Swim Chats

Melissa Donaldson is a marathon swimmer and SwimMastery coach from Brisbane, Australia. When Melissa was approaching 50 and working in the corporate world, she began to swim as a hobby. Within a few years she was swimming 20km-plus distances and trained as a swim coach to help others safely achieve their goals and find joy in swimming. She runs the SwimMastery Swim Studio in Brisbane and continues to explore her own relationship with the water, seeking new challenges and opportunities along the way.

SwimMastery: swimmastery.online

SwimMastery online resources (swim programmes, injury prevention, swimming guides – affiliate link)

The SwimMastery Swim Studio in Brisbane

The Apolima Strait Swim in Sāmoa (22.3km)

The Great Keppel Island Swim in Australia (20km)

The 'Cliff to Bridge' Derwent River Swim in Tasmania (15km)

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Adrienne Linney is an ocean swimmer, a jewellery maker, and the founder of the Better Beach Babes, a dipping group in Wellington that started three years ago and is now a thriving cold-water community.  The BBBs appeared on the cover of the NZ Women's Weekly in August 2022. Adrienne's jewellery is inspired by the colours, textures, and movement of the ocean.

'Beach Babes' daring dips': www.nowtolove.co.nz/news/real-life/beach-babes-daring-dips-45905

Adrienne Linney Jewellery: www.adriennelinneyjewellery.co.nz

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Kaye Mueller is an ocean swimmer and a yoga instructor. She’s the owner of YogiFish, a company that takes people on yoga and swim retreats in beautiful locations such as Niue, Aitutaki, and Indonesia. She swims at Goat Island Marine Reserve in Leigh, Auckland, and is a vibrant, warm and inspiring person – and, as she would probably say, a salty soul.

YogiFish website: yogifish.nz

Goat Island Marine Reserve: www.goatislandmarine.co.nz

Te Kohuroa rewilding project: www.tekohuroarewilding.org

Nick Cave's piece on wild swimming: theredhandfiles.com/what-makes-you-happy

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Breanna Ward is a marathon swimmer and ocean advocate from Wellington, Aotearoa NZ. She is a Triple Crown swimmer which means she has achieved three extremely challenging water crossings: Raukawa Moana / Cook Strait, Lake Taupō, and Te Ara a Kiwa / Foveaux Strait. Bre swims to raise awareness for ocean conservation, fundraises for marine education, and has a soft spot for sharks. She also runs local Ocean Safety courses to enable us to be 'good' swimmers, in every sense of the word!

Here's Bre's blog post about swimming Te Ara a Kiwa:

Here's the petition we mentioned to protect orange roughy

And the Ethel Cain song Bre had in her head for her long swim!

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Toy Saia'ana, a Kiwi of Samoan descent, first learned how to swim as an adult. For the past few years she has challenged herself to swim in many different environments (including in choppy seas, in the dark, through winter and without a wetsuit). She is constantly learning, exploring, and helping others.

We also talk about swimming through grief and giving ourselves permission to pull back in order to move forwards.

For more information about SwimMastery: www.swimmastery.online

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In this episode Shona chats to Fifi Colston, a Wellington artist, World of Wearable Arts award winner, writer, children's book illustrator and costume maker who swims all year round at several of our local Wellington beaches. We talk about getting started, swimming in winter, a close encounter with orcas, and the mental health benefits of swimming.

Visit Fifi's website

Check out Fifi's Facebook page

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Every swimmer has a story to tell. Writer and swimmer Shona Riddell chats to adventure swimmers, winter dippers, marathon swim coaches, marine conservationists and more to find out how they got started and the lessons they've learned along the way. Whether you’re a swimmer yourself, or just interested in stories about the sea and people expanding their comfort zones, you'll enjoy these swim chats. Please subscribe so you don’t miss an episode.