More Info →Karena Doig Dream maker, strait breaker - top of article

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By BARRY HAWKINS Staff reporter

You feel the gravel under your feet and look out to the pilot boat gently rocking in the calm blue waters below the sheer rocky cliffs of Cape Koamaru on the rugged north-east tip of the South Island.

You are nervous. This is your shot at proving you are not just a dreamer.

John Brown, the ferry master who has guided many of the top distance swimmers across Cook Strait, is in the Tangaroa. So are your mother and father. Your PE teacher Peter Jamie-son is on the surf ski and the guys from the Waitarere Surf Club are out in the IRB.

"Go for it!" someone yells. You wade in a few metres and dive. The shock of the cold takes your breath away. The big thing is to get into a rhythm quickly. You try to put the cold out of your mind . . .

LOGICALLY, Karena Doig had no right to tackle one of the toughest challenges in world marathon swimming. Her longest open-water swim had been a four-hour training stint in Lake Taupo barely a month earlier. She had also done one two-hour sea swim.

But her father Kevin and mother Alison, who organised sponsorship and put up some of the more than $1000 needed to fund the attempt, knew how many hours she had spent in the last year at the Horowhenua College pool and the indoor pool the Levin Swimming Club used at the nearby Kohitere Corrective Training Centre.

More important they knew of their daughter's steely determination.

Karena learned to swim in a backyard pool when the family lived in Temuka near Timaru. She inherited from her father he tall, powerful build of the Doig farming clan of Mid Canterbury, whose men have powered generations of rugby scrums.

"She was stepping into the unknown but she was utterly dedicated - I suppose she persuaded us that she was ready," Kevin Doig says.

Tony Keenan, coach of Phillip Rush, one of the top international endurance swimmers, believes because Cook Strait has been swum many times there is a tendency to under-rate its difficulty.

He describes it as a, tougher test than the English 'Channel because of the unpredictable weather and tides.

"The physiological and psychological strains on a swimmer can be crippling. There are a great many more failures than successes .. . "

You must have been in the water for an hour or so. The cold is still a worry. You come to patches of warmer water and you think . . . this is better, maybe the coldest part is behind. Then you go from warmer cold in a few strokes.

To try to keep the effect of chill down you are probably pushing a bit harder than planned. Having Mr Jamieson on the ski is great. You think of something warm, like a rug, towels, our bed at home.

You know that some marathon swimmers can get themselves into a trance, completely clear their mind of everything. They can plough along like robots. You try to think of nothing. It has the reverse effect.

You think about the trip down to the marina at Plimmerton on Thursday morning and how shaky you felt. Fortuately the wind wasn't right. You went home again.

Yesterday you'd stayed home home school, had a sleep and me to help at the family sandwich bar for a while at night. You felt better, more relaxed and you slept really well. On the way over to the South Island on the Tangaroa there had been one awful moment after the boat had been motoring for what seemed like hours – how far you would have to swim suddenly hit you.

There was a bit of panic, fear that you wouldn’t make it, that you’d let everyone down ans all that money would be wasted…

Peter Jamieson, as well as anyone, knew how physically strong and gutsy this fifth former was. But he said later he felt she would not be able to manage more than four or five hours.

“It was so cold for the first couple of hours, down around 14 degrees. She hadn’t swum in anything as remotely cold. You could see the pain on her face with each stroke. I kept talking to he but I could see she was suffering.”

After just under two hours the water temperature began to rise to about 18C, not ideal but much better, Jamieson says her spirits lifted visibly. She kept her big loping stroke going at 70-72 per minute, but the effort needed didn't seem as great. She had brief stops for mouthfuls of Milo to wash the salt out „ of her mouth, a few bits of banana and red dates.

On a long swim the support of a coach can be crucial. Karena had coaches at the Levin club for pool competition but she had done most of the hundreds of kilometres of conditioning off her own bat.

