Famous Swimmer Follows the 'Sun'

Famous open-water swimmer Lynne Cox likes challenges. As if setting several world records in swimming wasn't enough, the Los Alamitos resident has found a passion in inspiring others through her writing.

Cox, author of “Swimming to Antarctica” and “Grayson,” which focused on her swim with a baby gray whale and trying to reunite it with its mother, will share ner new novel "South With the Sun" during a free presentation at Pages: A Bookstore in downtown Manhattan Beach tonight at 7 p.m.

“South with the Sun” honors Roald Amundsen’s Antarctic expedition, which soon celebrates its centennial anniversary. Cox researched Amundsen’s life and achievements to figure out how he succeeded when many others failed.

Polar explorer Amundsen was the first man to reach the South Pole as well as the first man to travel the Northwest Passage.

“My books are meant to be inspiring,” said Cox, whose new book weaves stories from Amundsen’s explorations with stories of his colleagues and people that saw him as an inspiration, including herself.

“You may not want to swim in Arctic waters," said Cox, who swam in the same icy waters that Amundsen sailed many years ago in Antarctica, Greenland and the Bering Strait, "but if you look at the story, you often see that a person can be a mentor to someone else. Everyone is interconnected.”

Cox describes her new novel as more expansive than her previous two books. “South With the Sun” looks at the U.S. military, polar exploration and Amundsen’s use of sled dogs as well as elements of flight, swimming, athleticism and scientific research.

“I wanted the story to be relevant to now,” said Cox. “It is written for a broad audience and people can connect with it in different ways.”

Cox said the novel’s title developed from the fact that Amundsen and other discoverers were in partnership with the sun when they traveled south. The sun is still used as a way to navigate planes to the South Pole and the book focuses on how we explore the Earth by looking at the universe to find our location. 

“I hope that the focus of the book is on Amundsen," said Cox, "but it shifts to how great people pass on their knowledge. I hope that the story is inspiring to help others accomplish their goals.”

For "South With the Sun," Cox looked at handwritten letters and other documents and found that Amundsen’s knowledge was passed along to other explorers. For example, Admiral Richard Byrd, the first man to fly over the South Pole, learned information about the South Pole from Amundsen’s explorations. Because of accumulated knowledge from Amundsen, Byrd and other explorers, the New York Air National Guard’s 109^th Airlift Wing can now fly scientists to Antarctica to conduct research.

Cox, who has set swimming records in the English Channel, Catalina Channel, Cook Strait, Strait of Magellan, Cape of Good Hope, Bering Strait, Beagle Channel, Northwest Passage and other open waters, enjoys meeting her readers and hearing their stories. With a passion for writing since the age of 9, she loves that books can take readers to new places while providing interesting knowledge.