Chun Kong MAK - Hong Kong Ice Flyer

🔥🙏🏿廣東話請拉到下邊。Congratulations .swimming ! You are the new alegend now. Emotional for me to witness virtually. It was a pity that I couldnt make it physically on the boat but spiritually I was there. Now, feeling like helping him swim North Irish Channel was part of the deal before I jumped into English Channel solo in 2020. ‘Giving back’ was part of the conversation when talked with the moon and sea. 😁I said ‘Give me the path to swim through with the best condition and I give back to the people.’ I didn’t bu****it about being a pioneer of extreme swimming in Hong Kong during my crowdfunding. Thank you all for funding me to spread this madness, back to 2020. In 2022, we met and swam in relay team in Loch Ness. In 2023, you called me and said your body was ‘itchy’ 😂and asked about the possibility of swimming North Channel solo to torture yourself I said ‘yeah yeah go for it. North Channel is way harder than English Channel but I think you can make it.’ It is my honor to be the first person you called. He got the vision and knew the way how. Now his swim inspired me back in swimming and life. 🙏🏿🙏🏿🥳

恭喜梁俊㬢成功單人橫渡北愛爾蘭海峽。你已經成為新一代傳奇人物。在下遺憾不能在現場船上支持。但精神上又開始到完結都係一直支持。現在默然回首，喺2020年跳落去單挑英倫海峽之前，好似
整定要幫呢位兄弟單挑北愛爾蘭海峽。「回饋」就係我同大自然同海洋嘅對話。我同個海講「比最好嘅途徑我游完過對面，我會回饋返俾呢個地球同人們。」喺2022年，我哋有幸一齊接力橫渡尼斯湖。用咗四年時間，證明咗當年我眾籌，話自己要成為香港超長途游泳嘅先鋒絕對唔係吹水。感謝各方好友俾錢支持我推廣呢個瘋狂嘅運動，令香港有人薪火相傳。
喺2023年， Ryan打電話嚟話佢身痕想游北海，去折磨吓佢身體。😂我同佢講呢項挑戰係世界上最難游嘅Channel，比英崘海峽難游好多。但係我一開始就覺得佢係可以完成到。
呢個係我榮幸，我係佢第一個打電話嚟問有關游北海嘅可能性。佢嘅毅力同可塑性回饋返俾我自己，啟發返我人生同游泳。🙏🏿
   

world class first class. that s my man!

Hong Kong swimmer completes tough 40km swim between Ireland and Scotland Swimmer Ryan Leung, 35, completes 40km Irish Sea crossing in about 14 hours, despite the tide turning against him in the later stages.

Rethinking lifestyle and physical workouts. In 2017, I decided to resume my competitve swimming training again after a 8-year break. At that time, a life crisis hit and I was jobless and decided to just swim intensively. Back then, a friend “advised” me that “You can still swim and train like this when you don’t have a job yet.” I had no partner, no jobs, no incomes and many problems hit me in life. From 2017 till now, I still keep training and swimming although with different intensity/amount of training. I believe swimming showed me the way out. And it does!Over 7 years, I have a partner, had/have full-time and part-time jobs. Now, have a newborn son at home. Thanks to family and wife’s support, I can still head to swimming pools to train some sessions per week. These weeks, I am testing a new training schedule that would fit my current life meanwhile taking care of my newborn dude. I reduced the frequencies of training but increase the amount in one session. The transportation time can be saved.
Two weekends before 10km race, I swam a 6-km session. One week before, 7.5km. It was sufficient to complete a 10-km race. Didnt aim to be fast. To that exact friend who advised: today, I have a family and a full-time job like many others. I still manage to keep up with my sports training. It is a matter of passion. Keep my mind and lifestyle flexible enough to be changed and to adopt different stages of life.
   

Swim time:
🇬🇧 time July 13, 4:30 am
🇭🇰 time July 13, 11:30 am

Vessel: EIGRIOCH
SOLO: RYAN
Start time: 04:30am

Tracking:
Marine Traffic EIGRIOCH

—————————————————-
如果你想捐款支持我，支持CDIA，扶助青少年，
途徑共有以下４個：
1️⃣ FPS 帳戶號碼：112708029
2️⃣眾籌平台：https://www.simplygiving.com/xwim-north-channel-2024
3️⃣ 銀行轉賬
東亞銀行帳戶號碼：015-514-68-01355-9
賬戶名稱：青少年發展企業聯盟有限公司
4️⃣ 劃線支票
支票抬頭：青少年發展企業聯盟有限公司
（Child Development Initiative Alliance Co Limited）
郵寄至「香港西營盤德輔道西 246 號東慈商業中心 7 樓 701 室」

🙏As a deal with the nature and universe before my English Channel swim, I promised to pass on this spirit as a pioneer. Ryan will be in his massive meditation journey. Good luck to him!

