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
On Saturday the plucky 15-year-old fulfilled a lifetime ambition by crossing Cook Strait under her own steam. Karena swam some of New Zealand's most treacherous waters in eight hours and 30 mi-nutes. She is the youngest female swimmer ever to conquer the strait. Cold water, aching arms and even a mako shark, known to be man-eating, didn't stop Karena from completing the swim she had spent a year training for. Saturday's crossing was a third-time-lucky attempt for Karena. Last week the swim had to be postponed twice due to climatic conditions. But Saturday dawned clear and fine and she was able to enter the water just after mid-day. If conditions had 'prevented the crossing over the weekend any further attempts would have had to have been postponed until March. Karena began her swim at 12.10pm at the top of the South Island at The Brothers. The water was 14.1 degrees Celsius but she was only allowed a normal swim suit and petroleum jelly to protect her from the cold — wet suits were out. She said this morning the first hour and a half was the worst because of the intense, cold but she kept going, swimming quickly to try and generate some warmth. However this didn't stop her legs from aching with the cold. Six hours and forty minutes into the swim, the support team almost ran into a shark. Karena stopped with the 1.5 metre shark only two metres in front of her. The rules state that if she touched any of the support craft or got out of the water the swim was void so she had to stay put while the shark circled a couple of times before swimming on its way. Karena said she didn't ever see the shark but she knew it was there. She said she wasn't really frightened as she knew the support team would get her out if it got any closer. Peter Jamieson PE teacher at Horowhenua College was part of the support team andpad dled beside her all the way on a surf ski and expressed awe at Karena's endurance and courage. "It was the most amazing feat of endurance, pain, determination and dedication I have ever witnessed," he said to-day. An experienced marathon swimmer and surf life saver Mr Jamieson decided to swim the last five kilometres with Karena. Even with a long-John wet suit he had to get out after 40 minutes because it was so cold and it took him 20 minutes to recover. He said he could never have lasted eight hours and 30 minutes in such cold water. At about 8.40pm Karena climbed out of the water on to a rocky beach 1km south of Ohau point, at 15 years and 18 days, the youngest woman ever to have swum the Strait. Karena broke a record held by Meda McKenzie who was 15 years and 218 days when she swam the strait on February 3, 1978. Karena's parents Alison and Kevin Doig and the Waitarere Beach Surf I Lifesaving Club made up her support team and she said they played a big part in her success. Continued on Page 4