She didn’t have a coach in the sense that Rush has Tony Keenan. But the close support of Jamieson, the IRB crew and her parents was to be vital. Keenan and Rush have an almost psychic empathy. Rush says he can now tell just by looking at his coach whether he is up to schedule, what the prospects are, and what he wants him to do.

What a swimmer doesn't need is that "get your finger out" variety of crude psychology. “That just oesnt work,” Keenan says. “All you’ll do is get them annoyed, make any problems they are having 10 times worse and they’ll jack it in.”

Now you are into the fifth hour, longer than you’ve swum before. The arms are aching a little but things have gone pretty well, apart from the cold.

Mr Jamieson is on your left, just ahead. The IRB and the launch are about 50 metres away. They are staying well clear because they don't want you to be affected by engine fumes in the almost total calm.

Suddenly Mr Jamieson is signalling towards the boats – he is holding his hand out in front of him and making a wavy motion. He tells you to stop. You know he has seen a shark but he did not say so.

You wonder about the chances of getting to one of the boats without losing a leg. The icy feeling that grips your stomach is not caused by the cold water.

Mr Jamieson tells you to breaststroke, slowly. He moves on to your right. You hear the Tangaroa and the IRB pull in close and roar their motors.

After a few minutes Mr Jamieson waves. You swim again . . .

For Alison Doig the sight of Peter Jamieson making the shark fin signal was heart-stopping. "I looked to where he pointed and saw this shark - someone identified it as a mako - swimming between the surf ski and the Tangaroa. I wanted to get her out right there. I wanted to end it. She is too precious. No swim was worth exposing her to that sort of risk.

"I was badly shaken. The boats moved in quickly and revved up their motors. We never saw the shark again."

The IRB and the Tangaroa stayed close by from then on.

Peter Jamieson says the dorsal shark fin had cut through the swell about 1.5 metres in front of his surf ski, about two metres from Karena. When they stopped he hadn't told her but he realised she had probably guessed anyway.

It didn't seem to affect her and she quickly got back into the steady freestyle tempo.

After six hours the sun was going down and the water temperature dropped rapidly.

Tiredness and the dull ache in your arms and legs is being made harder to bear by the chill. Mr Jamieson says not long now but you are getting too tired to care.

You want to get out. You aren't wasted but the cold is getting too much. But you never really get so down you really will quit. Mr Jamieson tells you to stop. Mum is in the rubber ducky and hands you a Milo. She says you are doing well and tells you to keep going if you can. She looks a little upset. Mr Jamieson is going to swim for a while. He says look up and you'll see a hill on the coast and tells you to make for that.

Jamieson, in a full wetsuit, had intended to go with her for about five of the last 8km. He lasted three. "I just had to get out. I was that cold my jaw was locking up and I couldn't breathe properly. "I've been in surf lifesaving for 15 years; I've competed in marathons and iron man triathlons but I've never seen a more amazing feat of endurance and sheer guts. I couldn't hack it and I was in a wetsuit. Remember, she hadn't swum in anything like this cold and yet here she was, a 15-year-old youngster, with this incredible willpower ...

"It seems that once she was able to see land it was all she needed. She focused on that hill and went for it." For the last few kilometres there was never any doubt she was going to get there. The tide wasn't causing any problems and the water was ruffled into a slight chop by the breeze.

Alison Doig went on to the beach about a kilometre south of Ohau Point in the IRB.

The landing was going to be on a rocky stretch. Peter Jamieson, still getting over the effects of his experience an hour before, swam again for the last 400m to guide her to shore.

You touch something. You try to stand up but there is only seaweed beneath you. On you go for a few more metres. This time your feet hit gravel. You try to stand but your legs buckle. Mr Jamieson helps you up and Mum throws a blanket around you and hugs you. All you can think about is how good it is to be out of the water.

On board the Tangaroa Kevin Doig, who has been providing reports to the Kapiti radio station throughout the 8h 30m swim finds it a little hard to cope with the emotion of watching his daughter wave from the beach while describing the moment for the listeners.

Later on the return trip on the Tangaroa, elated by your effort and just happy that you’ve justified everyone’s faith in you, you think about The Dream.