‘I hope to inspire others’: trailblazing Hongkonger set for 34km channel swim Ryan Leung aims to be first from city to swim strait between Northern Ireland and Scotland, considered most difficult leg in renowned series.

Dragon year ice swim race. 🐉🐲🤙🏼🤙🏼
Enter the dragon everyone! Enjoy the year!
3.7°C water.
Photo credit: Martin Černý
     

[Extreme ice mile] Some folks asked me “Why do you still want to swim ice mile?” “Didn’t you have enough?” “What’s the point?” ❔❔❓⁉️
Me: I want to enter to the realm where I lost my perception of distance and time. It made me feel like I was closer to death. The feeling how I can still get out from it intact, makes me feel like I still have part of control of my life. I feel alive after every ice mile. Inspiration and orientation of life come to me after every ice mile. That’s why I aim to one ice mile every winter. I have done 6 years of ice swimming and 5 ice miles done.
PS: It is a risky swim. There was a scuba diver next to me in the last lanes when I started to slow down. He was ready to catch me if I dropped. Safety measure is needed when we push our limits!
Photo credit: Andreas Reich Rohrwig
       

Casual weekend race. 1km down the river in Sázava. 3.0°C water. I still go to ice swimming races regularly but haven’t posted it much. Why?
If it would be my first time to ice race, I can post a lot. When it becomes a regular routine, it isn’t something special for me anymore.
It becomes part of my life style to swim, train and race. 🙏🏿😌
Photo credit: Martin Černý
     

[Extreme Ice Mile] I want to acknowledge the effort, time and sophisticated organization from Austrian ice swimming friends. Medical support was solid. Scuba diver Robert Kriz was ready to drag me out from water instantly in case that I could have dropped out from the coldness. Organization of physical materials like tents, saunas cracking the ice, building the ice pool.
Without good people and friends, I ain't no sh*ts. There wouldn't have been swimming challenges. I was able to push my physical limit with such a world-class support. I will be back again!
Peter Kadletz , Josef Koeberl, Doris Reich-Rohrwig , Erlinger , Shakiri Juen - Mentoring für Führungskräfte , Willi Heinzl , Claudia-Diana Pulbere Dia Sternstaub , Richard Werner and more 🙂 Not easy to tag and name everyone. Thank you all!
Photo credit: Andreas Reich Rohrwig

[Extreme ice mile] My swim time at 1.2°C water was 33min 46s. ❄️🏊‍♂️ The funniest part of the swim is described here. The last 100m became trippy. My entire four limbs got numb. The numbness started at the beginning from palms and feet. At the end, the numbness reached my shoulders and pelvis. The coldness reached the core. My perception of distance and time started to be distorted. This photo was the moment I sighted with breaststroke to orient myself in the lane in the last 100m. In reality, my last 100m took me 3minutes compared to my first 100m 1min 38s even though I perceived my speed normally. 🥶
Suddenly, “oh yeah, I tap the wall and finish the swim”. 🥳I could climb the ladder up by myself. It was easier than ice mile butterfly at least I have the memory of my finish. My walk to the recovery tent was better than the ice mile butterfly.
Photo credit: Andreas Reich Rohrwig
       

[Extreme ice mile #1] 5th ice mile done. ✅Completed an extreme ice mile (1609m) as a surprise. 😄Until one day before the challenge, I didn’t expect water temperature to be 1.2°C. The organizer team worked so hard to break the ice on the surface. Initial plan was to swim an individual medley in 3-5°C water. Knowing my own limit, I decided to swim freestyle when it is under 2°C. This swim challenge was slightly scary to me since I have never done an extreme ice mile before. The point of challenge is that yes I have never done it before.
PS: pending for ratification
Photo credit: Andreas Reich Rohrwig

😂after party. Literally, my feet were grilled on a freezing pan at -11°C. It s my first experience in 6 years ice swimming journey. It happened when I stepped on floor with wet bare feet. Every step sticked to the floor. The sound was "blak blak blak blak..."

