Swimming to Antarctica by Lynne Cox

ISBN:9780156031301

About the book:
Now in paperback, with photos and maps added especially for this new edition,
here is the acclaimed life story of a woman whose drive and determination
inspire everyone she touches.
Lynne Cox started swimming almost as soon as she could walk. By age sixteen,
she had broken all records for swimming the English Channel. Her daring
eventually led her to the Bering Strait, where she swam five miles in thirty-
eight-degree water in just a swimsuit, cap, and goggles. In between those
accomplishments, she became the first to swim the Strait of Magellan,
narrowly escaped a shark attack off the Cape of Good Hope, and was cheered
across the twenty-mile Cook Strait of New Zealand by dolphins. She even swam
a mile in the Antarctic.
Lynne writes the same way she swims, with indefatigable spirit and joy, and shares the beauty of her
time in the water with a poets eye for detail. She has accomplished yet another featwriting a new
classic of sports memoir.
About the author:
LYNNE COX has set records all over the world for open-water swimming. She was named Los Angeles
Times Woman of the Year, inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 2000, honored with
a lifetime achievement award from the University of CaliforniaSanta Barbara, and worked for six years
as a research librarian in Orange County. She lives in Los Alamitos, California.
Discussion Questions:
Using This Guide
Swimming to Antarctica offers a wide range of opportunities for further inquiry and reflection. So that
readers may tailor their discussions, this guide presents various categories of topics covering personal
growth, physical fitness, armchair travel, and a closer look at the storytelling itself.
Championing Your Life: Inspiration for Personal Growth
1. What goals could Lynnes memoir inspire you to pursue? At the moment, what is your Antarctica?
2. Discuss the various obstacles you perceive in reaching that goal. Is there a common denominator
among them? As a group, develop detailed action plans for overcoming these obstacles, using the short-
term and long-range approaches described in the book.
3. What do the italicized passages tell us about Lynnes techniques in coaching herself? Arranging your
discussion group in pairs, create messages for one another that echo Lynnes realistic but encouraging
self-talk.
4. In the first chapter, Lynne recalls asking a childhood friend for the secret to becoming a fast swimmer.
Joyce replied that she simply did what her coach asked of her. How can we discern whether a coach or
mentor is trustworthy? Whom will you invite to be part of your team of "life coaches"?
5. Swimming to Antarctica provides much insight into the art of persuasion. What techniques did Lynne
use to persuade others, from Soviet officials to New Zealand fans, to share in her dream? Discuss the
toughest naysayer in your life. Through role-playing, enlist other group members to explore the process
of changing this persons point of view.
6. In her afterword, Lynne shares an anecdote about a schoolboy who asked her how she would respond
to failure. Her solution is not to lower the bar; she even suggests that in such situations, perhaps the bar
hasnt been raised high enough. She prescribes learning from a defeat and then persisting in new
attempts. What past defeats still trouble you? How would it feel to revisit this attempt, raising the bar
even higher next time?
Physical Education
1. Lynne often dispelled stereotypes about gender and body type in her encounters around the world;
her physiology was actually ideal for the challenges of long-distance swimming. Have you ever been
"mislabeled" in a gym setting? How would you characterize your best athletic attributes? What forms of
exercise come naturally to you?
2. Choose a physical-fitness goal that you would like to achieve six months from now. Choose an
additional one that will require two years to achieve. How can you apply Lynnes process and timelines
to these aspirations? Her steps include acclimating herself, training in waters similar to the final course,
and finding experienced navigators. What similar steps will you need to take on a daily, weekly, and
monthly basis? What role model will you choose within this field? What world record would you most
like to set?
3. For safety as well as inspiration, measurement and mathematics were essential to Lynnes progress,
from assessing her speed to undergoing numerous medical tests. Before embarking on any fitness
program, you should consult a physician. But the consultation should provide you with more than
anecdotal information; its an opportunity to begin tracking all of the data related to your health. Create
a notebook or electronic database that combines both your "vital statistics" and the progress of your
athletic goals. Who will be on your team of statisticians?
4. From swimming in a hailstorm as a child to watching twenty-foot waves crest at the Cape of Good
Hope, Lynne is continually drawn to the most dramatic conditions nature has to offer. How does nature
become both her companion and her competitor? What do you think accounts for the distinction
between athletes who excel in these rugged, unpredictable settings and those whose milieu is an indoor
lane or court? What workout settings do you prefer?
5. Lynne relies solely on her bodys own capabilities in reaching her goals, swimming without a wetsuit
and carefully guarding her health before each event. What enables her to avoid the temptations of
steroid use or other performance enhancers? In your opinion, what separates "purist" athletes from the
rest?
Globetrotting with Lynne Cox
1. Choosing from the many locales visited in Swimming to Antarctica, assign a destination to each of
your group members to research. In a subsequent meeting, share travelogues discussing cultural
customs, cuisine, weather conditions, topography, and other interesting features.
2. The challenges described in the book range from the concrete (sharks, fog) to the abstract (distrust,
lack of imagination on the part of her sponsors). What challenges were particular to each location?
3. Create a timeline of Lynnes swims. How have political conditions changed (if at all) in each of these
settings since she visited them? What accounts for the distinction between stability and instability in
these regions? What made Lynnes long-distance swims such a politically charged endeavor in some
locations but not in others?
4. Lynne writes that her experience in Egypt taught her how to recognize her own limitations. What did
the outcome of this particular trip also teach her about nationality, gender perceptions around the
world, and preparing for international travel in general?
5. If you had an unlimited budget, which of the books locations would you most like to visit? What
would your itinerary look like? What items would you pack? Which traveling companions would you
bring?
A Closer Reading
1. Reread the prologue. What new significance does this scene take, in light of her lifelong journey? How
did your initial impressions of her Bering Strait experience compare to your understanding of it toward
the end of the book?
2. Discuss the contributions Lynnes parents made to her success. What behaviors did they model for
their children? How does her story affect your perception of nature versus nurture in predicting a childs
future?
3. How does Lynne balance optimism with naivet and exhilaration with caution? What lessons does she
share about being fearless?
4. How do you perceive the spiritual experiences Lynne describes, such as her receipt of a Zulu blessing
and the dolphins that guided her to safety after she asked for Gods help?
5. Though training was extraordinarily time-consuming, Lynne was dedicated to classroom studies as
well, from elementary school through college. To what do you attribute her overall desire for success?
Her need for a balanced life? What does her experience illustrate about the keys to academic
achievement?
6. Discuss the literary devices that make Swimming to Antarctica such a compelling read. What
correlation might there be between Lynnes skill as a storyteller and her skill as a long-distance
swimmer? Do those activities share any common ground?
About the Author
Lynne Cox currently coaches in the corporate arena, delivering motivational speeches before numerous
Fortune 500 companies. She was named Los Angeles Times Woman of the Year, inducted into the
Swimming Hall of Fame, and honored with a lifetime achievement award from the University of
California at Santa Barbara. She is also a prolific writer, with articles appearing in such publications as
the New Yorker and the Los Angeles Times Magazine. Born in Boston, Massachusetts, she now resides in
Los Alamitos, California, where she has lived for much of her life.
Critical acclaim for Swimming to Antarctica:
"Ultimately, Coxs memoir is about the joy of exploring the impossible. Shes done things the rest of us
can only imagine-and shes written a book that helps us to imagine them with clarity and wonder."-The
Boston Globe
"Gripping reading . . . Swimming to Antarctica is a portrait of rare and relentless drive."-Sports Illustrated
"Thrilling, vivid, and lyrical, an inspiring account of a life of aspiration and adventure."-Oliver Sacks