The Overly Excited Podcast

Get that a little bit. Alright, everyone. Welcome back to the

podcast episode number 43 of the overly excited episode

with Jackpot. 4043. My name is Dale Soll and Jackpotts here.

Now we had joined, Jacko. We've had some amazing guests on here. Some

people that I think I would sorta classify as a little bit crazy

with different things they're doing. And I reckon today's guest nearly trumps all

of them in the most positive way ever. So Tony Van Wees, welcome to

podcast, mate. Thanks, Jack. Before we

start, we always start with what gets you excited? What gets you

jumping out of your seat? Now from what we just spoke about before, Jack, I'm

actually a little bit nervous about where this could go. Because I think you

I think what gets you excited, Johnny, is a little bit different than most, mate.

But what gets you excited? Oh, at my age now,

not much because I'm I'm 51 now. I'm getting I'm over the hills. So for

me, it's just about getting goals. Yeah. Try to try to keep keep

keep motivated and, you know, spending the alternative getting

old and, you know, and weeks. So I'm trying to trying to do adventures

I can still do, you know, reasonably well. But, when I

was young, you know, I get a heavy metal song on my head and I'll

just start charging. Yeah. Now now give

me a headache. So, yeah, you gotta you gotta reinvent yourself as you get older.

It gets gets harder, but, yeah, when I was young, yeah, I'd I'd

I'd think I was saving the world, you know, swimming, doing swims and things and

you're not obviously, but, yeah, I'd get a song on my head and I'd

charge for hours. And now it's a different different vehicle now.

But, yeah. So now it's just trying to, yes. It's like fit

and healthy and, trying to try to achieve things still and, things that I can

do at 51. Yeah. I think that's, it's a really good point. Like as you

get older, you've, you know, you might not be at your peak

physical, physically, but you can still set

amazing goals. You can still accomplish things. You can push your

body to the same amounts of limits. It might not be able to do the,

the same things as when you were 25 30, but you know, it's, it's

about having that purpose. Isn't it? Yeah. Well, that that's right. Jack, I can't

go as quick anymore, but I'm still pretty strong and I can tolerate the cold.

So I try and find things that are a bit harder than, the

level supplying field now. Yeah. So, so yeah. So so right now, I'm

trying to fill Loch Ness, in Scotland, which is 36

k in freezing water. So, better try and break 9

hours 26. That's the that's the overall record. So I'm in trying to get at

the moment. Swim for 9 hours 26. And you got a good little

sponsor on board. None media. Yeah. You got 90. So I got the sponsor. So

thanks. Met none, none media. Thanks. Yeah. Media

get on board people. But you so you're in the water for 9

hours plus freezing cold water. We're over

in Scotland. Yeah. Scotland. Yeah. In the Highlands. Last year. Take

us through take us through that. Was it the trip was epic last

year. We, we just fluked it. We we stayed in this house. I had about

10 mates over and we're at the top of the Highlands. And, we stayed in

the house that was 200 years old, and it used to be owned by the

author of Peter Pan. So he wrote Peter Pan at that house a 120

years ago. Oh, that's cool. Yeah. So so the, the

caretaker was telling us all the stories. And then, so John Gielgud, the,

famous actor from Chariots of Fire, which one of my favorite movies. He was the

pompous principal in in that. He's one of, like,

an Oscar for Tootsie. He used to own the house too. So this

house had all this history and Wow. The doorways were like 5 foot tall, so

we're all hitting our heads. That's so much. Now watch your head. And

but, so that was a great way to start the trip. And it was basically

like our winter here. Like, every day was 13, 14. And you might get half

an hour of sun and then it blow up and it'd be hailing and raining.

And, but the the Loch Ness is 36 k in length,

but at at its widest, it's only a mile. So it's just like

got the Highlands on either sides. I just sort of got this long funnel. And

it's 200 something meters deep. They reckon you can fit the world's population

in there 4 times that you can fit all the locks. Yeah. All the

locks all through, Great Britain can fit into Loch Ness. It's that it's

that deep. So it's, it's very eerie. It's like the

water's jet black. So it's like looking at a bottomless pit, and your

body's illuminated like a light globe. And it's, yeah, it's freezing cold,

like, 10:10 to kind of 12 degrees depending on where you're at and how the

wind is. Because half a meter deep is really cold. So if it gets windy,

it brings the cold water up. Oh. So, yes. So last

year, they give you a week's window. So I'm trying to pick the best day

in that week. Yeah. And the first half, I had fantastic

additions. Like, I had lot a lot, tall breeze,

a little bit of sun beside at 7 in the morning. And it was predicted

to stay like that. And then a golf force wind came up against me

and, it was just horrendous. So the boatman said he had to double the

revs to go at the same speed the second half. So I did the first

half in, 4 hours in the second half in 8 hours. So then that

taking me 12 12 hours. Wow. So so yes. I was on

target for the first half and then yeah. It just blew up. Yeah. Well, I

didn't know it was it was quite a horrendous and, finishing. I was I was

I finished it, but I was a bit of a mess. Yeah. So I'm going

back this year hoping to, I learned a lot. So I'm I'm really gonna wait

for it to blow up and go with the wind and hope it doesn't change.

