as ego is concerned, there are easier ways of doing things. when you go into these swims, they are extremely, extremely hard. i they are extremely, extremely hard. . . . they are extremely, extremely hard. , ., ., , hard. i understand that but does breaking hard. i understand that but does breaking records, - hard. i understand that but l does breaking records, doing things that others have never done, matterto things that others have never done, matter to you? things that others have never done, matterto you? because i mjust done, matterto you? because i m just thinking of the done, matter to you? because i m just thinking of the way done, matterto you? because i m just thinking of the way in which you, i think even yourself have compared yourself to people like edmund hillary, the first conqueror of everest. you are an explorer, in a sense, because you go to the most remote places. and there is always, for the rest of us who don t do that sort of thing, a fascination with motivatio
very busy news world, to be able to capture the imagination of of the media, there has to be something special. so, undertaking a swim, the first swim across the north pole, it automatically gets the media s attention. and when you ve got that attention, you have influence. have ever things ever gone seriously wrong? i ve done a few swims which were very, very close to the edges, right? i mean, you re swimming in a very, very high consequence environment. i mean, let mejust explain, give you an example. so, for example, when i swam across the north pole, we prepared for the swim, we prepared as thoroughly as possible but you can t go there and do a practice swim. and i remember arriving in the north pole and looking out over this icy terrain and it s and it s black water. it s really, really frightening. and then, just thinking as i m about to get into the water, well, this this water is below zero . it s i.7 degrees centigrade, 29 degrees fahrenheit it s unbelievably cold.
really cold and from my history classroom, i could see robben island and i thought to myself, one day, i want to do it, and that s where it all started. it started and it never really stopped. you had a career in corporate law maritime law and we were making good money but in your 30s, you quit that to embrace full time endurance extreme swimming. yes. i just. in a way, ijust wonder whether ego is a part of this and whether you were let s get to the campaigning in a minute but whether you are also trying to prove something to yourself about yourself. so, i think there s been a transition. so, you know, you re very, very right. i started out as a swimmer and i love swimming but then, i became a maritime lawyer and then, i became an ocean advocate and now, i represent the united nations as a un patron of the oceans and so, i suppose i m an environmental diplomat, so there s been that transition but insofar as ego is concerned, there are easier ways of doing things. when you go
linsey: the marathon swim known as the 20 bridges takes swimmers on a course under 20 bridges. i think that was number five. linsey: maya swam with a team close by, including an observer and her proud parents, completing the challenge in 8 hours 43 minutes. i really like the challenge of it. george washington bridge ahead. i got to see all of the manhattan skyline, from the water at night. linsey: the rising high school junior from berkeley, california, is part of swim across america, to raise money for cancer research. knowing that the money i m raising makes a difference really encourages me to keep going. and through my fund-raising i hope that we can kind of end cancer. linsey: her swims over the past eight years with swim across america have raised more than $60,000. whatever i m doing in my swimming, whatever pain i go through in my swims, it s really nothing compared to the struggle that cancer families go through.