Udupi : A former employee of the Regional Transport Office Gangadhar G.  Kadekar, the 65-year-old, made it to the India Book of Records by swimming a distance of 1.4 km in 73.7 minutes by chaining his legs in the ‘Padmasana’ pose in the sea in Padukare in Udupi district on Sunday.

He breaststroked against the wind and reached the flag on the east side of the shore at Padukare – the destination. Harish R., the adjudicator from India Book of Records, presented the provisional certificate to him.

Mr. Kadekar told reporters that he was a bit worried when he saw a big group of jelly fish deep inside the water. “Fortunately the jelly fish did not come up. Had they come up, I would have had to give up covering the distance,” he said.img

Mr. Kadekar took up swimming at the age of 50. Concerned about so many youngsters drowning in the sea, he has since been training youth in swimming in the sea for the last two years under the Jai Durga Swimming Club. Mr. Kadekar has won gold, silver and bronze medals in the State-level national level swimming competition for seniors. He said he trained in swimming by chaining his legs for 20 days, before attempting the feat.

On December 18, 2020, government school teacher Nagaraj Kharvi made it to India Book of Records by swimming a distance of 1 km in 25 minutes and 16.63 seconds by chaining his legs in the Padmasana pose in the sea in Mangaluru. He accomplished this feat at Tannirbhavi beach in Mangaluru.