Sacha Dench Becomes One of Few Women to Cross the Irish Sea Solo by Kayak

“The Human Swan” completes first leg of her 'Sea to Summit' expedition, retracing bird migration route to Denmark

Renowned adventurer and conservationist Sacha Dench, also known as The Human Swan, has landed in Wales after successfully completed her solo kayak crossing of the Irish Sea, from Wexford to Whitesands Bay (St George’s Canal) becoming one of only a handful of women to do so alone and the first known to complete it as a user of lower limb external prosthetics.


The 19-hour crossing marks the completion of the first leg of her extraordinary new journey: UNSTOPPABLE - Sea to Summit: a human-powered adventure from Ireland to Denmark to spotlight urgent biodiversity issues and inspire public action for nature.


This is Sacha’s first physical adventure since surviving a life-threatening paramotor accident in 2021, which left her with multiple injuries and the need to rely on external prosthetics for all lower-limb-powered movement. This journey mirrors her earlier Flight of the Swans expedition, in which she famously flew with swans in a paramotor from the Russian Arctic to the UK. This time, it’s human-powered and in the opposite direction: a personal and symbolic return to ACTION.

With this new expedition, we want to showcase the awe-inspiring beauty and value of the natural world and shine a light on the courageous leaders stepping up to defend it. We hope that this project opens eyes to the realities we face and inspires people to act, as if their lives depend on nature. Because they do. Most importantly, we must remember: we are in this together. Alone, our efforts may have limits. But together, we can be unstoppable.”


- Sacha Dench

How can you get involved?

There are plenty of ways. We would love for you to be involved in any way that you can. 


The expedition was covered on ITV where Sacha talks about her experience crossing the Irish Sea and the expedition. You can watch it here