Craig Clarke hatched a plan five years ago to swim the English Channel.
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The long-time coalminer and former Swansea-Belmont surf champion started training seriously two-and-a-half years ago and engaged the specialist coaching, dietary and medical expertise required to help him cope with 10 hours of swimming through cold water.
He cut back to three days of work so he could train the other four, racking up 100 kilometres a month in the water.
Then COVID-19 struck.
"Shattered," Mr Clarke said of his feelings when he realised in April that international travel would be all but impossible for the foreseeable future. "It was Easter. I remember clearly the news about international travel being unlikely this year.
"That was my first realisation, then I went to my GP the following week for a blood test, which is all part of the medical process for the Channel, and he gave it to me straight, from a medical and health point of view.
"I was probably rattled for about a week, and then the idea cropped up in my head, 'Well, I'm ready, I could sort of create an English Channel in Newcastle.'"
The 55-year-old was due to be in Dover, on the English south coast, waiting for the tides and weather to align for his once-in-a-lifetime swim.
Instead, he is preparing for a different challenge, a 36km swim from the Catherine Hill Bay jetty to Newcastle in the last week of August to raise funds for Beyond Blue.
I convince myself that, even though there's sharks out there and maybe not far from me, I'm not of interest to them.
- Craig Clarke
The water temperature will be about 16 degrees, and the swim will take up the entire 10 to 11 hours of daylight at that time of year.
His friends at Swansea-Belmont think he's mad.
"My experienced peers in the surf club, they can't get their head around the sharks and the distance.
"They say, 'Are you serious? What about sharks?'
"If you want to have the fear, you've got it. I don't, for a few reasons. One is, statistically, and somebody will probably prove me wrong on this, swimmers don't get taken by sharks. It's generally surfers or scuba divers or spear fishermen.
"The big reason for that is that nine times out of ten they're wearing a black wetsuit and they aren't moving very fast. If you can defend the shark, they look like a wounded seal.
"I've got bright-coloured swimmers on and a bright-coloured cap and I'm always moving.
"I convince myself that, even though there's sharks out there and maybe not far from me, I'm not of interest to them."
Dolphins are more common and far more welcome companions on Mr Clarke's training swims, mostly 6km sprints along the Merewether to Bar Beach stretch.
"They definitely like to play with anything they see in the water. They've come up face to face with me a number of times."
Mr Clarke resigned from his mining job in Wollongong and moved back to Newcastle four weeks ago to focus on the "Coals to Newcastle Swim", which will be the same distance as the Channel crossing.
"In the last two weeks I've pieced together two thirds of the swim in two swims," he told the Newcastle Herald after a 12km training session from Catherine Hill Bay to Swansea with kayak paddler Paul Hunter by his side.
"This swim has got some additional challenges to the English Channel.
"It certainly covers the distance and will be colder in water temperature. That's part of the reason I'm doing it in winter.
"The combination of all the challenges the headlands produce, swimming close to the coast, as well Swansea Channel, as well as the added risk that marine life in this part of the world brings.
"In my own mind as far as an English Channel, this is really close to the real deal."
Mr Clarke is a national rescue and resuscitation lifesaving champion, state surf belt champion and world masters 200m butterfly winner.
He was experienced at open-water events up to 3km before settling on the challenge of marathon swimming's holy grail.
"I'd always wanted to do the English Channel, and I teed up five years ago that this would be the year.
"Pretty much been two-and-a-half years of dedicated training just for the English Channel, which is a lot different to two to three kilometres in warm water, stepping up to more than 30 kilometres in cold water."
Putting on enough body fat to cope with the temperature and learning to eat and drink while swimming have been new challenges.
"Hypothermia is a real issue. The best insulation you've got is body fat.
"It's a fine balance between maintaining a weight that protects you from hypothermia and being physically capable of swimming that far for that long."
Mr Clarke's past experiences with mental health led him to support Beyond Blue.
"I've also got close friends and family that in very recent times have suffered from it.
"And the impact on everyone of COVID, everybody's life has been affected by it. Beyond Blue confirmed that the number of calls they get is stretched a lot further because of COVID."
The Channel swim has a three-year waiting list, meaning Mr Clarke will have to prepare, and continue to turn his life upside down, until at least 2023 if he decides to have another shot.
"The concern about not swimming it this year is that you can't just swim it next year. It doesn't work like that. To shuffle your work as well as your personal life around preparing for it for a couple of years is a big deal."
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