B.C. athlete takes 3rd plunge in pursuit of Guinness record for fastest Okanagan Lake swim

An ultra-endurance athlete living in Kelowna, B.C., is gearing up for his third and final attempt to break the Guinness record for swimming the length of Okanagan Lake. 

Nick Pelletier, 25, plans to swim 106 kilometres from the lake's north arm, located about 10 kilometres northwest of Vernon, B.C., to the SS Sicamous Museum in Penticton. He aims to achieve this feat in less than 40 hours, starting from 4 a.m. PT on Aug. 1 and finishing before 8 p.m. on Aug. 2.

During his swim, Pelletier won't take any breaks for sleep. He'll be accompanied by a 20-person support team in two motorized boats and two kayaks to monitor his progress and provide him with food and drinks.

"I'm not touching anything while I'm eating," he told host Chris Walker on CBC's Daybreak South on Monday morning.

Okanagan Lake Guinness record set in 2016

The current Guinness record for the fastest swim across Okanagan Lake was set by a Detroit man, Adam Ellenstein, who completed the challenge in 40 hours, 57 minutes and 11 seconds on July 25-26, 2016. 

Ellenstein, aged 39 at the time, said he had trained for two years for the swim to raise funds for Parkinson's disease patients, including his aunt Susan Scarlett. 

Scarlett was part of a 19-person crew that supported Ellenstein during his swim, providing him with a constant supply of a sugar-and-protein drink and occasionally swimming alongside him.

"This swim has never been done before, and it's Adam's intention to do it the fastest," Scarlett told CBC News in July 2016. "He's setting the bar."

Pelletier says he sought advice from Ellenstein to prepare logistically for his epic swim, an idea that came to him during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

"I couldn't go internationally with my other expeditions, so I had to look local," he said.

But Pelletier faced setbacks during his previous two attempts to break Ellenstein's record. 

In 2020, he suffered chafing wounds on his back and shoulders due to friction with his full-body wetsuit. In 2021, he tried using a sleeveless wetsuit to reduce chafing but ended up breaking his wrist due to improper swimming strokes.

"I had to swim with one arm into the headwinds for hours, and then it just got too hard to go, and I started getting hypothermic."

Fundraising for Canadian Mental Health Association

Despite these challenges, Pelletier raised $13,000 for BrainTrust Canada, a Kelowna-based non-profit organization that supports patients with brain injuries, following his 2020 attempt to break the Guinness record. 

This time, he aims to raise $10,000 for the Canadian Mental Health Association in Kelowna.

While he cannot guarantee breaking the Guinness record, Pelletier says he's mentally prepared to take on the challenge.

"You have to look at it not as a big undertaking as a whole — I have to look at it as 106 one-kilometre swims instead of a 106-kilometre swim, so it's winning the kilometres that are behind you."