An Open Swimmer, winner of the Australian Vogel Award, is the remarkable first novel by Tim Winton, one of Australia's most loved and respected writers. Jerra and his best mate Sean set off in a beaten-up old VW to go camping on the coast. Jerra's friends and family want to know when he will finish university, when he will find a girl. But they don't understand about Sean's mother, Jewel, or the bush or the fish with the pearl. They think he needs a job, but what Jerra is searching for is more elusive. Only the sea, and perhaps the old man who lives in a shack beside it, can help.

At 14, Lynne Cox swam 26 miles from Catalina Island to the California mainland; at 15 and 16, she broke the men's and women's world records for swimming the English Channel - a 33-mile crossing; at 18, she swam the 20-mile Cook Strait between North and South Islands of New Zealand; she was the first to swim the Strait of Magellan, the most treacherous 3-mile stretch of water in the world; she was first to swim the Bering Strait from Alaska to Siberia, thereby opening the U.S.-Soviet border for the first time in 48 years; and the first to swim the Cape of Good Hope (a shark emerged from the kelp, its jaws wide open, and was shot as it headed straight for her). And finally she is the first person to have swum a mile in 0 degree water in Antarctica.Lynne Cox writes about swimming the way Saint-Exupery wrote about flying, and one sees how swimming, like flying, can stretch the wings of the spirit. A thrilling, modest, vivid and lyrical, account of an inspiring life.

Open Water Swimming: A Complete Guide for Swimmers and Triathletes is aimed at all levels of open water swimmer, from beginners right through to competing professionals. It covers all aspects of the sport: its history and health benefits; a thorough introduction to getting started; a full discussion on training equipment and how it should be used; the safety and legal aspects of choosing a suitable location for swimming; acclimatization for both the beginner and the experienced swimmer. The author then goes on to explain in detail all technical aspects of open water swimming; sighting; drafting; turning around buoys; entraces, exits and transitions. Topics covered include: the importance of nutrition - for training, competition and improving recovery - and injury prevention and rehab, including a programme for core stability and stretching. The only open water swimming guide to be written by a professional athlete and Olympian. Basic training programmes for Triathlon 750m and 1500m distances, Ironman events and 10km and channel swimming. Superbly illustrated with 75 colour photographs.

Swimming for Triathlon and Open Water has the advice and tips you need to become more confident, more efficient and faster in the water. The drills and practices target specific key movements and skills to help you build a simple, effective front crawl style. This means you use less energy and swim further in comfort than ever before. Ideal for open-water swims and for longer-distance pool-based swimming. As well as technique, find advice about how to train for an event, on-the-day preparations, what happens during a swim, the psychological side of open-water swimming, race tactics, nutrition and equipment.

This book tells of the trials and tribulations of an English expatriate who set himself an endurance sporting goal just for the hell of it. Living in Bulgaria made the challenge even more demanding and was seen by many as a quintessential eccentric English quirk, pointless and mingled with madness. The goal was to complete a 2-mile open water swimming event based some 3000 kilometres away in London's Hyde Park. The biggest hurdle was not being able to swim with an acute fear of water. Not to be ignored here is age. It was perhaps getting old that motivated him more than anything as opposed to just limp and fade away into the lethargy of old age. The challenge seemed an impossible feat initially with many hurdles that had to be overcome. This was not just from starting out as a non-swimmer fearful of water, but from other logistic issues over the 6-month journey. Getting through the challenge needed lots of determination, strong resolve not least bloody-mindedness.