Lewis Pugh

Lewis Pugh 2005

Lewis Gordon Pugh (born December 5, 1969 in Plymouth ) is a British environmental activist, swimmer and maritime lawyer. He has often made a name for himself as a "polar bear".

Pugh is the first person to swim long distance distances on all five oceans in the world and he is known as the best cold-water swimmer in the world. He swims in endangered regions and ecological areas of the earth to draw attention to their existence threatened by environmental pollution. He gained global fame for being the first person to swim a long distance at the North Pole to point out the melting of the poles. At the 2010 World Economic Forum , he was named a Young Global Leader for “his influence as an inspiring leader in shaping the future of the earth”. On May 22, 2010, he was the first person to swim through a glacial lake at the foot of Mount Everest to draw attention to the melting of the glaciers in the Himalayas and the associated influence on world peace.

Youth and training

Lewis Pugh was born in Plymouth, England, to Vice Admiral P. D. Gordon Pugh and Margery Pugh, a nurse with the Queen Alexandra's Royal Naval Nursing Service. His father was present at the first British atomic bomb test in 1952. Pugh is also related to the missionary William Carey .

Pugh grew up in the immediate vicinity of Dartmoor in Devon . When he was ten, his family emigrated to South Africa, where he went to St. Andrew's College in Grahamstown and later to Camps Bay High School in Cape Town . He studied Politics and Law at the University of Cape Town and graduated with honors and as one of the best in his class. In his mid-twenties he moved back to England, where he studied international law at Jesus College , Cambridge and then worked as a lawyer specializing in the law of the sea for the City of London.

Environmental campaign

During his youth, Pugh visited numerous national parks in South Africa. Today he relates this to his father's wish to respect and preserve nature after he had personally witnessed the effects of the atomic bomb tests.

In 2003 he decided to quit his profession as a lawyer in order to fully support the protection of the environment. He meets with statesmen and business people to discuss directly the importance of reducing greenhouse gases. His speech at the 2008 Business Innovation Forum in the US was voted one of the top seven most inspirational videos on the Internet by the Mashable Media Guide .

At the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in 2009 , Nobel laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Pugh presented the effects of climate change on the pan-African climate and poverty.

Pole Protection Project

In 2008, Pugh founded the Project for the Protection of the Poles (Polar Defense Project), which advocates better protection of the Arctic and its maritime borders. This project won the 2009 Beyond Sports Awards for “Best Project to Protect the Environment”.

WWF - World Wide Fund for Nature and Wilderness Leadership School

Pugh sits on the Board of Ambassadors for the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) in Great Britain with Sir David Attenborough and Jonathon Porritt . He also supports Ian Player from the Wilderness Leadership School, which is committed to protecting the world's last wildlife sanctuaries.

Environmental protection expeditions

Pugh has undertaken numerous expeditions to raise awareness of the threats posed by climate change to the environment.

Thames

In 2006 he was the first person to swim lengthways down the Thames . He wanted to draw attention to the numerous dry spells in England in the previous years. He swam the 325 km in 21 days. The dry climate forced Pugh to walk the first 42 km of the river due to the lack of water in the Thames at the time. While crossing London, he took the opportunity to get out of the water and pay a visit to Tony Blair at 10 Downing Street to discuss the UK's climate change agenda. Shortly thereafter, the Prime Minister presented the Climate Change Bill to Parliament.

Maldives

In February 2007, Pugh was the first to swim across the entire width of the Maldives . He wanted to draw attention to the threat to the island archipelago, which is only just above sea level, from the rise in the world's oceans. It took him ten days for the 140 km.

North Pole

In July 2007, Pugh made the first attempt to swim a long distance close to the geographic North Pole . He managed to cross a distance of 1 km in minus 1.7 ° C cold water in an open area in the ice at the North Pole. It took him 18 minutes and 50 seconds to do this. Jørgen Amundsen, a relative of the famous explorer Roald Amundsen , accompanied him on skis on the adjacent ice rinks. During the expedition, the smallest area of ​​polar ice ever measured was recorded. Pugh contradicts the statement that the Arctic will be completely ice-free in summer by 2080. After swimming, he said, “ From what I've seen, large parts of the Arctic will become ice-free in the next decade. "

Arctic Kayak

In September 2008, Pugh went on a kayak expedition through the Arctic Sea . He set out from Spitzbergen in Norway with the aim of reaching the North Pole. He wanted to show once again how much climate change is accelerating the melting of the Arctic ice. The expedition was accompanied by numerous scientists, according to whose statements the North Pole will be ice-free in 2008 - for the first time in thousands of years. This attempt had to be stopped on September 2nd, 1000 km from the North Pole, because despite all efforts it was not possible to find sufficient gaps in the polar ice.