Yeah. Or also, like, if you go really early, like,

2 or 3 in the morning, you're better off. You got

more success, more chance of getting less wind. Because generally it gets gets

windy about lunchtime, I heard from some of the locals. Yep. So, so

I'm I'm either gonna go really early and go with the flight conditions or wait

for it to blow up and just try and surf my way and hope that's

if it does just swap around, I that's what I'm stuck.

You have to go back to games. Plan. Yeah. It's funny. I went, I went

to Scotland to a music festival at, Loch Ness in the middle of summer Yeah.

And I've never been more cold in my life. And that was summer, and I

wasn't in the water. I was looking at it. That was beautiful. Now, mate, you've

done so many, like, missions, you call them, or challenges.

Where does the motivation come for something at your age of 51 to

obviously beat the world record of Loch Ness? Like, what mindset or where

where does this come from? Do you just wake up one night and go bang,

we go to Scotland and swim in freezing conditions where no one else is.

Like, where's the motivation come by? I'll just try and pick my

marks, Dallas. So so I just kinda think I'll you

know, I still could swim pretty quick, but not as quick as I used to,

obviously. So I think, oh, that's that's a time I could get. I can't

tolerate cold. You know, I'm pretty resilient still sousing, and that's

something I possibly could still get, you know, a good record at.

So it looked really good on the resume. You know, we had the fastest sort

of Loch Ness of all time. So kinda more like that, things like

that. So I'm trying to pick my marks now and work out what's,

you know, I was I was thinking of the also there's the the longest swim

in Antarctica, things like that. So I'm thinking it's things like that now these

days rather than trying, you know, wind doing quite a bit. Let's just

torture myself for as long as possible. Yeah. It's it's it's it's it's speed.

But, yeah. I don't have to go as, you know, as quick as when I

was 25. So so yeah. So that's kinda what happens. I just kind

of try and pick my marks now and work work out what's happened. I think

I I can still still achieve. Where where'd you grow up, John? We are you

I'm Spring Springerville boy, Jack. So I'm Springy. And, yeah, I'm living

in Bayside now. It's been I'm Moringa, and I grew up in Springy. Beautiful.

Yeah. Down at Springville Naval Park and used to run through Daniel on the

good old days. I loved it. Yeah. Yeah. And and it was always been

swimming, like a swimming being the main sort of, you know, vice

for you? Yeah. Start off, swimming Jack.

I I had school, so I just wanted to get out of school. My dad

was a real tough man, And my sister was a marathon swimmer. She was traveling

around Europe winning races. And she was dating an Italian guy who was

second at the world at in at the time of well, that looks like a

really good life. So I just, I I wanna get out of school,

and I had to give my dad a reason. So I I took up marathon

swing thing and I ate couple too hard. Didn't realize that hard yet to

train. And, so I'll I'll study in Italy and travel around Europe

and did really well. Won some big races and, got hooked on it like

that. But then eventually, I got sick of doing that because I was swimming like

a 120 k a week when I was preparing. And so I took up marathon

running thinking, you know, I was hoping to make the Sydney Olympics in, the

marathon running thinking I kept too hard. But I didn't realize it was that

hard. And I'm a swim coach, so I I coach

coach a lot of triathletes. And on weekends, I do aquathons for

prize money, which are which is swim runs. And I've and I've win win a

lot of them and beat some of the triathletes. So people in the squad are

saying, you just beat so and so, you should learn how to ride a bike.

So then I got on the bike and, you know, took up triathlon. So I've

gone from one thing to the next. I've gone from marathon swimming, to marathon running

to to, triathlons and back to marathon swimming. So when I get

sick of 1, I go back to the other. Yep. Yep. So a little

bit sick in the head, is fair to say. Probably. Yeah. I'm

good sick, though. Movement is medicine as I say, but you're moving for a bloody

long time, Johnny, everything you're doing. Thanks, doll.

That's right. You could be into worse things. That's You could. Oh, mate. There's a

lot worse things. You I think you picked something that's obviously good.

