Lewis Pugh

About Lewis Pugh

Sometimes we set boundaries for ourselves in life, or even worse, we allow others to do so. In many cases, these boundaries are in our mind and need to be pushed away.

As an endurance swimmer, Lewis Pugh is unparalleled. He was the first person to undertake a long-distance swim in every ocean of the world. He pioneered the
first swim across the North Pole, the first swim along the length of the English Channel, the world’s highest swim (on Mt Everest) and even a swim under the Antarctic ice sheet. Last year he swam the length of the Hudson River.

It would be understandable, if after decades pioneering the sport, Lewis decided to retire. But he believes that some of his greatest swims still lie ahead of him. Despite the freezing water, the daunting physical and mental toll the sport demands, Lewis is determined to continue to set new records. Training happens every day, 51 weeks a year.

Geography can mould you. Lewis was born in Plymouth. Situated in the South West of England, it’s the gateway to the North Atlantic. As a result, the city has produced some of the greatest explorers and pioneers of all time. When he was ten, the Pugh family moved to South Africa, eventually settling in Cape Town, the city where the Atlantic, Indian and Southern Oceans meet.

It was a tumultuous era for South Africa. A new nation was taking shape as Lewis began his legal studies at the University of Cape Town. He was greatly influenced by his time there and privileged to be taught by some of the finest legal minds of the era; some were the authors of South Africa’s new constitution. Dialogue and finding common ground, new ways to work together – even whilst disagreeing – were how great things were achieved. Lewis has used those skills in his career as a maritime lawyer and in his role as the UN Patron of the Oceans.

Every swim is a call for leaders and citizens to summon the courage to change the way we do things and to protect our oceans.

Lewis’s work focuses on creating marine protected areas. In 2016 he helped establish the largest protected area in the world in the Ross Sea off Antarctica. Over a 10-year period he has been instrumental in protecting over 2 million square kilometres of vulnerable ocean. To put this in perspective, it’s an area the size of western Europe.

As a speaker, Lewis explains his hard-earned lessons and transforms his experiences into lessons that every person can apply to their own work and lives. Lewis is formidably persuasive, speaking out for what he believes in, and sharing astonishing stories of his feats as an endurance swimmer in some of the most unchartered and intimidating environments on the planet. He is capable of changing minds, inspiring and entertaining global audiences. During his talks, Lewis shares the visualisation strategies, radical tactical shifts, teamwork and focus that enable him to achieve seemingly impossible tasks.

TEDx described him as a “master story-teller”.