Sydney man Kenton Webb swims his 600th pool in Gympie

Publisher and father-of-three, Kenton Webb, has spent the past 30 years on a mission to swim 1000m in 1000 pools across the world. This week he achieved his 600th milestone in Gympie.

Sporting a neatly side-swished moustache and a pair of speed goggles, 53 year-old Kenton “Porpoise” Webb has spent the last 30 years on a mission to conquer and swim in 1000 swimming pools all over the world.

“They can’t build them as fast as I can swim them,” is Mr Webb’s motto.

Concerned that there were no great challenges left to tackle, Mr Webb decided to find one.

Revealed: 30 rising stars of hockey in 2023

Sydney man Kenton Webb has spent the last 30 years swimming in pools around the world as part of his quest to swim 1km in 1000 pools. Picture: Christine Schindler

“We have conquered space. Explored the great deserts and oceans. Split the atom. Invented the Slurpee,” the Sydney father-of-three and publisher said.

His goal: swimming 1000m (1km) in 1000 pools within 50 years.

On Tuesday morning, in the 30th year of his quest, he chose Gympie Aquatic and Recreational Centre as his 600th pool to conquer bringing cake to share with his parents, his brother and his sister-in-law, niece and two sons in celebration of the milestone.

The quest started when he returned to Sydney 30 years ago after living in the United Kingdom.

“I was trying to be a rock star in London, and I’d come back to Sydney from a London winter where everything is grey and awful,” Mr Webb said.

“The scales fell from my eyes, I saw Sydney in this new light.”

The world is his swimming pool, he said, having dipped into chlorinated, saltwater and ocean pools across the globe from Sydney to Europe to the United States.

Mr Webb started swimming in all ocean pools, with Sydney’s Fairlight Harbour Pool the first one.

From there the quest grew.

“Then every morning, I drove further and further and before long, I would draw physical maps and check them all off,” he said.

His blog 1000pools.com is a bright blue reflection of his obsession.

Kenton Webb at one of the most spectacular pools he's visited in Salzburg, Austria. Picture: Supplied

Blue porpoises on the maps shows the pools he’s conquered, and red ones remain on the to-do list.

A stint working in New York City meant he could make a side hustle of a holiday road-tripping and keeping fit by splashing up and down all the different shapes, sizes, lengths, depths, and temperatures of American pools.

While his extended family looked on in with a mixture of pride and apathy for their son/brother and his mission, his two sons were quick to share stories about the adventures of finding random, surprising, beautiful and sometimes over-chlorinated pools.

Kenton Webb, with his sons and cheering squad, Jonathan (13) and Ryan (16) at Gympie Aquatic and Recreational Centre. Picture: Christine Schindler

“We drove four hours just to swim in a pool in Moree,” his 16 year-old son Ryan said.

“In Austria there was a rock-climbing wall you climbed then jumped off into the pool,” his 13-year-old son Jonathan said.

Each recalled quickly how one pool in Spain smelled strongly like urine.

As for frequently asked questions, his blog answers them all from whether you can swim up stairs (“no, and I’d advise you not to trust people who say they can”), if you can surf the internet while swimming (“no”), and whether he should consider doing something else like playing chess (“there is no reason I can think of why you can’t play chess while swimming”).