What is the message? You can see many ‘influencer’ showing their biceps and nice bodies when doing ice dipping. YES! I show you my burnt foot! Do people usually show the cost behind? 🙂 Folks can tell you ice dipping is perfect. REALITY! There are precautions and costs. 😀 this time, my feet pay the bill. A bit pain while walking already two days. But my mind is happy. 🥳🥳ignore the small pain.

My swimming distance was ~986km in 2023. Slightly more than 2022 and 2021. 🏊‍♂️Bruce Lee:”“I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who had practiced one kick 10,000 times” 🧘🏻‍♂️ It is about the persistence. Bring a sustainable impact everyday.         #李小龍

Meeting new friends and socializing make us stronger. I still believe how human evolved. Without working with others, I believe our pioneers would have been killed by different threats from the nature.    

Bare feet walk on snow 20min. 練寒冰腿功 🫠        

❄️❄️❄️FREE FREE FREE! I offer free coaching for cold resistance training in Brno at the river for this winter. :) Preferably at weekends, just drop me a message if interested.
In 2020, before I jumped into the English Channel. I talked with the full moon above my head and said “Please give me the clear way to cross the channel. I will give back to the world and people as much as I can.” I got a way to France without jellyfish and with extraordinarily calm oceans.
It is time to give back now!
Photo: 11.11.2023 Plumlov 1km at 9°C water. Credit: Dalimir Marek

[Mindfulness] Recently, I have been digging into the mindfulness practice during swimming instead of the conventional meditation breathing exercise. Mindfulness means living in the present moment. Quite a large part of anxiety in my life comes from being trapped in the past experience and from worries about the unknown future. Yeah......It is too easy to say that we can't change the past and we are not able to predict the future. What tool can we use to help ourselves?
Practising mindfulness can help accept the past and worry less about the future, by focusing on the right moment RIGHT NOW. As an extrovert, movement helps me concentrate on the present moment more than static sitting. During swimming, I focus on my forearm catch, body position, heels, neck and each body part. Each time 45min-2hours. Each week, 3-6 swim trainings. Week by week, month by month, year by year. Not only my body is trained up. My mind is also trained to focus on the movement at that right moment. Mindfulness is like muscle. You need to train it up by time. By concentrating on the movement details during swim, I realize that it is actually my mindfulness practice. It lowers my anxiety about the past and the future.
Do you have similar experience in any activities you do routinely? For example, having your morning coffee everyday?

After a break of race, I try to re-define the meaning of swimming to my life. The sense of having control over my own body makes me stay in swimming training. I feel grateful to feel my core, limbs and body position. Mind and body are one. Other than the physical control, peace is gained after hours of mindfulness in water. After 3 weeks of training, my time is back to my pace before 2020 English Channel. I am still addicted in swimming.

🧘🏻‍♂️slowly bring back my physical condition. Get ready for summer marathons. Clean the mind and body.

My 4th ice mile got ratified. Looking forward to the next one. Never gona know when, where, what and who will be. Do it for love and passion! Acknowledgement I.PKO club Praha

[Ice mile #4] My 4th ice mile was done as an annual meditation last Sunday. To be ratified now by IISA. It turned out to be a small adventure. It refers to my first ice mile done 31min at the exact same swimming course. This time, my swim was 37min. 6 minutes longer. Water temp 4.5°C. First half around 825m against the current and the second half 825m swam with current. The fun part of open water is that it is controlled by the nature. The current was stronger than in 2019. It took me quite some more power to swim against it. After the turn, I guessed it was time to chill even when chilled. But strong wind and wave blew me backward even though current helped me. With excellent help from PKO club members Mike Hudson, Richard Haan, Milos Paseka and Josephine P***k and another swimmer Sasa Selcan, my recovery was fast. Lesson learned: friendship and people are the best treasure in life! We are also part of the nature. Be grateful all the time to the love we all share. The love among people, nature, water, sports and yourself. I believe it is what drives us doing amazing things in life.