Now when you're swimming, because one thing swimming

is probably one of the most lonely sports ever. Like, it's just

you traditionally in a pool looking at that black line, you swimming

in all these other places. There's no line. You're just swimming to blackness. Like you're

saying, that the Loch Ness. What what what

goes through your head? Like, obviously, you said you used to listen to rock music

and things like that. But Yeah. Because it must get lonely. You must have some,

like, dark thoughts, literally. Oh, you do. You I always

say, endurance sports like a metaphor of life because you could things

can be going really well, and all of a sudden, something happens out of the

blue. And you're like, you've been feeling great, and and you're thinking, oh, this this

is not too hard. And all of a sudden, you have a down patch. And,

and then you're struggling again. You go, where'd that come from? And then you come

good again. So it is a roller coaster, as as Jack

would know, with sports. It's just tough tough, doing sports. So

I always say it's like a a metaphor of life, but just compacted into, you

know, so many hours. Yeah. But, yeah, when when I was young, it was

different. Like like, awesome across football at bay when I was a kid,

for put lines in the Frankston. I remember I just played the whole ACDC

track in my head, and I was just charging along. So I was 20 years

old. You know, it's just I loved it. Now I did that,

I'd get a headache. So it's, yeah. It's like like I said, it's

just you you you change as you get older, you gotta reinvent yourself. But,

but, yeah, you you have a lot of dark spots and, good spots. And it's,

it's a roller coaster. You just prepare as best you can. And for all of

these endurance sports, you can't do the full distance in training. So you basically

gotta try and work out what you think would stop you and try and, you

know, whether you're fat enough for the cold or, you know, you got a shoulder

injury or something. You gotta, you know, give your body a taste of everything and

make it resilient enough. So on that day when you gotta dig in, you hope

everything holds together and and and mentally hold together. So, yeah,

a lot of it's a leap of faith. Cause you sort of going into the

unknown, aren't you? A lot of the time when you can't push yourself that much

in training, you never really can. Once you come to the, yeah,

the event it's Well, that's it, Jack. Look, a lot of it started like I

might've done a 10 k swim when I was young and I thought, oh, I

can make 10 ks, mate. I can do 20. So you do 20, and you

make 20, I think, oh, wow. I could probably do 40. So so a lot

of it's stepping stones to you. You you think, oh, I've done a 20 k.

I should be able to do 30 or 40. And then one might be colder

or rougher. And, you know, you you like I said, it the rough might come

out of the blue. Yeah. So so every every event's different and,

you just don't know what you'll get. Yeah. And I'll find it interesting that,

like I've started trying to do a bit of running myself,

trying to get into a little bit of longer distance running. And as you said,

like, you know, and for me it's like a 2, 2 hours is about as

long as I've done 2 and a half hours. But, but even

during that time you do, you sort of come up and you go, oh shit,

my calf's no good. And you can, but then you sort of get through that

next 5 minutes. And then all of a sudden it comes good and you stop

thinking about it. But if you're reactive and you sort of let it take over,

you all fuck. I'm going to have to stop or my back start to hurt.

The minds are straight. It's it's the most, probably the most important muscle is your

mind. But I I say things like it's like when you're hungering, you

wait for food in the microwave. You know, one minute feels like an hour when

you're hungry. So it's like sometimes it's sometimes it's a state of

mind. But, you know, we're all human and we have ups and downs and, you

know, you try and, you tell yourself that you can have bad patches and

sometimes I'll have plenty of stuff ups, you know, where I'll stuff stuff the vents

up. So, yeah, it's a it's a roller coaster there. You try and

work out what you think would stop you and then, you know, all different

scenarios and then and mentally go over it and physically try and prepare

for it. Yep. So what, obviously, you've done so

many things, Johnny. What, what records have you held, or or

and still do you hold? Not many these days.

They're all they're all gone. I had the Archduck record, which is, that

was a big one. That's from you run from the Marble Arch of London,

140k to the English Channel, and then swim in the English Channel,

then you cycle 290k to the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. So I had the

record for that 10 years ago, which was 61 hours 27

minutes. Wow. So, yeah, that was that was a big

one. Yeah. I had the record. I still got a

record across Port Phillip Bay, which I did in 92. I think

1992 and 93. I had the Australian record across the English Channel.

I lost that. I forget. I

bet, All these annoying young bucks coming up.

As everybody gets faster. That's the thing. It never ends.

Oh, so with that 61 hours from, London to Paris,

like, you woulda had to have a little sleep, or you just went, like Yeah.

Little sleep? You you can have a sleep, but the clock doesn't stop. Yeah. And

you you basically, your backlog from the high tide with English channels, you

have to leave with the high tide. So if so you work at how

aggressive you got. I backlogged 24 hours from the, from the start of the high

tide. I ran 1552, so my rest period was

was from then till the 24 hour mark. But had I run 25

hours, I would have stuffed the whole event up. So you gotta work out how

aggressive you wanna be. Bear in mind, you had English

channels, you know, they got a 20% success rate by itself. Yeah.