On his website, Pugh reports that this (81 ° North) is the northernmost latitude that has ever been reached by kayak. Critics pointed out that reports from explorers show that as early as 1895 the 86th parallel north was reached by kayak. Nonetheless, Pugh chose not to respond to these claims.

Himalayas

On May 22, 2010, Lewis Pugh was the first person to swim through Lake Pumori , the lake of the Khumbu Glacier at the foot of Mount Everest at 5300 m above sea level. After a two-week ascent to Mount Everest base camp, Pugh managed to swim the distance of 1 km in 2 ° C cold water in 22 minutes and 51 seconds. Swimming at the great geographic altitude presented him with an even greater challenge than crossing the North Pole. The fresh water is about 3% less buoyant than salt water . At an altitude of 5300 m above sea level, the atmospheric air pressure and thus the oxygen partial pressure are only about half that of the sea level. In a test swim over 300 m the day before, the lack of oxygen forced him twice under water from exhaustion; but he was able to save himself by changing the speed and switching to breaststroke.

With this expedition, Pugh wants to draw attention to the rapid melting of the glaciers in the Himalayas. According to Pugh, these glaciers are not just made of ice, but rather form the lifeline of almost two billion people, and thus almost a third of the world's population. The surrounding countries India, China, Pakistan, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Nepal, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Bhutan depend on the water of the Himalayas and the Hindu Kush.

Television appearances

Pugh has appeared on numerous television shows. In 2009 Pugh started the show Robson Green's Wild Swimming Adventure , in which he trained the English actor and singer to cross the ice water of Llyn Llydaw , a lake on Mount Snowdon in Wales. After his successful attempt, Green said, “ Lewis physically prepared me for something that was outside of my limits. Through his inspiration, he shows you that you can achieve anything if you commit yourself to it with total determination. "

swim

Pugh is the first person to have managed to swim long distances in all five of the world's oceans (Atlantic, Indian, Pacific, Arctic and Southern Oceans). In the last 23 years he has managed to complete more first circumnavigations of famous areas than any swimmer before him. In an interview with Forbes magazine , he said, “ Lynne , Martin and I have swum away all sorts of major landmarks, there really is nothing left. "

First swimming experience

Pugh had his first swim training at the age of 17. Just a month later, he swam from Robben Island (where Nelson Mandela was trapped) to Cape Town and shortly thereafter through the Channel between England and France. In 2002 he set a new record for the fastest circumnavigation of Robben Island.

He was also the first person to swim around Cape Agulhas (the southernmost point of Africa), the Cape of Good Hope, and Cape Peninsula (a distance of 100 km from Cape Town to Muizenberg ). Pugh was also the first to cross one of the great lakes in Africa, Lake Malawi .

Cold water swimming

From 2003 Pugh began to specialize in swimming in cold and therefore life-threatening waters, always wearing only bathing trunks , swimming cap and swimming goggles according to the rules of the Channel Swimming Association . He was the first person to swim around the North Cape , the northernmost point of Europe. The following year he swam the entire length of the Sognefjord in Norway. It took him 21 days to cover the distance of 204 km.

In 2005 he set the record for the most northerly swim course ever swum when he circled Verlegenhuken , the northernmost cape on the island of Spitsbergen . Five months later, he broke Lynne Cox's record for the southernmost swim distance ever swum when he circled Petermann Island (65 ° south latitude) in Antarctica. Sports scientist and Professor Tim Noakes from the University of Cape Town was present for both world record attempts. His research found that Pugh's ability to raise his body temperature by 2 ° C enabled him to survive in waters this cold. Its technical term for it, "anticipatory thermo-genesis", is a process that has not yet been registered in any other person.

“Normal” people can only survive for a few minutes in ice water. In the first few seconds, the lungs contract and you begin to hyperventilate . Heartbeat and blood pressure skyrocket in one fell swoop, making swimming in ice water impossible for the untrained.

In 2006 he took part in the Winter Swimming World Championships in Finland, where he challenged the top Russian cold water swimmers over 500 meters. He won overwhelmingly with a lead of 100 meters over Russian champion Aleksander Brylin and 125 meters over third-placed Nefatov Vladimir .

In July and August 2018, he was probably the first person to swim the English Channel lengthways from Cornwall to Dover, 530 or 560 km, to draw attention to pollution and overfishing. The then 49-year-old took 48 days to do this.

