Bericht van Wen Erh Hsu

A Close Call in the North Channel

72 hours after my swim, I’m finally able to lie flat in bed and wake up without the urge to cough.

Only now have I been able to think clearly about what happened.

Some people might say, “It doesn’t matter anymore. You made it.”

But to me, understanding what happened could make all the difference in every future swim.

During the final 4 hours of the North Channel, the weather deteriorated rapidly. It was raining, windy, the sea turned rough, and the water temperature dropped to 13.7°C.

For the last 3 hours, I inhaled, I coughed underwater, I inhaled again, I coughed again…I couldn’t stop coughing until it led to hyperventilation.

It was very confusing, cause the conditions were rough, I thought I’d just inhaled some seawater. But despite years of open water swimming, I’d never experienced anything like it.

Only 2km to go!

I kept swimming cause I didn’t want to quit!

By the final 500 metres, I had to switch to breaststroke just to breathe.

After finishing, I realised I was coughing up pink, blood-streaked sputum and went straight to the hospital.

After speaking with others who had experienced similar symptoms, I believe I most likely suffered SIPE (Swimming-Induced Pulmonary Edema)—fluid leaking into the lungs during swimming, causing severe breathing difficulty, persistent coughing, and sometimes blood-tinged sputum. In severe cases, it can be life-threatening.

Looking back, one thing stands out.

During the last four hours, we increased my feeding frequency from every 30 to every 20 minutes but didn’t reduce the water in each feed. I can’t say this caused the SIPE, but combined with prolonged cold-water swimming, I believe it may have contributed.

I’ve read about SIPE.

But I didn’t recognise it when it was happening.

For the first time in all my years of channel swimming, I realised how close I might have been to losing my life.

Channel swimming truly is an extreme sport.

The margin for error is incredibly small.

A seemingly minor change can turn a successful swim into a life-threatening emergency.

We spend countless hours training our bodies, but understanding the risks is just as important.

I’m incredibly grateful that I made it safely back to land.

The goal isn’t just to finish the swim. It’s to make it safely back to land.

If sharing my experience helps even one swimmer recognise SIPE earlier, then this story is worth telling.

Read in Chinese: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/18ymnRALL3/?mibextid=wwXIfr