So yeah. So you gotta work out, you know, how brave you wanna be,

versus trying to get records. And yeah. So that that that was a real

tough tougher there. That was, it was all actually Just a lazy

140 k run warm up. Just when it's being shadow that only

20% of people get through. Get through. And then a 290

ks ride into after thrill. Oh. Yeah. Do you realize like like

sometimes when you're talking, Jodie, because you're on a different planet than nearly just about

everybody out there. Do you realize what you're saying is just insane? Like,

it's but it's so amazing what you're able to do. Do you just are you

just told us a story and you didn't break a smile or crack anything? Like,

you just this is normal for what you did. And we're sitting here nearly falling

off our seat. Do you realize just how amazing that

is? Oh, thanks, boys. But it's just one thing leads to the

next slide. Like I said, you start off maybe with a 10 k swim, and

then you do a 20 k swim, and then you you run your marathon. You

think, oh, I could run further than that. So so you you just build up

a a resume and you think, oh, we could probably put this all together and

and and get this. But trust me, I'll let you know, you you have your

doubts in events like that. It's, it's very overwhelming.

Because the day I did the, our shark, it was there was

gale force winds. So I actually got special special missions due to

swim because I've done a double crossing of the English Channel with the same boatman.

So he trusted my swimming ability, but everybody that was booked to swim that

way, solo for the channel canceled. So I was swimming into, you know,

Gulf force winds on a big spring tide. So I so, I

had a real tough swim and then, I I had some terrible

moments. Like, I remember 2 hours into the swim, it was really awkward shop. And

it was kinda like, where you can't get a balance, like your arms in one

spot, your legs and none. And you feel like you're just getting ragdoll. And,

and I I had a bit of a wind, so I said to the boatman,

who I've had a lot of history with, you know, I've done the double crossing

with him, the single crossing. I said, his name's Mike. I said, oh, Mike, you

know, is this gonna get any better? And he goes, I thought you were a

swimmer. Swim. I thought, oh, fair enough. I've been a bit of a

baby. So so that so then I got a second wind again, and I kept

going. For the, oh, yeah. Stop soaking. You know what I mean? So there's a

lot of moments like that where, you know, you, you feel, I'm sorry for yourself

and you're thinking, oh, this is too hard and you just gotta try and get

on top of that again. But yeah, the ice shock, that was, that was horrendous.

It was very tough. I'm interested in, in sort of trying

to understand the motivation a bit more, John, like

you could sit at home on your comfortable couch and watch TV and, you know,

but instead you're choosing to run a 140 k's and swim across

the English Channel. And and especially as you're getting older, like,

what, what is the motivation that keeps you going? Is it, is there a bit

of an ego thing? Do you love being out to tell people that,

you know, I am doing this at this age. You're not doing this. You're all

on the couch. You're all taking it easy. You know, I'm pretty good being on

the couch to check. I feel watching Fox. Tell

like being really lazy all yet or doing something extreme or, like, like, feel

like you earned your wrist. Yeah. So, you know, I don't really have an answer.

I just something comes up and it bugs me and I think, oh, I could

probably do that. And, yeah, I don't have a real logical

reason. Yeah. Yeah. It's just it's just,

you know, it's like, oh, in the back of your head, you think somebody tells

you about it and, you know, pokes you. And one of my swimmers might say,

oh, you you should do this. And I think, oh, yeah. I could probably do

that. So, but then you get all the training. That's the

hard bit. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Trainings, don't get any easier. It's,

yeah. It's it's something to do. So with with, obviously, the

training and everything going on, your sister Tammy, like, she was a

does it as well. Was there a lot of or still is a lot of

competition between you, like, to try and outdo each other? Like, because not being There

was there was when Yeah. There was when we were young. Like, we end up

having to swim in separate squads. Like, yeah.

We we like, yeah, we were fighting all the time, and it's, it's

What was the age difference between you 2? She she's 5 years older.

Yeah. So, yeah, she, she's done a lot of big supplies. She swam the whole

Murray River, which took 3 months. She swam,

across, Bass Strait, but from Kinghorn to Apollo Bay, which is 97

k. We both swam across Port Phillip Bay, you know, at

the same time. We both swam the English Channel at the same time. But the

1st year we swam the Channel, it was very tough conditions,

and I was on record pace. I was on the world record pace, and I

ended up passing out. I had to get resuscitated by Dawn Fraser who was on

the boat. And, my sister and I, mate yeah. Dawn was on my boat. So

my sister and I had separate boats, and it was it was 4, 6 wins.

