Noam Yaron has become the first swimmer to cross the Mediterranean between Calvi, Corsica, in Monaco with nothing but a swimsuit.
In a bid to raise awareness for the protection of the world’s oceans, the 28-year-old covered 110 miles in 102 hours, transcending record holder Sarah Thomas’s accomplishment on Lake Champlain in 2017.
Yoran has also spoken about the vivid hallucinations he experienced during his expedition, along with claims that he was able to sleep while swimming—a feat that he has since insisted was no hallucination.
Highlights
- A Swiss swimmer covered 110 miles in 102 hours between Calvi, Corsica, and Monaco.
- He claims he managed micro-naps while swimming, steering with light-guided ropes.
- His hands and feet turned cadaverous, but he finished smiling and upbeat.
Noam Yaron’s hands were the same color as a cadaver
Image credits: iamnoamyaron
Following the completion of his aquamarine exploit, he spoke to the Monaco Tribune on September 1.
“I feel incredibly well, I’m slowly recovering from my historic swim in the name of nature! I haven’t yet managed a proper night’s sleep because of the injuries and burns, but that will come soon enough!” the Swiss national gushed.
Said injuries have since been showcased on his TikTok account, where he can be seen hooked up to a nasal cannula, but smiling nonetheless.
His face appeared redder than the part of his forehead that was covered by his swimming cap, and he showed off his hands, which had taken on a cadaverous pallor.
Despite the pain and discomfort, Yaron seemed to be in good spirits
Image credits: iamnoamyaron
His feet were no better and could just as easily have belonged to a corpse that had spent days in the water.
“The fatigue. 102 hours and 24 minutes without sleeping makes you more sensitive, emotional, more aware of the pain – and I had plenty of that…” he told the outlet.
“But I managed to push through with the help of my team and above all with micro-naps, either on my back or even while swimming!”
Yaron Claims he can swim while sleeping
Image credits: iamnoamyaron
In another TikTok video, he doubled down on the claim that he was able to sleep while swimming.
“Yes it sounds crazy,” he admitted. “Everyone was talking about it.”
In an endeavor to explain the phenomena, he said that he was only capable of doing it at night.
“While a part of my brain is recovering, sleeping, the other [part is still awake] and has to analyze,” he elaborated.
One side of his brain remained awake while the other slept
Two buoyant ropes guided Yaron’s direction in the Mediterranean Sea.
One of the ropes had a light attached to it, serving as a guide at night.
The other was dark.
He claimed that the part of his brain that was “awake” during his sleep-swimming processed the brightness of the light against his eyelids.
When the light became too bright, it autocorrected and steered him away from the rope.
Yaron now holds the world record for distance covered in open waters
Image credits: iamnoamyaron
When Yaron steered away from the lighted guide and into the darkness, his brain sensed this and was able to steer towards the opposite side of the improvised lane.
“It sounds crazy but actually it’s a hypnosis method that I have developed over the years that allows me to swim for five days and four nights and do what no other human beings have done before under these conditions,” he declared.
True to this bragging rite, the closest anyone has come to Yaron’s feat (110 miles in 102 hours and 24 minutes) was American Marathon Swimmer Sarah Thomas.
The last person to perform a similar feat falls short of Yaron’s feat by four miles
Image credits: iamnoamyaron
Thomas swam across the English Channel between France and England an impressive four times throughout her stellar career, but her magnum opus would come in August 2017 between the 7th and the 10th.
During these days, she covered 104.6 watery miles in a loop around Gardiner Island in Vermont’s Lake Chamberlain.
For her accomplishment, she set the record for the longest lake swim and the longest open-water swim, per Long Swims.
Yaron’s accomplishment was not merely about popularity
Image credits: iamnoamyaron
But Yaron’s accomplishment was somewhat more philanthropic in nature.
When asked what he had observed during his swim, he said: “I saw more plastic than animals, which is heartbreaking.”
He noted that while there was a fair amount of biodiversity … “there was still less biodiversity than last year.”
The ultimate driver behind Yaron’s swim, along with the “Together For The Ocean” initiative sponsored by Bloomberg Philanthropies, was to draw attention to their collective goal of protecting 30 percent of the world’s oceans by 2030.
“I hope to continue bringing light to this dark world we live in – and to make a large-scale impact on the future of our oceans,” he told the Monaco Tribune.
Yaron recalled having an out-of-water experience
Another aspect of his intense journey across the Mediterranean was the impact it had on his psychological state.
During his swim, the lack of proper sleep resulted in a string of hallucinations.
“It was very, very intense,” he recalled.
“My reality was totally altered. At times I couldn’t even see the boat – I thought I was travelling somewhere else, outside the water, far away!”
Yaron’s understanding of this was that it was his brain “treating the water as a traumatic environment after so many hours immersed in it.”
Meanwhile, social media is making light of the experience
Image credits: iamnoamyaron
It appears that social media is having difficulty taking Yaron’s account seriously.
“I can’t swim,” declared another.
Always critical, the internet spawned a question that Yaron had not addressed in his two TikTok videos and his interview with the Monaco Tribune.
“How do you poopoo while swimming for five days,” one person asked.
“How do you think,” came the rhetorical question.
Netizens think Yaron did not sleep for five days