"Holy Grail" of swimming

In 2006, Pugh became the first person to complete the "Holy Grail" of swimming, which requires long-distance swimming in all five oceans. To date, no other swimmer has achieved this. Its five swimming routes are:

• Crossing the English Channel (Atlantic Ocean), 1992
• Circumnavigation of the northernmost point of Spitsbergen (Arctic Ocean), 2005
• Crossing Whaler's Bay on Deception Island (Southern Ocean), 2005
• Crossing Algoa Bay , near Port Elizabeth (Indian Ocean), 2006
• From Manly Beach to Sydney Heads to the Opera House in Sydney (Pacific), 2006

Awards

• 2010 - Nominated as Young Global Leader at the World Economic Forum
• 2009 - Pugh receives the highest award in South Africa, the Ikhamanga Order in Gold, for "outstanding sporting achievements, humanitarian achievements and work to raise awareness of the negative effects of global warming". It was only the third time that an athlete had received this award.
• 2009 - Best project to protect the environment - Beyond Sport Awards
• 2008 - Out There Adventurer of the Year
• 2007 - Fellow of The Explorers Club , New York
• 2007 - Paul Harris Fellowship Award from Rotary International
• 2007 - Sports Adventurer of the Year Award from the French Sports Academy
• 2006 - Freedom of the City of London

Private life

In 2009, Pugh was married to Antoinette Malherbe, whom he knew from his time at Camps Bay High School .

Works

In 2010 his autobiography Achieving the Impossible was published by Simon & Schuster .

Web links

• Bathing in the Plormeer: ​​Ice swimmers against global warming FAZ , article about swimming in the polar sea against global warming, July 16, 2007
• Lewis Pugh swims the North Pole TED, youtube.com, released September 9, 2009 (Video 20:53)
• How I swam the North Pole ( TED Talk , TEDGlobal 2010, September 2009) (Video 18:44)
• My mind-shifting Everest swim (TED Talk, TEDGlobal 2009, July 2010) (Video 9:38)
• Pugh's Homepage

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Joe Spring: World's Best Cold Water Swimmer , Outside Online. December 2009. Retrieved December 17, 2009. 
2. ^ Young Global Leaders 2010 , World Economic Forum. March 2010. Archived from the original on March 7, 2010 Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Retrieved March 3, 2010.  
3. ^ Lewis Gordon Pugh: Achieving the Impossible. A fearless leader. A Fragile Earth , Simon & Schuster. May 2010. Retrieved May 1, 2010. 
4. ^ Lewis Gordon Pugh: Time to Believe , Speech at TEDGlobal 2009. July 2009. Retrieved July 22, 2009. 
5. ↑ Josh Catone: 7 of the Most Inspiring Videos , Mashable. November 2009. Retrieved November 8, 2009. 
6. ^ Pan-African Climate Change and Poverty Hearing , Oryx Media. October 2009. Archived from the original on September 13, 2010 Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Retrieved October 5, 2009.  
7. ↑ Beyond Sport: 2009 Winners , Beyond Sport. July 2009. Retrieved July 8, 2009. 
8. ^ Council of Ambassadors , WWF-UK. November 25, 2014. Archived from the original on July 9, 2014 Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Retrieved November 25, 2010.  
9. ^ Alan Duke: North Pole Could Be Ice-Free This Summer, Scientists Say , CNN . June 27, 2008. Retrieved September 19, 2008. 
10. ^ Lewis Gordon Pugh: Forthcoming Expeditions , Lewis Gordon Pughs website. December 2009. Archived from the original on October 4th, 2009 Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Retrieved December 5, 2009.  
11. ^ Robson Green: Wild Swimming , Robson Green's website. December 2009. Archived from the original on December 7th, 2009 Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Retrieved December 15, 2009.  
12. ↑ Todd Pitock: The Ice Bear Cometh , Forbes Magazine . October 29, 2007. Retrieved August 24, 2008. 
13. ↑ Dr James Butcher Phd: Profile: Lewis Gordon Pugh - Polar Swimmer , The Lancet. December 2005. Retrieved December 1, 2005. 
14. ↑ Tim Noakes, Jonathan Dugas, et al .: Body temperatures during three long-distance polar swims , Journal of Thermal Biology 2009, 34 (1): 23-31. Accessed in 2009. 
15. ^ Briton swam the English Channel along orf.at, August 30, 2018, accessed August 30, 2018.
16. ^ Office of the President of South Africa: Presidency unveils National Orders recipients , The Presidency, Republic of South Africa. December 2009. Retrieved December 2, 2009. 
17. ↑ Beyond Sport: 2009 Winners , Beyond Sport. July 2009. Retrieved July 8, 2009.