IISA Member Bio

IISA ID:  13
Membership Level Icon
Ryan Stramrood
Country Ambassador
South Africa
Cape Town
South Africa
South Africa
Country Association
South Africa
ICE ID: 4
Gender: Male
Age: 50
Ice Miles: 5
ICE 7s: 3
Extreme: 3
About Ryan Stramrood
Ryan Stramrood is an extreme open water swimmer from Cape Town, South Africa who has completed ice swims around the world and two of the Oceans Seven channel swims.

Ryan is an inspirational speaker telling stories from his travels, achievements and adventures, which subtly delivers a powerful message.

After successfully crossing the English Channel in 2008, being the first South African man to have crossed the Strait of Gibraltar in 2005 together with team mates (and again in 2010), taking joint 3rd place in Alaska\\’s tough Pennock Island race in 2009, completing Australia\\’s Rottnest Island swim and many other challenging distance swims in and around South Africa, Stramrood has more recently made a significant mark in the ultra-extreme genre of ice swimming.

In March 2014, an unprecedented attempt by six South Africans to complete an ice swim in Antarctica, saw Stramrood completing an official ice mile as per the rules of the International Ice Swimming Association, in water officially measured at -1C (30.2ºF) in Neko Harbour, Antarctica. The swim took 32 minutes to complete amidst scattered ice blocks, large icebergs, orcas, and leopard seals.

In March 2013, Stramrood successfully completed the first ever official ice mile north of the Arctic Circle in Murmansk, Russia. This was done with team mates Ram Barkai and Kieron Palframan as well as Henri Kaarma.

Stramrood has complete three other ice mile challenges in South Africa.

In July/August 2013, Stramrood played an important role in the 6-day Bering Strait Swim Relay that crossed 86 km from Russia to Alaska. The team from South Africa were nominated for the Night Jar Travel Adventurers of the Year (South Africa) award and the challenge won the WOWSA award for top open water challenge of the year.

Stramrood was a member of the successful Patagonia Extreme Cold Water Challenge which was a series of three extreme cold-water swims at the very tip of South America by five South African men: It was nominated for the 2011 World Open Water Swimming Performance of the Year and won 3rd place.

Stramrood, Palframan, Viviers, Barkai and Chin are all founding members of the International Ice Swimming Association. During the Patagonia Extreme Cold Water Challenge, they successfully completed three extremely cold-water swims in 12 days: 3.2 kilometers double crossing of the Beagle Channel, 4 kilometer crossing of the Strait of Magellan (8°C) and 2.5 kilometers around the southern most point of Cape Horn at 7°C.

All the swims were done in rough water, against strong currents and in water less than 8°C.

Stramrood has complete 48 successful crossings from Robben Island to the mainland (in South Africa). He swam from Alcatraz Island in San Francisco to the mainland and also finished third overall in the 2012 8 km Deep Blue Invitational Swim.

Ice Miles

  Swim Date Swim
Location
Water
Temp
Wind
Chill
Swim
Dist.
Swim
Time
Body of
Water
Altitude (m)
GPS Latitude
   
1 17 Jul 2010 Fraserburg, RSA 4.50°C 5.00°C 1.0000mi 0:28:00 Open Water 31.91°S view
2 23 Jul 2011 Fraserburg, RSA 5.00°C 10.00°C 1.0000mi 0:28:21 Open Water 31.91°S view
3 15 Jul 2012 Fraserburg, RSA 1.70°C -5.00°C 1.0000mi 0:26:18 Open Water 31.91°S view
4 23 Mar 2013 Murmansk, Russia 0.00°C 0.00°C 1.0000mi 0:30:00 Open Water 68.97°N view
5 2 Mar 2014 Neko Harbour, Antarctica -1.00°C 0.00°C 1.0000mi 0:32:08 Lake 64.90°S view

IISA 1km Swims

Only IISA Swims <= 5.0°C
  Swim
Date
Event Name Country
Association
Event Venue Swim
Time
Water
Temp
Wind
Chill
Altitude (m)
GPS Latitude
AR ER WR WC    
1 16 Dec 2012 Tyumen ice swimming Russian Federation Tyumen russia 15:27.28 0.00°C -33.00°C   AR ER WR   PDF Icon view
2 20 Mar 2015 IISA 1st World Champio... Russian Federation Lake Semenovskoye, Mur... 14:27.00 0.08°C -5.00°C           PDF Icon view
3 7 Aug 2016 IISA SA 2016 Champ South Africa Afriski resort, Lesoth... 22:07.00 4.00°C 5.00°C 29.61°S Open Water PDF Icon view
4 6 Jan 2017 2nd Ice Swimming Aqua ... Germany Burghausen, Bavaria 14:24.92 3.40°C -11.10°C           PDF Icon view
AR = Age-Group Record
ER = Swim Event Record
WR = World Record
WC = World Championship Record

Other Swims

Solo
  Swim
Date
Location
(Description)
Time
Taken
Swim
Distance
Avg Dist.
Per Day
Water
Temp
Wind
Chill
Observer /
Witness
Awards  
1 14 Dec 2012 Tyumen, Siberia 14:58 1,000 m - 0°C 0°C -   view

Photos

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