It was really tough conditions. I was a skinny kid back then. I had a

6 pack. I didn't get fat enough. And, I was 4 k from France, but

I was on record pace for the world record still, because you can't you could

kinda surf the life still. It was really rough, but you could kinda surf as

well. And, I just passed out. And I'm it's like being

late at night when you're watching a movie thinking, I'll watch the end of the

movie and you end up waking up the next morning, the TV is still on.

It was like that. It was just helpless. So I woke up and I'm in

a space blanket, one of those silver space blankets with Dawn Fraser hugging

me. And and, my sister made it that year, and

she got the fastest crossing for the year, which,

she didn't get the record, but she got the fastest crossing for the whole year.

And back then, the English Channel was sponsored by Rolex watch. So she

got a Rolex watch with a time and a name engraved on the

back. And here I am, I look like, you know, like like a wuss because

I got resuscitated by Dawn. And so I got out and I was copying

it. You know? It's like, so I'll bet you she wears that watch every time

she sees you. Yeah. That kind of ruined me mentally. And then Dawn's

like, Let's go back. You know? You gotta you gotta go back

and do the job. So I end up putting on 23 kilos. I was eating

like 5 Big Macs at 1 hit, things like that. I got real fat, And,

I got this strong record, the next year. I was actually on pace for the

world record, but I had to tread water in the middle and let a Russian

oil tanker towing another one pass. And that end up costing me the world record,

but I wouldn't. But I still got this strong record, beating sister.

That's all it that. Okay. But then somebody that year

broke the world record, so I never got the watch. So I got this brand

record. Yeah. And then, fast

forward to 2,010. So what's that?

It's 16 years later, I did a double crossing English Channel.

And the first leg of my crossing was the fastest crossing for the

year. Something and I'm gonna get a Rolex watch. But

Rolex had stopped sponsoring the channel. I got, like, I got a jumper, which

said John Van Wiss, fastest crossing for the year.

So it's gone from Rolex to winning, to getting a jump up. So

you can still wear that with your sister. I absolutely

love my watches. I'm obsessed with my watches. I would literally just be doing

that for the roadways. Yeah. And your system's claiming the role here. Johnny's got

the jumper. Jump the squash jumper with the You gotta do it a jump with

the name on it saying fastest crossing. So, yeah. So

yeah. It's always that's so good. So

so you and your sister, you're very, very competitive.

Was there was there a lot of sort of, you know, obviously

she was 5 years old, a bit of admiration and you looked up to her

a bit, but then you also wanted to wanted to beat her and everything?

Oh, you always wanted to beat her. So, yeah. I've been across the bay.

That was, that was big. That was big news in the day too, because we

had Dawn on our boat. We had a boat each, and we were we were

using that as a training session leading into the English Channel.

So, yeah, it was massive news back then. It was sponsored by 3 years ahead

back then. We had a skull up boat at boat beach and we just and

Dawn and Dawn was in Tammy's boat at that one. And and, yeah. We

we both broke the the records. Yeah. But also got the fastest record,

so she was 20 minutes back. So, and then that year, but

that was the year that she went on to beat me in across the channel

when I passed out. So, so yeah. You probably had the last laugh,

unfortunately. Well, yeah, I got the jumper.

Johnny, you could've at least won the jumper for the podcast. That would be

nice. We know you got the done media on and doing a great job there.

But, so, obviously, eating is such a big thing,

particularly coming into, you know, Loch Ness where you'll be going for 9

hours. It's freezing conditions. How much weight do you have

to put on to be able to do that safely? Like you said, when you

did the channel at a young age, you you weren't big enough. But are

you are you smashing Big Macs again, or, what Not as not as

much at the moment. Not as much at the moment, doc. Because I've I've built

up a lot of resistance since, since I was, you know, a skinny kid. Because

I've done 20 years of 20 years plus of, 30

years, of, you know, ice baths and swimming through

winter. So my cold time is a lot better. So so,

so yeah. So I I still do. I've got an electric freezer here, and

I keep it at minus 3. So I have to actually smash the ice with

a sledgehammer. And I and I can do up to 40 minutes in that. So

I'm doing a lot of that. Yeah. I've got a I'll

do stuff like that. I'll swim 4 k in the bay today, so but it's

7 in the pool and 4 k in the bay. So I'm doing big big

days. Yeah. So I just gotta work 11

k's already today. Yeah. It's what I got this on too, so get warm.

But is good. Yeah. So I'm trying to keep the case up. So

I'm doing a mix of pool and bay, for so I jump in the bay

when I'm tired. So I'm I'm more vulnerable. But,

yeah, so I'll still have to work out because obviously the fatty gets slower you

are. You've gotta work out survival versus speed. Yeah.