You’ve beaten Cook Strait. But you don’t believe you’ll ever swim for New Zealand at the Olympics.

Half a dream come true is a lot better than none.

The Conquerors:

Karena Doig age 15
Direction South-North
Time 8 hr 30 min

Date	Name	Age	Direction	Time
Nov 20, 1962	Barrie Davenport	27	Nth-Sth	11hr 20min
Feb 7, 1964	Keith Hancox	25	Nth-Sth	9hr 34min
Jan 12, 1972	Perry Cameron	30	Sth-Nth	9hr 36min
Feb 4, 1975	Lynne Cox	18	Nth-Sth	12hr 3min
Feb 13, 1977	John Coutts	20	Nth-Sth	9hr 25 min
Feb 3, 1978	Meda McKenzie	15	Nth-Sth	12hr 7 min
Feb 17, 1978	Meda McKenzie	15	Sth-Nth	11hr 23min
Feb 18, 1978	John Coutts	21	Sth-Nth	6hr 46min
Dec 24, 1978	Chris Hurdley	30	Nth-Sth	9hr 4min
Dec 24, 1978	Alan Christie	28	Nth-Sth	9hr 5min
Feb 24, 1979	Pat Benson	22	Nth-Sth	10hr 18min
Feb 24, 1980	Phillip Rush	16	Nth-Sth	8hr 56min
Feb 24, 1980	M el-Meseery	21	Nth-Sth	9hr 12min
Mar 10, 1980	Rhonda Smidt	17	Sth-Nth	8hr 56rnin
Mar 24, 1980	Belinda Shields	18	Sth-Nth	8hr 32min
Apr 8, 1980	Carolyn Wordsworth	17	Sth-Nth	7hr 15min
Feb 2, 1981	John Koorey	37	Sth-Nth	5hr 37min
Feb 14, 1981	Kristine Carr	21	Sth-Nth	7hr 54min
Feb 28, 1981	Michael Quinlivan	20	Nth-Sth	7hr 58min
Mar 14, 1981	Elizabeth Horner	15	Sth-Nth	7hr 22min
Mar 30, 1981	Alan Vincent	31	Nth-Sth	8hr 21min
May 10, 1981	Elizabeth Horner	15	Nth-Sth	11 hr 33min
Jan 17, 1982	Sheryl McLay	21	Sth-Nth	6hr 59min
Feb 14, 1982	Karen Bisley	16	Sth-Nth	6hr 46min
Feb 21, 1982	Wayne Jack	14	Nth-Sth	10hr 2min
Mar 14, 1984	Phillip .Rush	20	Nth-Sth	7hr 51min
Mar 14, 1984	Phillip Rush		Sth-Nth	8hr 25min
Mar 26-27, 1984	Meda McKenzie	23	Nth-Sth	11hr 9min
Mar 26-27, 1984	Meda McKenzie		Sth-Nth	11hr 50min
Mar 26, 1984	Sandra Blewett	34	Nth-Sth	13hr 30min
Mar 29, 1985	Scott Barry	18	Sth-Nth	7hr 51min
Mar 29, 1985	Scott Bisley	19	Nth-Sth	11hr 11min
Mar 29, 1985	Donna Bouzaid	22	Nth-Sth	8hr 15min
Jan 18, 1986	John Koorey	42	Nth-Sth	6hr 59min
Jan 20, 1986	Denise Anderson	21	Sth-Nth	5hr 4min
Mar 20, 1986	Helen Barrett	16	Sth-Nth	6hr 34min
Feb 25, 1987	Ingrid Greenslade	15	Nth-Sth	7hr 18min
Mar 23, 1987	Jeff Reid	15	Sth-Nth	7hr 10min
Feb 9, 1988	Phillip Rush	24	Sth-Nth	8hr 58min
Feb 9, 1988	Phillip Rush	24	Nth-Sth	9hr 49min
Feb 12, 1988	Richard Davey	20	Sth-Nth	7hr 17min

Identification