Queen of seas Bula Chowdhury has conquered the Cook Strait, a stretch of 24 kms off South Island in New Zealand, in a record time. She set the record by crossing the stretch in 9 hours 04 minutes on March 25, according to her family sources here today. This is considered to be her toughest challenge till date as the sea is marked by extremely low temperature, rough water and frequent change of tides. Bula, who had swam the English Channel twice, crossed the Strait from Ohio to Perano Point in a solitary attempt. She braved the inclement weather during the course as she started swimming at 7:30 a.m in the morning, sources said adding that she had set a new Asian record for women to cross the Cook. Bula was the first successful swimmer to cross the Cook Strait in the past two years, sources claimed.