But I can get fat real quick. So so yeah. So last

year, I was I was I was probably, yeah, probably 10

no. Probably 13 kilohertz than I am at the moment when I did the lock

last year. But but yeah. I work it work it out

when I'm there. And I'm I'm I'll keep an update or 2 on, how the

water temperature's going with their summer, how the summer's going. And so if,

if they're having a good summer, you know, it won't have to be as big.

You know, if it's if they're having a cold summer, I've got to get get

a bit bigger. So but, yeah, I can I can stack it up pretty quick?

Unfortunately. And so, so just

like a couple of extra kilos of, of fat that makes a

huge difference in those cold cold waters. Like, is that can you

feel it perfectly? Yeah. Oh, massive. Like, yeah, you feel

terrible on land, but, in the water, it just, just

sustains your heat. So, basically, if you're swimming hard, you're generating

heat. Yeah. So it's it's how hard you're swimming versus how much fat

you got to keep the heat in. But yeah. So so everybody's is

different. Depending on how quick if you're in the water longer, you gotta be

fatter. Yeah. Yeah. How much cold training you've done through

through through the winters and things like that. But, yeah, you no one skinny

makes it. It's like you just can't no matter how mentally tough you are, if

you're real skinny, it eventually gets you. You just it's Chinese torture. It

just gets to you. And Yeah. You think you can handle it, you just end

up, passing out. That's so interesting. Isn't it? So what so what are you eating

at the moment? Because, obviously, if you're doing 30, 40 minute ice baths of freezing

additions, you're doing an 11 k swimming, like and this is we're recording

this at 12 o'clock. So you've already done that before 12 o'clock. Yeah.

What you must be eating a truckload of food to keep the calories up to

maintain that. Yeah. I I I I love my Hungry

Jacks. I get my Whoppers. Oh, good. I love I love my Red Rooster

chips. I love the Red Rooster chips, Kentucky fried chips. They're my

favorite ones. I

love the donuts at the supermarket. The the packed

donuts are great. But I

can get I can get big because I'm middle aged man, so I can I'm

past middle aged so I can get fat real real quick. So that's that's not

an issue these days. When I was young, I was like, and I was very

vain too. So I didn't wanna lose my 6 packs. That's part of the problem

when I first did the channel out of 6 pack thinking I'll I'll be the

fastest, and skinniest across the channel. And, and I ended up

passing out, and and it really knocked me about mentally. In the end,

and and Dawn Dawn gave me a pep talk and said, come on. You gotta

you gotta get fat. Let's go back.

Oh, the complete opposite of where society is at the moment. Do you know what

I mean? Like, since then, you know, most obesity rates has gone through the roof,

John, and everyone's saying to you you need to get healthy. People say to you,

you need to get fat. Oh, yeah. Yeah.

Have you ever had, I mean, my mind, you know, go

straight to bloody sharks and, you know, underwater

animals and shit coming at me from the depths. Have you ever

had, you know, whales or any interesting, you know,

encounters with some wildlife out there, John? Oh, training. I

I have, Jack. I often swim from the Brighton

bars, and I'll I'll swim to the great point back once. It was a beautiful

day. I was swimming along and it was crystal clean. And I thought, jeez,

I'm going well here. And and this dolphin came right next to me and had

the eye on the side. It was looking at me. And and at first you

think, woah. What's that? You know, you you you gotta calculate. Is that is that

a shark? It was like so it's got a it's a shock. And it was

looking at me, and it was it was either thinking, jeez, you're slow

or hello. And I kinda I stopped and I looked around.

I was thinking there might be more, and that was it. It just swelled from

the distance. I saw the splash. And then another time I had a

whole heap go past me. It was real murky water. And and,

they just kept going past me. It must have been 5 or 6, and they

were almost brushing me though that close. Wow. But, I remember one time my

sister swam the Cook Strait, which is New Zealand Islands. And

she she was thinking of doing a double, but she got the record for the

solo. And I swam the whole thing with her except the last

50 meters. Sometimes she wanted me to swim, you know, for an hour and an

hour off. This one, I ended up doing the whole thing with her, except the

last 50 meters. I went back to the boat. She swam in, but it was

a tough swim. The tide changed. So so she got the record, but it was

a struggle. So we got back on the boat and we're both warming up

downstairs and the boatman says come up here. There was a blue shark

as big as the boat, right next to the boat. You could have stolen its

back or wouldn't have known. It It was just sussing the boat out. So had

she done a double that she would have swam straight back, you know, that way

because the boat was heading back to the start. And blue sharks don't eat humans,

but it had you seen this thing. It was it was ginormous. It was the

biggest thing I've seen. So that that was that was a yeah. That

was quite, quite interesting.

