You have chosen one of the "Ocean's Seven" - considered to be one of the toughest 7 open water swims in the world
(http://www.10kswim.com/news.html#article23
). The Ocean's Seven includes
(1
) the Irish Channel between Ireland and Scotland,
(2
) the Cook Strait,
(3
) the Molokai Channel between Oahu and Molokai Islands in Hawaii,
(4
) the English Channel,
(5
) the Catalina Channel near Los Angeles, California,
(6
) the Tsugaru Channel between Honshu and Hokkaido in Japan, and
(7
) the Strait of Gibraltar between Europe and Africa.
As you may already know, you have to swim through immense tidal flows in icy water conditions among jellyfish and sharks
(note: 1 in 6 swimmers encounter sharks on their crossings, although no one has ever been attacked during a swim
). The window of opportunity is between November and May. Both sides of the strait have rock cliffs and you will have to deal with cold water
(14ºC-19ºC or 57ºC-66ºF
) amid heavy chop. To date, only 71 successful crossings have been made by 61 individuals from 8 countries. Hypothermia and change in weather conditions during the crossings are the most common reasons attempts fail.
You may want to talk with Philip Rush
(who once did a triple crossing of the English Channel
) who runs the supportive and informative website, www.cookstraitswim.org.nz. He is always helpful to those who try. You can tell Philip that Steven Munatones from California told you to contact him.
It is a great challenge and, as the others have suggested, if you are totally committed, a year's solid focused training should be able to do the trick. You should probably plan on being in the water 6-10 hours if all goes well
(depending on your swimming speed and the conditions that you will encounter.
Good luck