An evening with Jasmine Harrison
Last summer, Jasmine Harrison became the first woman to swim the entire length of the UK from Land’s End to John O’Groats – encountering dolphins, whirlpools, strong tides and swells, and NATO’s biggest firing practice of the past decade. Watch our conversation with Jasmine, filmed as part of our Patron virtual event.
Swimming with dolphins; approaching the Isle of Man after five days at sea with no land in sight; sweeping through the Sound of Mull on a favourable tide and in ideal conditions: just three of the highlights Jasmine Harrison shared with Outdoor Swimmer readers while speaking about her 2022 Length of Britain swim as part of our Patron virtual event on 9 Feb 2023. Jasmine also told us of her disappointment that she didn’t see Tobermory as she swam past because she always breathes to her right.
The adventurer from Thirsk, North Yorkshire, spoke with wit and wisdom about the 900-mile challenge that took her from the beginning of July to mid-August to complete. She explained how swimming was the easy part; the logistics of organising the expedition, managing a team and finding sponsorship were the real challenges. The trip, she explained, brought out a wider range of emotions – positive and negative – than she had experienced before, despite becoming the youngest person to row solo across the Atlantic in 2021.
Responding to live questions from our patrons and subscribers, Jasmine explained how, initially, time passed slowly and she felt she was swimming forever. Yet, as the swim progressed, she found her mind took her to unexpected places, replaying, for example, an entire film and rewriting the lyrics to songs. Eventually, she lost sense of time and barely knew if she’d been in the water for 2 minutes or 2 hours.
She also told us that, although the swim was complete, the logistics went on. She borrowed money to buy the swim support boat, and now needs to sell the boat to repay the loan. A RIB she borrowed also needs to be transferred from Inverness to Plymouth for repairs. Still, she’s already planning new adventures.
Watch the full interview
Read our interview with Jasmine Harrison in the February ‘CHALLENGE’ edition of Outdoor Swimmer. Would you like to be invited to future live events? Find out about the many benefits of becoming an Outdoor Swimmer patron.
Photo: Simon Price