Yeah. And, yeah, a lot of jellyfish, things like that. When I saw across the

bay, we had probably a 10 minute period where it just seemed like every matter

there was another jellyfish hit me. But, you know, they don't, you know,

jellyfish in Port Phillip Bay just annoy you. They don't, you know, they don't

affect your health. So end up end up on the beach all the time.

So it's feel like you step out of the tunnel. Tankers too. Lot of oil

tankers. Like I said, I had when I did the when I actually got the

Australian record across the channel, there was a Russian oil tanker towing another

one. And normally, I adjust course for you because this one was adjusting because it

was towing another one. I had to stop and tread water for 12 minutes, and

I was gonna go on the boat. Mike got Mike again. He's like, you're not

allowed to go. If you swim, I'm disqualifying you. So I had to tread water.

And my sister was, you know, 15 minutes behind me, but catching me because I'm

treading water. So I'm thinking, oh, I gotta go here. So yeah.

So you see some big ships and things like that. Oh, that's

crazy. I love that. Now, Jodie, when you you

do talks, you do all these things for you. When people ask you, like, what

success is? What like, if you look at what you've been able to achieve

and things like that, what would you say success is, and how

you how you define that and get that? I

mean, I'll see if you break break a record, I guess that's success, but

sometimes just finishing success and, but then once you've done

it, you kind of move on real quick. Like, I'll I'll just, forget I've done

it. And I'm worried, you know, thinking, oh, yeah. It's time to move on.

Probably winning a free match, Jack. You you you're already looking the next week after

a few days. Yep. Yeah. You'll look at the next opponent. So it's

yeah. Once you've done it, you kind of live off it for for short period,

maybe a few weeks. And then you, you know, you start thinking, oh, what else

could I do? That's why it's so important to enjoy the journey. Isn't it John?

Like you enjoy them. You know, it's not, it's not just about

the, you know, achievement or the event that you're training for. It's

about getting there and, you know, I'm, I'm,

I've locked into the Melbourne marathon this coming, October and

me and Mitchie, my mate, who we, who I'm training with, that's all we always

say. Every run we go on, it's like, it's about enjoying the journey to who

cares about the actual marathon. We don't even have to do it in the end.

It's like, you know, it's about the weekly process and

absolutely. You just get fit, Jack. That's, you know, that's the best thing you can't

invest more than in yet. Invest in your health. That's the best thing. Yep.

Spot on. Yeah. But just don't do a tiny short Don't do a Tony Shore,

Jack, when he ran the marathon. What did he do? What did he do? Oh,

yeah. I remember that. So I'm a Tony's, of course, Tony Shore was, like, one

of the toughest players ever. He's calling with captain, premiership captain. And,

he passed out and ran into a tree, like, 35 k. And he was he

was on record pace. I think he got dehydrated. I can't remember the whole story.

And he he knocked himself out, ran into a tree. I reckon I do I

reckon I do remember that now. He might've just hit the hit the wall and

done on purpose. He hit the wall. He's probably pushing himself too hard. He is

a tough man. Oh, I love that. I love

that. So when, obviously, coming into, you know,

doing your big swims, John, that it's very important to have,

obviously, sponsors and people behind you and things like that. Trying

to give a shout out to Numb Media and probably how do you go about,

you know, getting these sponsors or getting support crews and, because you've

been doing it for such a long period of time. I'm sure you you've probably

got a core group of people, but, is is that been hard? You know, like,

to get people that you know, because a lot of time you go into pretty

dangerous places. Mhmm. Yeah. Is that is that a hard thing?

Oh, it's good. He's I got all of that. Just through I'm I'm a swim

coach, so I end up making a lot of friends and contacts with

businessmen and like, Nani's one of my best mates, and he's always back me.

He never puts any pressure on me. And when I did the, our shark had

a mate, Johnny Wall, he put in 50 grand. He

basically I was front page of local paper saying that, you know, I'm doing this.

And, I used to coach Johnny and he just goes, I'll sponsor you. And,

he put in 50 grand. So which we would which we wouldn't have been able

to get across, you know, because I had had a whole crew and 2 support

cars and, you know, it was 10 grand entry. And so so it's

gonna just, been people I know as I got older, people I've

coached that just, wanna be part of the journey. And

yeah, I think some of them had that much money. There's like, yes,

ashtray money for someone maybe. But, yeah, when I was young, it was

a lot harder. You know, you like it's they, they want,

they want, you know, 100 of 1,000 of dollars of publicity and they're giving you

a $500. You know, you're getting a free bike or something. You're getting lent a

bike or lent a wetsuit or something. So as I've got older, it's got a

lot easier, boys, because, you know, it's just through meeting people.

