By Stephen Parker
The 60-year-old Whakatane man who attempted to swim the Cook Strait doubts he will try again.
Mike Bodger was just 5km from Wellington's south coast when the wind and tide started pushing him back out to sea.
It was an epic effort, over nine hours swimming across Cook Strait only to be defeated.
“It's like Cook Strait conquers you... in the end,” says Mr Bodger.
The retired genetic biologist had trained for 10 months, swimming 40km a week.
Mr Bodger left from the South Island early yesterday for the 27km crossing but by late afternoon the swells were reaching 2m.
His support crew had to tell him he was being swept out to the Tasman Sea.
“There is nothing you can do about tiredness in those conditions. I just ran out of puff. But when he said I was going backwards, I just said, 'In five seconds I am out,'” he says.
Fifty-four people have successfully crossed the strait, starting with Barrie Devenport in 1962; others include a blind swimmer in 2004 and an 11-year-old Indian boy in 2005. The oldest crossing was by a 55-year-old woman last year.
Mr Bodger says ocean swimming is going through a popularity boom, especially with older swimmers and he's predicting there will be a spate of older, not younger, people trying to tackle the strait.
“There's a guy I know from Auckland who is lining it up next year...and he'll be a month older than me - he'll be 60 as well,” he says.
The strait crossing is a massive physical challenge and having experienced it Mr Bodger is not so sure he will try again.
He says while he may not have mastered Cook Strait, swimming for nine hours in the open sea is a good effort for a 60-year-old.
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