Who has swum across Bass Strait?

Answer 1

Tammy Van Wisse, from Victoria Australia, started swimming around the age of 11 because she was being teased for being overweight. Now she has swum the equivalent of 1 1/2 times around the world.

• World Record (fastest person) across Cook Strait, New Zealand. March 1999 (6hrs 49mins)
• World Record (fastest person) to swim length of Loch Ness, Scotland. August 1999 (9hrs 6mins)
• World Record (fastest person) to swim 1515 mile length of the Murray River, Australia. 5 November 2000 - 18 February 2001 (106 days)
• World Record (fastest person) to swim Bass Strait, Tasmania to Victoria, Australia. February 1996. (17hrs 46 mins - 97.4kms) (Most treacherous waterway in the world)
• Winner of Manhattan Island 48km Marathon Swim, New York. 1997 (7hrs 13mins)
• Winner of Olympic Games Centenary Marathon Swim, Greece. 1996 (7hrs 13mins)
• Winner of inaugural Melbourne 30km Big Swim, Australia. 1998 (7hrs 18mins)
• Fastest person across the English Channel in 1993, UK. (8hrs 38mins)
• First ever brother/sister combination to cross English Channel together, UK. 1994 (John van Wisse - 8hrs 17mins & Tammy van Wisse - 8hrs32mins)
• Australian Record for the fastest person to swim 50 laps (40kms) of Bondi Beach, Australia. 1998 (9hrs 7mins)
• Represented Australia in over 16 international marathon swims
• Winner of 17 Victorian Royal Lifesaving Ironwoman Titles (without a hint of rust!)

As part of Tammy's objectives to promote Port Phillip Bay, Victoria as an environmentally friendly recreational asset she has also swum:

• Across Port Phillip Bay, Port Arlington to Frankston, 1993 (40kms)
• Length of Port Phillip Bay, Rosebud to Seth Melbourne, 1994 (58.5kms)
• Circumference of Port Phillip Bay, Portsea to Sorrento, 1995 (144kms)

In June of 2004. Tammy Van Wisse swam the Gippsland lakes in frigid waters 24 miles in less than 10 hrs.