When Even Ted Said “Maybe Not” — The English Channel & The Ice Waters of Siberia

The Swim That Never Happened

The English Channel — Dover, England

Some adventures are conquered.
Others are wisely declined.

When Ted and Vivian traveled to Dover, England, they were invited to meet the longtime organizers of the legendary English Channel Swim. The elderly couple welcomed them into their home and proudly showed off towering scrapbooks filled with decades of Channel swimmers.

One thing stood out immediately.

Most of the swimmers were… big. Very big.

“Body fat keeps you warm,” they explained.

Ted, slim as ever, nodded — perhaps a little less confidently than usual.

Still, he began negotiating like only Ted could.

“Could I wear a wetsuit?”
No — rules required only a bathing suit.

“How about a swim cap to keep my bald head warm?”
Approved.

Then came the question that likely had never been asked in the history of the Channel:

“Could I buy a toupee… and wear it under the swim cap for extra warmth?”

After checking the rule book — and probably laughing a bit — they approved that too.

But then came the visit to the cliffs of Dover.

Rain lashed sideways.
Winds whipped across the white cliffs.
Below, the Channel churned like a gray, boiling cauldron.

Ted stood there, looking down at the icy, violent water.

For once, bravado gave way to common sense.

Right there on those cliffs, Ted made a rare decision:

He would not swim the English Channel.

Vivian, watching the storm, quietly felt this was one of his best decisions ever.

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The Swim He Did Do

Lake Baikal — Siberia, July 1990

If the English Channel was too cold and wild…

Siberia, apparently, was just right.

While running across southeastern Siberia, Ted came upon a sight so vast it barely looked real — a shimmering inland sea ringed by mountains. This was Lake Baikal, the deepest lake on Earth, holding one-fifth of the planet’s fresh water. It plunges a mile deep, stretches nearly 400 miles long, and feels more like an ocean than a lake.

Most people admire Baikal from the shore.

Ted came back the next year to swim it.

He prepared like an Arctic explorer:

• Two wetsuits

• Two neoprene caps

• Swim fins

• Swim gloves

In Irkutsk, he hired two local men and a rowboat to escort him. After studying maps, he chose a “narrow” section of the lake.

“Narrow” in Siberia meant 30 miles.

The water was brutally cold. The distance endless. The mountains silent witnesses.

But this time, Ted didn’t turn back.

Stroke after stroke, hour after hour, he crossed one of the coldest and most legendary lakes in the world — completing the 30-mile swim in water few humans would willingly enter.

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Two Waters, Two Decisions

The English Channel taught Ted something rare:
Even the boldest adventurer must sometimes walk away.

Lake Baikal proved something else:
When preparation meets purpose, even the impossible can be crossed.

Both swims — one refused, one completed — became part of the same story:

A man who wasn’t afraid to try.
And wasn’t afraid, once in a while, to say no.