And actions. Life life and actions in the Johnny.

You know, and it's Yeah. That's it. And so Johnny, just

to finish up, we always ask our, our guests you've, you've

obviously achieved, achieved a lot. You've done a lot of crazy things in your

life by the sounds of things. What, what is something

that makes you the most proud? What's your proudest moment,

proudest achievement throughout your life? Oh,

that could it doesn't have to be, you know, it doesn't have to be done.

Be a crazy endurance race. Yeah. It could be anything. Yeah.

Yeah. I've had a few. So, the Manhattan Islands swims are rippers. I used to

love that. I used to have a race around the whole Manhattan Island, which is

47 k. And, yeah, it was, that

was amazing because, because basically it's only 30, 40 people allowed to

do it. So you gotta send your resume off and everyone has a boat and

a kayaker. And 1 year, I I just I was swimming the best of

my life. I was probably 37 ish. Yep. And I and I

and I won it outright, and I beat the relay teams. That was that was

one of the best. Yeah. I remember I had a group of college, and they

were doing an outreach. And, there was one guy who was

slowly catching me and then I had a weaker swimmer. I'd break away again. And

it's like and I was like, ding dong battle and I ended up beating all

the relays. That was, that was 2,009

or 10. And that, yeah, that everything went,

I never got sick. All my preparation went well and I sweat beautifully.

So it's not my hardest swim, but that one was that one was really sticks

in me that I swim really well. Everything just went perfect.

Nothing went wrong with that one. Like I said, normally marathon swims or

endurance events, something goes wrong. That one, everything just went well. And,

yeah. I was some of the best of my life and, and now now the

race. I suppose I suppose when you do as many of you have, Johnny, that,

you hope one of them goes alright, mate. The

odds are in your favor, mate. If anyone's done enough, you, mate. I'll be

presenting. The how degrading is that for 4 people against 1? Did

you see their faces just drop? Oh, I mean,

yeah. Aussie good Nick then. I was. Aussie

good Nick. Did you have the 6 back? Oh, I I did.

No. Not no. Because that one, it was a little bit cold. So I was

I was in between. So that one the water wasn't cold cold. It was 15,

16. It was in June. So if the race the race is sometimes June

or July, if it's July, the water's nice. If it's June, it's the

start of the summer. So I was I wasn't I wasn't fat, but I wasn't

ripped. But, yeah, I I everything went perfect

with my prep. And, yeah, it's just, I just remember

nothing went wrong in that one. And Yeah. I just went just felt just felt

fantastic. Surely afterwards, when you're all catching up for a beer, you get on

the chirp and just give them a surely you give it a little bit.

12341. See you. Absolutely.

So it sounds like you just basically find the coolest spots around the world, find

a marathon swim and, and lock into that. Is that sort of the schedule,

Johnny? Oh, Jack, if you went to dive, you would say that Dover did you

get started the day? You've got the castle there boys and

that's it. There. Just these massive seagulls that look

like, you know, pterodactyls. And, that's it. Very nice guy. Wasn't

a boat. That's like, no sand. It's got rocks, you

know, on the beach. And, yeah. But the water's not too inviting

there. Yeah. Definitely not. And so I didn't even wanna go when the boat was

pulling up for the bus. So I was like, I'll be right, and then you're

swimming it bloody crazy. Now, Johnny, where can people go, mate,

if they wanna obviously, you know, follow your journey or read more about your

amazing records and achievements, but, also stay in contact

for, you know, your upcoming lock. Obviously, trying to,

beat the record and and hopefully improve from last year. Where's the best place to

go, mate? Oh, I've just got a Facebook page. So you just put my

name in. Like I said, oh, I'm I'm in the stone, actually. I'm still gonna

knock your phone. So I've got mates that run the Facebook page, and and,

yeah, we just do, training updates on there. And then and then

we do we did all the videos, Facebook live

on on the boat. And then and as as we're over there, you know, like,

going through the house and things like that with, you know, Peter Pan used to

used to live there, things like that. So all on all on Facebook. So if

you just put my name in, you'll sit, you'll you'll see it come up.

Oh, we'll, we'll put links in the show notes for that. Johnny, you are

like Peter Pan, mate. You say you're only 51, but, I don't think you've been

growing up from what I'm hearing today. I haven't grown up mid, sun. I look

old, but I'm mentally, I'm sore. I'm sore, baby. Sorry. You're doing pretty

well, mate. Well, thanks so much for your time, mate. Really appreciate having me, Joe.

Thanks for having me. Thanks, John. Awesome. Great. Thanks, boys.

Right. I'll stop that. That