donate, visit the Just Giving Page.
News shared by Ed on behalf of Plant Project. Ed
