When New Zealander accepted a casual invitation to the , in 2009, she was still rehabbing from a devastating fall down a staircase聽that .聽She wasn鈥檛 a serious swimmer, and she had no clue that she would soon fall in love with a torturous adventure sport that would become her life.
In 2014, , an aquatic version of the Seven Summits that involves open-water swims across the English Channel, the Catalina Channel (California), the Kaiwi Channel (between Oahu and Molokai), and the North Channel (between Ireland and England), among others. She鈥檚 also the only woman ever to swim to the jigsaw of rock in the Pacific that is the Farallon Islands, a feat she checked off in 2015. Each feat has provided her a platform to highlight and fundraise for a cause鈥攖he , the , and 鈥攁nd she鈥檚 been careful not to wade directly into politics. Yet the since taking office鈥攁nd his 鈥攈as influenced her latest mission: .
“There has been so much negativity, and this is an expression of kindness for those that risk death to flee instability, poverty, and war, in search of a better life for themselves and their children,”聽Chambers says. “Wouldn鈥檛 you do anything for your children?”
On the morning of Cinco de Mayo, from five countries will launch from , the southernmost beach in California, just a few miles from the busiest border crossing in the Western Hemisphere. They鈥檒l swim approximately one kilometer聽south along the coast, past the border, and land at Playas de Tijuana, roughly two-thirds of a mile into Mexico. On the U.S. side, they鈥檒l be flanked by a crew of American kayakers who will carry the swimmer鈥檚 passports; once they cross the border they鈥檒l be escorted by a team of Mexican paddlers along with representatives from the Mexican Navy.
“We want to cast a global spotlight on migration, which is a natural thing,”聽Chambers says. After being raised on a farm in remote New Zealand, Chambers came to the U.S. to attend University of California,聽Berkeley. She holds a green card and lives in San Francisco.
“There has been so much negativity, and this is an expression of kindness for those that risk death to flee instability, poverty, and war, in search of a better life for themselves and their children.”
The idea for the swim was hatched last February over coffee in Marin County with her friend and occasional swim buddy, South African . Last November, they and 26 others swam nine miles across the Dead Sea, from Jordan to Israel, to raise awareness .聽This time they craved a more visceral topic and, frustrated with the Trump Administration, set their sights on the U.S.-Mexico border, a political lightning rod. “I can鈥檛 just stand around and complain. I have to do something,”聽Chambers says.
Next, Chambers approached another training partner, , 58, from Mexico City, who has made six of the Ocean鈥檚 Seven crossings and is planning to swim the North Channel this summer. If he achieves it, Arg眉elles will become the first Latin American to bag all seven channels. When he was a boy, Arg眉elles used to sell Speedo swim caps and goggles at swim meets, and it was a chance meeting with Speedo executive William Lee, years later, that enabled him to attend Stanford. “My story is one of a kind,” Arg眉elles said, “but there are people who are not as lucky as I was.”
The team was rounding out. Three Israelis, two South Africans and four Americans, including two-time Catalina Channel finisher, Dan Simonelli, 51, joined up. The group partnered with the , an organization in Arizona that helps families of those who have gone missing in the borderlands find their loved ones.
The swimmers, however, aren鈥檛 interested in promoting policy. “It鈥檚 about having empathy for others who are struggling,”聽said Chambers. “Ignoring human suffering is something that those of us in privileged societies should not allow…I think under certain circumstances migration should be considered a human right.”