Corrina Connor is a Wellington ultramarathon swimmer, ice swimmer, musician, and the MC of Wellington's popular Sea Panels at Te Matapihi central library.

In this episode we talk about Corrina's swim journey from a teenager at the pool to setting 20km+ targets in the open water. She swam across the Cook Strait (Te Moana-o-Raukawa) in December 2021, after a thwarted first go in March of the same year. She swam Foveaux Strait (Te Ara a Kiwa) in 2023 and Lake Taupō in 2024. She also completed a circumnavigation of Rangitoto Island in 2025. (You can read her excellent write-ups of her big swims on her blog, Goggles at Dawn.)

We also talk more generally about how to stay positive during very long (or very cold) swims, technique, training goals and swim routines, and feeding plans.

This month Corrina is training for the NZ Ice Swimming Championships in July and is also taking part in Coastguard NZ's Big Swim fundraiser – you can sponser her via her fundraising page.

Because Corrina has done so much swimming (24km in the pool and sea per week is not uncommon), I asked a lot of questions and this episode is about 90 minutes long. It's a good one – grab a hot beverage of your choice and enjoy!

The photo shows Corrina swimming an ice mile (about 1.6km) at St Bathans in 2023. (Corrina Connor)

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At the time of recording, Eddie was recovering from a mountain biking accident so we talk about that at the start of the episode. All the best with your recovery, Eddie!

Eddie Spearing lives in Wānaka on New Zealand's South Island, and is the founder of Ruby Fresh, a wetsuit that was designed (by Eddie) for freshwater swimming – he's since grown the business and now also sells wetsuits for ocean swimming.

Eddie is the co-organiser of the hugely popular Ruby Island Swim event, which is held every year in late January. Entries are limited and open on September 1st.

In this episode we talk about what goes into designing a wetsuit, launching and growing a swim business, how to look after your wetsuit so it lasts longer, the history of Ruby Island and the annual swim (which started in 2015), lake conservation, the pūteketeke (the Australasian crested grebe famously championed by John Oliver), the meaning of 'lake snow/snot' and 'duck itch', and how Eddie went from running snowboarding events in the UK to launching a swim business in Wānaka.

Thanks to Lesley Cornish for the photo of Eddie, taken in 2025 during our swim adventure in Wānaka.

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Support the podcast via ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Patreon.com/SwimChats⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

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Thanks for listening! :-)

Poetry captures the sensory delights and desires (and sometimes death and despair) of swimming and the allure of open water. In this episode, returning guest Sinéad Kehoe and I take turns reading some of our favourite swim poems, mostly organised by theme, location, or general vibe. Mermaids, grottos, drowning, thrashing waves, darting fish, and naked swims are all captured in these verses. We also got inspired and penned a couple of our own poems!

There are no deep dives or literary deconstructions here, and we only read a few lines of the longer poems, so even if poetry isn’t your usual gig let the words wash over you – enjoy the rolling tides and shades of blue conjured by these poems.

Here’s the full list, in reading order:

‘Mana of the Sea’ by DH Lawrence

‘Sonnet to the Sea’ by John Keats

‘The Sea’ and ‘Ode to the Sea’ by Pablo Neruda

‘E Rere Kau Mai’ Māori whakatauki/proverb (Whanganui iwi)

‘And My Heart Goes Swimming’ by Roma Pōtiki

‘Sea Swimming in Spring (Instant Poem)’ by Rachel McAlpine

‘Morning Swim’ by Maxine Kumin

‘Water is my Prayer’ from the blog Swimming at Dawn

‘From Sauna to Sea on a Rainy Autumn Day’ by Shona Riddell

‘Full Moon’ haiku by Matsuo Basho

‘Maggie and Milly and Molly and May’ by ee cummings

‘Not Waving but Drowning’ by Stevie Smith

‘The Mermaid’ by William Butler Yeats

‘Swimming’ by Mao Zedong

‘Aquatic Nocturne’ by Sylvia Path

‘Nude Swim’ by Anne Sexton

‘The Otter’ by Seamus Heaney

‘The Swimmer’ by Mary Oliver

‘Salted’ by Pippa Best

‘Pearl Diver’ by Lady Nakatomi

‘Winter Swims, Saturday Morning, Claude’s Cove’ by Sinéad Kehoe

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Swimming With Lord Byron episode with John Hancock

Kate Camp’s episode about her swimming and sea poems

Swimming films, books and music episode (also with Sinead)

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Support the podcast via ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Patreon.com/SwimChats⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Follow Swim Chats on Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Contact me at swimchatswithshona at gmail dot com

Hit 'Follow' so you don't miss an episode.

Thanks for listening! :-)