Breakout Star

It could all have been very different for Andy Donaldson. In 2016, after moving from West Kilbride in Scotland, to Perth, on the west coast of Australia, Andy retired from competitive swimming at the age of 25. ‘I’d reached a point in my career where I wasn’t sure what to do,’ Andy explains. ‘I’d been a pro swimmer with aspirations to race on the international stage, but things didn’t work out like that, and yet I still felt as though I hadn’t reached my full potential.’

Like many others, Andy found his way back during the pandemic years. ‘But when I got back to the pool, I really fell in love with it – not the pressure of performance, but the other things, the sense of community and the mental health benefits.’

In 2021, with a renewed sense of curiosity about what the future might hold, Andy took part in the Rottnest Channel Swim, an extremely popular 20km swim off the coast of Western Australia. And guess what? He won.

Andy explains how it felt. ‘It was just an incredible moment. I was up against guys from Australia’s national team, the Dolphins, whereas I’d spent the past year backpacking and partying.’ Andy had worked as a volcano tour guide in Nicaragua the year before. ‘There was also the thrill at having raised $10,000 for mental health.’

‘I realised three things after that experience. First, I’m not bad at this. Second, I still have the desire to challenge myself and see what I can do. And third, maybe I can combine purpose with sport by using these challenges as vehicles to share positive messages and support worthwhile causes.’

In 2022, after setting a new record in the 34km Derwent River Big Swim (Tasmania) and winning the 25km Palm Beach to Shelley Beach Swim (Sydney), Andy announced his plan to complete the Oceans Seven challenge within 12 months – that’s the North Channel (Ireland and Scotland), the Cook Strait (New Zealand’s North and South Islands), the Moloka’i Channel (Moloka’i and O’ahu), the English Channel (England and France), the Catalina Channel (Santa Catalina Island and California), the Tsugaru Strait (Honshu and Hokkaido) and the Strait of Gibraltar (Spain and Morocco).

Andy completed all seven swims in 355 days, with multiple more records to his name, including a new world record for the Cook Strait, and the fastest completion of the Oceans Seven in both calendar (355 days) and cumulative swim time (63 hours, 2 minutes and nine seconds).

I realised three things after that experience. First, I’m not bad at this. Second, I still have the desire to challenge myself and see what I can do. And third, maybe I can combine purpose with sport by using these challenges as vehicles to share positive messages and support worthwhile causes.

Why did the record matter to you? ‘I’m not in it for the records,’ Andy admits. ‘I wanted to create as much buzz as possible so that I could share positive messages and raise money for the Black Dog Institute, particularly for people like me who might not yet feel as though they’ve reached their full potential. I discovered it was a lot harder than I first anticipated, but you do need a little naivety to go and pursue something like that.’

Andy believes there’s a strong link between activism and endurance sports. ‘There’s something about endurance sports that tends to create altruistic people,’ Andy suggests. ‘There’s something about suffering – I can’t think of a better word – for long periods of time that makes people want to do it for something bigger than themselves. I suppose these endurance challenges are a kind of analogy for the struggles we all face.’

During the Seven, Andy experienced everything from curious sharks and swarms of jellyfish (perhaps even swallowing a jellyfish) to freezing nighttime conditions in the Cook Strait and hospitalisation due to dehydration in the Tsugaru Strait.

‘People ask me which was the toughest swim,’ Andy explains, ‘but it wasn’t Moloka’i or Tsugara. It was Catalina because, in the lead up, I became so stressed and ill. The Oceans Seven was self-funded. The money I’d saved to put down on a house I spent on the Oceans Seven. But by the time we got to Catalina, I had $700 left in my bank account with two swims left to fund. I couldn’t sleep. I’d tried not to ask for money from people, because the Seven was something I’d decided to do and I wanted as much money as possible to go to good causes, but a couple of people stepped in to help towards the end.’

Towards the end of his Oceans Seven, Andy was invited to take part in a new endurance challenge, alongside 13 elite open ocean swimmers from around the world, to circumnavigate the island of Maui as part of the UN Ocean Decade – a challenge which became known as Epic Swim Maui.

‘Epic Swim Maui was more than a swim,’ Andy explains. ‘We wanted to use the swim challenge to focus the world’s attention on ocean health, with scientists collecting water samples and testing them for microplastics as we swam around the island.’

Why Maui? ‘Maui is right in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, so if there’s pollution here, then what’s it going to be like in our major rivers and busy shipping lanes? There’s also an amazing history of water sports in Maui. Some of the greatest surfers and swimmers come from the Hawaiian Islands. And there’s the culture. We wanted to learn from the indigenous people who are connected to the land and the ocean, who make every decision with multiple generations in mind, because that’s the kind of attitude we need to solve global problems.’

Epic Swim Maui was unique because of the collaborative spirit. Andy was one of 14 swimmers who have all done extraordinary things, including Sarah Thomas, the first person to complete a four-way English Channel, Yvette Tetteh who swam 450km down the Volta River in Ghana to raise awareness of the impacts of fast fashion, and Jono Ridley who swam 100km across the Hauraki Gulf in New Zealand.

‘It wasn’t a competition,’ Andy explains. ‘Our job was to swim around the island as a team, which was tough to start with, because we all have different speeds. I had to come down in speed, for example, to keep the group together and make sure no one fell off the back. I had an idea of what to expect. My dad said to me before the swim, “Are you sure you want to go back for some more Moloka’i?” But there were some days when I became seasick, dizzy and disoriented, when the team had to get me through. It really became such a powerful analogy: to go fast, go alone; to go far, go together.’

The group encountered almost everything imaginable during the swim. ‘We swam with dolphins on Day Two. We swam with marlins and sea turtles. Any time there was something ominous, we got pulled out. I’ve never felt so safe before. We had the best water safety team known to man. There were four boats, four jet skis, two sea bobs and even a guy in jet boots, all looking out for marine life.’ In the end, the team only got pulled out twice – once during a feed near Kapalua when a 10 ft. Galapagos shark took interest, and once again at McGregor Lighthouse when a Tiger shark swam under one of the swimmers at the back.

After our conversation, Andy jetted off to New York where he set a new world record for the Manhattan Island Swim, completing the 46km circumnavigation in five hours, 41 minutes and 48 seconds – two minutes faster than the previous record.

While no doubt an extraordinary achievement for this breakout (or should that be comeback?) star who first retired from swimming almost 10 years ago, this might be a surprising next step for someone who, in his own words, ‘[isn’t] in it for the records’. But it also provides an insight into Andy’s predicament.

‘I’m trying to find out how I can make this sustainable,’ Andy explains. ‘In short, how can I continue to do unique swims to support important causes?’ Sponsorship deals don’t exist yet for these swims. Andy’s sleepless nights before his Catalina crossing are a reminder of that. But Andy hopes it could still happen, that sponsors might start to see the potential, particularly when you think about how much corporate money goes into environmental, social and governance (ESG) investments. ‘Sport is a good way to do it.’

After our conversation, Andy jetted off to New York where he set a new world record for the Manhattan Island Swim, completing the 46km circumnavigation in 5 hours, 41 minutes and 48 seconds – two minutes faster than the previous record.

Andy is open minded about what comes next. ‘I’d like to try some things which have never been done before, but where there’s a real issue or a good cause. In the UK, water quality is obviously a big issue, so I’m thinking about swimming down the Thames and trying to get the UK open water swimming community behind the project, so we can all take a united stance.’

But he also wants to hear from YOU. What should Andy do next? Where should he swim? What cause should he support? If you have any ideas, let us know at elsewhere@outdoorswimmingsociety.com or tag us #OutdoorSwimmingSociety #AndyDonaldson.