Fastest swim crossing of the Cook Strait (female)

The fastest female to swim across the Cook Strait (aka Te Moana-o-Raukawa), a 23-kilometre-wide (14.3-mile) channel lying between New Zealand's North and South Islands, is Denise Anderson (New Zealand) who completed the crossing from South to North in 5 hours 4 minutes on 20 January 1986. The swim was ratified by the New Zealand Marathon Swimming Federation.

Anderson's time stood as the overall record for a female or male swimmer to traverse the Cook Strait, until it was surpassed by Casey Glover (New Zealand) with a time of 4 hours 37 minutes on 13 April 2008.

Currently the fastest male to swim across the Cook Strait is Andrew Donaldson (UK) who completed the crossing from South to North in 4 hours 33 minutes 50 seconds on 7-8 March 2023, as ratified by the New Zealand Open Water Swimming Association.

The first known person to swim across the Cook Strait was Barrie Devenport (New Zealand) on 20 November 1962. He swam from North to South Island in 11 hours 20 minutes.