Unhappy and unfulfilled, Dean Summers decided something in his life had to change. Now the ocean endurance swimmer has claimed his own piece of history.
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The 64-year-old became the first person to complete the fabled swim from Newcastle to Sydney on March 14.
Dean is no stranger to long distance ocean swimming. He swam the English channel in 2015. After completing a number of other challenging swims, including the Cook Strait, Gibraltar Strait and Molokai Channel, he decided it was time for a challenge nobody had conquered before him.
About 12 years ago, Dean found himself at a crossroads - he had just broken up with a long term partner, was unfit, out of shape and a slave to his job.
"It was just a confluence of everything saying 'you're going the wrong way'," he told ACM's The Senior.
"I needed new challenges, a new objective. Something with community was so important and something I'd been lacking for a long time."
He had grown up swimming in Western Australia, so he decided the pool was a good place to start trying to get his life back on track.
On his first visit to the Annette Kellerman Aquatic Centre in Marrickville, he managed to swim eight laps. By the time he'd finished he was so exhausted he went home and slept for most of the weekend.
Still, he persisted, moving to the Andrew (Boy) Charlton Pool in Sydney, where he started training alongside swim coach Vladimir Mravec's team and found the sense of community he had been missing.
One day he noticed a number of the coach's protégées were doing extra and asked why. He was told they were training to swim the English Channel.
He told the coach he was interested in taking on the challenge himself. He then embarked on an extensive training regimen that included ocean swims of increasing distance and cold water conditioning in Melbourne's Port Phillip Bay.
Hurdles and hazards throughout the journey
The Newcastle to Sydney swim had been attempted just twice before, by endurance swimming champions Des Renford and Susie Maroney.
Setting out from Nobby's Beach on March 13, just before sunrise, the 95km swim took him more than 31 hours to complete.
He had to contend with numerous hazards, including the constant stings of the bluebottles who were his ever-present swimming companions.
"I estimate over the whole swim I averaged about three stings an hour," Dean said.
'Magnificent' bioluminescence
But there were plenty of awe-inspiring moments to offset the pain. By day he saw all kinds of marine life - including big smacks of stingrays and shoals of fish.
After the sun went down, he was treated to the stunning bioluminescence of the water as it was lit up by the moon and the stars - a sight he described as "magnificent".
At about 8am on the second morning, Dean's support crew received word a heavy storm was coming. The decision was made for him to begin the five hour swim towards the shore at Palm Beach, which as a Sydney beach, would qualify him for the new record.
By 2pm the water was getting rougher. The conditions were taking a toll on his body, the bluebottles continued to sting and he was starting to hallucinate.
"My nose was burnt from the salt, my throat was burnt from the salt...and there were still the jellyfish.
"At one point, one lodged itself up my nostril, that was a pain I've never felt before."
Eventually Dean made it ashore: exhausted, relieved and very satisfied.
"To pull it off I was so... satisfied doesn't do it justice, but it was a great feeling of accomplishment.
"I brought a whole group of people along with me - family, friends, coach. I was just one part of it. Together we set our sights on an Australian record."