[Reviewing my ice mile #3] My third ice mile was done in individual medley (IM). 400m butterfly, 400m backstroke, 400m breaststroke and finished with 450m freestyle. 37 minutes. Water temp 4.1° C. I wanted to bring more creativity in swimming and tried to be a pioneer to swim something that was not done before in the IISA ice mile record system. After finishing the ice mile in butterfly, I was sure IM was possible and probably easier than butterfly. Surprisingly in the water, my muscle coordination was not so good in ice water. IM requires higher level of body and muscle coordination and all sets of muscle are needed. My motivation was purely to enjoy it and "have a nice trip". I had a lot of fun without suffering too much after swim. Currently, I am planning for my 4th ice mile in conventional freestyle this winter. I hope I can do one ice mile per year as an annual meditation to clean my mind and body. Let the ice water guide me. In the ice, we believe.

30min dipped in 1.8°C water. 🥶🤧 Forget about the famous wim-hof method. Forget about some special breathing techniques. You will find your own way and adopt with no fancy sh*ts. Now, I am practising to push my mind to control my body not to shiver after 12 minutes. Also, meditate and concentrate to relax the muscle after ice. My own recent discovery is that most people focus on meditation before and during the ice dipping. I found that the impact to mind is much higher when I meditate after the ice dip/swim. Take the chance to ride to the outter space when the dopamin, serotonin, adrenaline blablabla are high in head. Solutions and possibilities are right in your face.

[Reviewing my ice mile #2] My second ice mile was in full FINA butterfly stroke. It was in my dangerous zone. Water temp 4.77deg C. My memory was partially blacked out after the 43-min swim in butterfly. My wife supported me for the recovery. Some childhood memory flashed back. I learned that love and passion are driving me going along the journey of my life. You have your limits. I have my limit while others have their limits. By proper training, the limits are able to be pushed. My mindset of achievement slightly started to fade and I started to enjoy the real results of ice swimming. The result was the learning of the process and experience along the way. The ice mile butterfly was a mental trip. The result is not "YEAH. I have swum an ice mile in butterfly and survived. I have a certificate."
         

[Reviewing my ice mile #1] My first ice mile was in freestyle in a river in Prague. Water temp was 3.5 deg. 31min 24 seconds. The principle I learned in challenge is that I don’t need to swim the challenge in my training. I never knew that I was able to swim one mile without neoprene suits. I felt nervous before the start. The fear of dropping out in water existed. I swam just for my ambition and looked at the achievement being the first Hongkonger that swam an ice mile. Looking back, I only looked at achievement, title and results. I want to pat my old self’s back and say ‘Forget the title, results and achievement. enjoy the swim truly and enjoy the afterdrop. Explore your soul.’
         

🙏🏿5min in the icy Thames doped my mind. Good ideas and inspiration shined in. Be grateful that the ducks didn’t eat this fatty human.

To my ice swimming friends: have fun in the on-going Samoens Ice Swimming World Championships. Enjoy every second of the game. Swim with your love and passion! It is a pity that I can't join this year. Keep myself more hungry for crazier swims in the future. Hope to meet you guys very soon.
         

It is the season to season yourself. Water takes away heat 25 times faster than air. Exposing my body in flowing ice water of 1degree celsius tells my hypothalamus in brain to heat up my body, for example by increasing metabolic rate. When I go back to the -10degree air, I feel the world is warmer. It takes time and patience to get seasoned. Every winter, at least once a week, and 5 years has gone. The body and brain know what to do now. 🙏🏿
         

It was a fun swim in summer. Madness has been spread to others. 😇

Very happy to receive the certificate from the British Long Distance Swimming Association in recognition of our Loch Ness Relay with a completion time of 11 hours 29 minutes 27 seconds on 27th July 2022.

From swimming to surfing🏊‍♂️🏄🏻‍♂️: digested three stages of learning talked by Bruce Lee, in the first stage, we try to swim without any techniques nor knowledge. In the second stage, we go through the boxes, schools and theories from experienced people. It is wise not to repeat mistakes that have done by others over decades. In the third stage, we kind of return to the stage one to swim without thinking about techniques nor knowledge because we absorbed the techniques already. We just perform at races intuitively. In my opinions, to reach the stage three, we need to go through the stage two. It does not mean we are stupid to learn from others. Be open-minded and patient. In the stage two, make sure we empty our mind to absorb new things. Don't get judgmental until we really reach the stage three. Even though we think we are at stage three, sometimes go back to stage two to fine-tune.
In 2021, I started my first lesson to learn surfing in Portugal. Last month, I was back again. Along the way, I trust the coaches and don't judge. Applying the same way of learning philosophy like my swimming. If we don't empty our cup, no more tea can be filled into our cup. Be water my friends! 🌊