The Record
The record I am trying to break is a Guinness World Record official title. Only one person has completed the feat to date. It consists of a wetsuit swim, 106km, from the left arm of Lake Okanagan by the city of Vernon, to the complete other side of the lake, finishing in a city called Penticton. The current record is set at 40 hours 57 minutes and 11 seconds by a man named Adam Ellenstein who completed the feat in 2016. My goal is to complete it sub 40 hours. I plan to attempt the record the 1st-3rd of August, 2023. Date could slightly change due to weather and conditions.
I will have a support team consisting of two motorized boats sponsored by Rock The Boat Rentals (that I will never touch or get in), two kayaks (one for me to sight off and one to help shuttle food and drink back and forth from the motor boats to me. I will not be touching or holding onto the kayaks), as well I will have witnesses in the boats that will observe the entirety of the swim. I plan to track the swim with a GPS watch as well as a GPS satellite phone that will be pulled behind me by a pull buoy (which I will never hold onto or use as support, strictly there to house the satellite phone), an around the clock camera and footage proving that I never left the water, as well as detailed notes of split times per each km and the GPS coordinates that I was at that very time.
I will be untouched for the entirety of the swim, I want to stress this. I will have a support crew, but will not be touched or helped by anyone directly. I will be the one in the water and will not leave it until I have swum the length of the lake.
2020 Attempt
In 2020, I attempted to break this Guinness World Record, but fell short due to debilitating chafing.
2021 ATTEMPT
In 2021, I re-attempted to break this Guinness World Record, but fell short due to a shoulder injury and a dislocated wrist.
My Why
This record is meaningful to me because as I have gotten older my focus has shifted from external competition to internal competition and seeing how far I can push myself personally. I am blessed to have been gifted a healthy body and athletic abilities and I plan to use them to create good in whatever ways I can. The lake has been something that I have looked at or been in since I moved to Kelowna four years ago, and the tantalizing thought of conquering it using nothing but my physical and mental abilities, with no direct assistance, is very attractive to me. Especially after my failed 2020 & 2021 attempt, I am more motivated than ever to combat the problems that I faced on those long, cold nights, and come back stronger and more efficient for my 2023 attempt.
At the end of the attempt, a record may have fallen, or a record may still stand, no finish is ever guaranteed. That being said, I have gone to bed for the past couple years with the thoughts and feelings of those failed attempts replaying in my mind, night after night. I can honestly say that I will do everything in my power to make sure those feelings are not repeated.
BrainTrust Canada
I incorporated the charity organization BrainTrust Canada in with my 2020 attempt and ended up raising $13,000CAD for their cause. Click HERE to learn more about BrainTrust Canada and my fund-raising efforts.
Partners for the swim
Media
“SINK OR SWIM” is a video series posted on my YouTube channel to showcase the lead up to my 2021 reattempt of the full Okanagan Lake swim. Click the links to watch the videos.
Nick Pelletier 