'Exhausted' Lantau charity swim pair back on dry land

Olivier Baillet - one of two Discovery Bay residents who swam around Lantau for charity - said he felt "emotional" and "exhausted" in the final hours of the mammoth 75 kilometre five-day circumnavigation, which they completed yesterday.

The 44-year-old Frenchman and Bruce Pye, his 45-year-old South African friend, raised almost HK$78,000 by swimming around the island in support of Plastic Free Seas, a charity founded to improve the state of Hong Kong's waters.

"This is one of the happiest days of my life," Baillet said. "Friends came and swam alongside us in the last hours, and the support from volunteers has been incredible - it's been a dream team all around," he said, describing how about 50 people provided crucial support each day.

The pair set off on Wednesday, battling volatile currents and waves, chilly waters, and the occasional, dangerous interruptions from passing Macau ferries which threatened to capsize kayaks of the team who accompanied the swimmers.

The two spent their evenings in a junk boat that was so dark Baillet recalls accidentally brushing his teeth with antifungal cream.

On some days Lantau appeared as a vision of "radiance", with pink dolphins and sunrises helping to bolster spirits which were dampened by drops in body temperature, fatigue and searing pain. On others, it looked more like a scene from a "post-apocalyptic movie", said Baillet who described swimming by drilling machines near Tung Chung as an "eerie" experience.