About my Book

Pushing through grief is a task we all have to face in our lives. But when that grief comes to us far too early, the pain can be deep and overwhelming. 

Chantal McFeeley lost her soulmate, and father of her 2 youngest sons, Robin, to addiction in 2020. Coming back from Robin’s funeral Chantal had an epiphany. She knew that in spite of her deep sadness she wanted to honour Robin’s memory by raising awareness and reducing the stigma of those struggling with their mental health and addictions. That was when the idea of a ‘swim challenge’ took root, and that in turn developed into an ‘open water swimming’ challenge. 

The craggy coast around Ayrshire offers many opportunities for such wild swimming. But while Chantal enjoyed swimming, she was only familiar with the safe municipal kind - lengths of breaststroke in the local pool.

Chantal is a force of nature. Her resilience, positive mindset and determination has taken her from novice to accomplished wild swimmer. This book is a testament to her hard work, and to the hard work of the small army of generous souls who helped her along the way - the coaches who taught her the skills she needed, - the support teams who kept her safe on her challenges and the ‘swim buddies’ who swam beside her on through long hours of practice.