Lynne Cox, went out to Antarctica and swam a mile in 32 degree water. She must have been wearing something to keep her warm right? No, just a regular swimsuit. She grew up in California and likes to swim and she decided to test herself and swim in freezing cold water...literally. The coldest water she had ever swam in before was around 45 degrees. She did a warm up run before the mile swim in 45 degree temperatures. Amazingly, she didn't get sick, and she was followed by a doctor and her friends. She has a bit of body fat which may help a little bit, but not much in that kind of water.

If you don't want to believe it until you see it, then watch the videos.
http://60minutes.yahoo.com/segment/81/swimming_to_antarctica

This is pretty amazing. I can barely stay in spring water which is around 60 degrees. I don't think I'd be able to stand it in even 50 degree water. She was the first and probably only to swim a mile in Antarctica water in a regular swimsuit. I'm surprised she survived through it. She trained herself to ignore the pain but in that kind of water it has to be hard to move.

Wow! That's really inpsiring and brave of her! I can't go into freezing cold water. I don't even like the cold, period. There's no way I could do that.

Ha! Ha!

This reminds me of the time I went for a hike into a Glacier fed lake. There were no other cars at the trailhead, the day was bright, sunny and warm. We hiked for about 2 hours and stopped beside a lake for the cool breeze. It felt so good I had to jump in. Naked, of course, because we still had a ways to go on the Hike and if you have ever hiked, wet clothing is not preferred. So in I jump. Did I mention it was Glacier fed??? Very cold water. I'll let your imagination run with the effect, but about half way into the pool of water, I regretted the dive. The guys will figure that part pretty quickly. Anyways, so I complete the dive and of course, immediately stroked quickly back to the edge of the Lake and climb out just in time for a group of 20 or so Tourists to witness the entire affair. My back was turned to them, but still... embarassing is the word that comes to mind. Turns out they were German or Swiss and thought nothing of it, but I have been a lot more careful about remembering to carry a pair of swimming trunks on my ventures now.

Eww!!! Nasty images in my head. So I guess you know what it feels like to be there. I think the hint of ice in the water probably means it's gonna be a bit chilly. If you aren't diving in and swimming right away you will freeze quickly, atleast I do. I'll stick to the swimming pool here in my community in Florida where it doesn't get cold that much.

That must have been a great achievment for that woman, I wonder if that would enter as a record for guiness.

@jlhaslip: lol, thats very funny, I wonder what the tourists think now or what they remember about that site they were visiting.

This reminds me of the time when my family first got our inground pool. It was still being built, and there was a screw at the bottom. My dad told me to go get it, so i got in my swim suit. I believe the water was around 40 or 50 degrees, it was VERY COLD. Its not too bad if you work your way into it very slowly like I did. However this woman accomplished something truly amazing. Go her!

That is unbelievable, I sometimes have problems jumping into an 85 Ferenheit lake, there would be no way I could jump in freezing water. She must have trained very hard to not get sick from that. That is truely an amazing feat and I hope she gets recognition for it.

I read that and though it sounded pretty hot for Anartica. Then I realised you must be talking about fahrenheit and not celsius which made it all rather brrry again.

Fair play to her, strange these ambitions people get.

I would never swim a mile in Antarctica, honestly, I would never even go there, I live in Ohio, and it's too cold for me. However, I guess some one has to do it, they have to swim a mile in the coldest continent in the world. I also think it;s impressive that she just swam a mile though, I know I can't do that, in fact I can't even run a good mile.