A Marathon, With Sharks

Kiwi swimmer Kim Chambers was the first woman to swim a dangerous stretch of water off the California coast.

- Ryan Holder

Kim Chambers concedes she may be a bit mad. Not many people would swim nearly 50km through waters patrolled by great white sharks. But for 17 hours in August, 2015, that’s exactly what the 38-year-old San Francisco-based New Zealander did as she became the first woman to swim from the Farallon Islands to the Golden Gate Bridge.

It’s a treacherous swim, even for the most experienced marathon swimmer. The water is cold, and the currents strong. Great whites up to 6m long swim there, too. In the weeks before Chambers’ success, one of her friends and teammates at open-water club Night Train Swimmers abandoned his attempt as a shark began to circle.

Chambers, who was born on a farm near Te Kuiti, has an inspiring life story. She injured her right leg in a fall when she was 30 and ensuing complications almost cost her the limb. After years of painful rehabilitation, the former ballerina found freedom and weightlessness in the water.

Now, Chambers is one of the greatest open-water marathon swimmers in the world. She was nominated for Sportswoman of the Year at the 2015 Halberg Awards and recognised as the first New Zealander to finish the Ocean Seven challenge, a series of channel crossings – including Cook Strait, which Chambers crossed in the company of dolphins – that is the aquatic equivalent of mountaineering’s Seven Summits.

Kim Swims, a documentary following her marathon undertaking, is on the programme of the Doc Edge International Documentary Film Festival in Auckland.

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