Open-ocean swimmer Kristy Fisher comes ashore on Saturday at Matapouri after her 22km swim from the Poor Knights Islands. Photo / Michael Cunningham
Northland mental health nurse Kristy Fisher completed a 22km ocean swim from the Poor Knights Islands to Matapouri on Saturday.
She surpassed the previous record at a time of seven hours and 53 minutes and raised a total of $3270 for the charity Voices of Hope.
Fisher joked that despite feeling relieved the journey was over, she’s already excited to start planning her next swim.
After months of training and organisation, she said it was only “about 10 seconds before” she jumped in the water that the reality of what she was about to do came crashing down upon her.
Despite initial concerns about the cold, Fisher was surprised to find the water to be a pleasant 19C.
“Halfway I started to feel the cold a bit, so I asked them [Fisher’s team] to warm my drinks up a bit more.”
She said it was the support of the team trailing her on a boat that kept her pushing forward during the tough sections, their encouraging words written upon a whiteboard.
“They would pull funny faces at me and do stuff to make me laugh. That was what I needed.”