The Man Swimming Around The World

THE MAN SWIMMING
AROUND THE WORLD

DOCUMENTARY

Many projects starts with a 'why not?' Even the most crazy ones...

Nacho Dean is the first Spaniard, and the fifth person in history to have gone around the world walking.

After this, the question for Nacho was: “and now what?” So, he set up a new challenge for himself: join the five continents by swimming through the five straits that separates them. Why not?

TITLE: VICE Specials - The Man Swimming Around the World
MY ROLE: Director / Camera
TIME OF YOUR LIFE REQUIRED: 7 Min 30 Sec
KEYWORDS: #Swimming #Challenge #Sports #Gibraltar

We joined Nacho on his favourite training place, the reservoir of Burgillo, 50km East from Madrid.

WE USED A DRONE TO CAPTURE THE SCALE AND BEAUTY OF THE ENVIRONMENT

In the beautiful natural environment of the reservoir, we assisted to various training routines and found out who Nacho actually is, and what are the motivations behind his challenge.

Nacho trained during one year by following an intensive physical preparation program both outside and inside the water. In total, he swom more than 2.500km in pools, lakes and open waters.

A few months later, we followed Nacho on the day he crossed the Straits of Gibraltar, the first one of it's expedition.

Starting from the Island of Tarifa, Nacho planned to swim between 15 to 22 km due to the influence of strong currents that prevail in the Straits.

One of biggest threat for Nacho is the intense marine traffic as an estimated 120.000 vessels transit the Strait of Gibraltar annually. That 330 a day.

For safety, the crossing is made with two boats. The biggest one, where we stood with our cameras, is the guide boat that serves as an orientation for the swimmer and provides all the necessary equipment for location and communication in order to avoid collisions. The support boat, is a rubber Zodiac type from where the swimmer's coach or caretaker follow Nacho.

Sea sickness is a real problem when shooting on a boat. Specially as looking through the viewfinder of a camera only amplifies the symptoms.