Archive for the ‘Open Water Swim News’ Category

New cold water swim in Cape Town

April 14, 2012

With increasing numbers of cold water swimming enthusiasts, a new organised swim from Clifton Fourth Beach to Three Anchor Bay has been launched.

The Atlantic Dash, a distance of 5.4km, is already fully subscribed and will be tackled by 30 swimmers on Sunday, April 15.

It is hoped the race will develop into a bi-annual event. The group training swim has been organised by respected businessman and dedicated cold water swimmer Theodore Yach, who feels the beauty of the route makes it one of the most scenic in Cape Town.

Yach has done the Cape Town to Robben Island swim more than 60 times and hopes that the Atlantic Dash will become a feeder event for swimmers wanting to train for this “bucket list” swim.

“What makes the Atlantic Dash unique is that we invite spectators and pedestrians to walk the route along the promenade and follow the swimmers. Support crew, media and the swimmers also have stunning views of Table Mountain and Signal Hill at the same time,” says Yach.

Another unique factor of the race is its friendliness to the environment – all support boats will be lifesavers on paddle crafts, instead of motorised boats.

A team of nurses and a doctor will be on standby for any injuries and to ensure no swimmers have hypothermia upon exiting the sea.

“This is the birth of what will hopefully become one of the top swims on the Cape Town calendar.” The swim starts at 10am at Clifton Fourth Beach.

SA extreme swimmers to cross Bering Straight

December 10, 2011

Ram Barkai, Kieron Palframan, Ryan Stramrood and Andrew Chin are South African open water swimmers who became the first men to swim around the tip of South America.

Ram Barkai is a cold water swimmer from Cape Town.

Together with Toks Viviers, they did three swims in rough water, against strong currents and in water between 3.9°C and 8°C.

The three swims were: 4.5 K across the Strait of Magellan, 3.2 K double crossing of the Beagle Channel and 2.5 K around Cape Horn.

The South African cold water specialists will be joined by the following swimmers in their next cold water expedition:

Rafal Ziobro (Poland), Zdenek Talmicka and Petr Tomasek (Czech Republic), Jack Bright (United Kingdom), Nuala Moore and Anne Marie Ward (Ireland), Alexander Brylin (Russia), Paolo Chiarino (Italy) and Anna-Carin Nordin (Sweden) have all committed to the 86 K (53 mile) relay crossing of the entire width of the Bering Strait.

The Bering Straight separates Russia from the America’s and the water will be below 4 degrees Celsius for the swim.

The crossing is planned for 18 July – 10 August 2012. The swimming relay starts on the Cape Dezhnev (Russia) and finishes on the Cape Prince of Wales (USA)

How cold is cold?

December 1, 2011

There are two main frontiers in the world of open water swimming. One of those frontiers is how far can be swam and the other is how cold can the water be.

In South Africa, the cold debate was largely irrelevant outside of Cape Town but with more and more swimmers attempting swims like Robben Island, the question of how cold is cold has become increasingly topical.

Since open water swimming starting in Jeffreys Bay in the mid 1990′s, perceptions about how cold is cold have changed quite dramatically.

For many years open water swimming stopped towards the end of March when the canal water temperature dropped below 20 degrees C and only started again in October, once the 20 degree mark was breached.

That all changed in 2011 as Jeffreys Bay swimmers began training for Robben Island swims and suddenly water of 12 – 13 degrees C was sought after, with swimmers coming through from Port Elizabeth to swim in the chilly canals.

13 degree water at Marina Martinique in winter.

Daily News of Open Water Swimming reported on a poll conducted among open water swimmers about how cold is cold. The results were:

Under 5ºC (41ºF) – 0%
Under 10ºC (50ºF) – 7%
Under 12.5°C (54.5°F) – 14%
Under 15°C (59°F) – 20%
Under 17.5°C (63.5°F) – 24%
Under 20°C(68°F) – 15%
Under 22.5°C (72.5°F) – 17%

Marina Martinique hosts SA Open Water Champs

May 16, 2011

After hosting events in Marina Martinique since 2002, it was great for the Club to see the Marina receive recognition from Swim South Africa when the 2011 SA Open Water Swim Champs was held in J’Bay.

Olympic swimmers Natalie Du Toit, Chad Ho and Thoyden Prinsloo were joined by over a hundred swimmers from all over South Africa for the Champs.

Natalie won both the 10 K and the 5 K in the event which also doubled up as a World Champs qualifier.

She also took time out to visit the swimmers at training and signed autographs for everybody!

Open water swimmers do well in PE

March 19, 2011

Four of the Kouga Swim Club’s open water swimmers took part in the Ocean Racing Series in Port Elizabeth recently. They all did really well with three 3rd places and a first time ever ocean swim for Sally Waterworth who recently started training with the Club.

For more on this story click on www.jbaynews.com

Chad Ho wins Redhouse River Mile

March 1, 2011

South Africa’s world 10 K swim champ Chad Ho made it three wins out of three at the 2011 Redhouse River Mile. Chad is a genuine medal contender for South Africa at the next Olympic Games.

Chad Ho won the Midmar and the Redhouse River Miles in 2011

For full results of the 2011 Spar Redhouse River Mile, click here

Christchurch swimmer wins Rottnest Channel Swim

February 27, 2011

Louise Stevenson from New Zealand won the 19.7 KM swim from Perth to Rottnest Island today. Coming off the devastating earthquake in Christchurch gave her lots to think about during the swim.

The start of the iconic Rottnest Channel crossing. Photo: http://www.watoday.com

Louise said she was inspired by the strength of the New Zealand earthquake survivors  throughout today’s race.

“When times got tough, all I thought was of those guys [in the earthquake],” she said whi came out of the water third overall.

Event winner was hot favourite Tim Hewitt who finished in a time of 4hrs 50 minutes. Hewitt said the race was tough but was elated with his win after finishing second in 2010.

Tim Hewitt won the 2011 Rottnest Island Swim over 19.7 Km. Photo: http://www.perthnow.com

 2 300 competitors in this year’s event battled an unusual north-north westerly swell to about half a metre. The water temperature was 24 degrees with a sea breeze that picked up during the swim.

The Rottnest Channel  is regarded as one of the iconic ocean swims by the ever growing ocean swimming community around the world.

Redhouse River Mile this weekend

February 26, 2011

Africa’s oldest open water swimming event, the SPAR Redhouse River Mile will host its 87th race on Sunday morning at the idyllic setting of Cannonville on the Sundays River.

An action packed day complimented with a beer garden, vendors and kids entertainment kicks off at 9am with the Discovery off-road triathlon. The triathlon consists of a 500m tidal assisted swim, 15km MTB and 5km trail run is suitable for novice triathletes and has already attracted over 100 entries from individuals and teams.

Whilst the triathlon is taking place, their will also be a 5km Trail Run with prize giving for both taking place at 10.30am. From 11am it’s the turn of the budding kids swimmers who are 12 years and under and not taking part in the Mile events, for the Stormforce Prelim Kids race. The Stormforce race is a fun race across the river with all kids receiving a gold medal on completion and the top three placings getting awesome Stormforce prizes.

This is then followed by the Disabled and Wetsuit Mile swims at 12 noon, with the SPAR Ladies Mile at 1pm and the SPAR Men’s Mile at 1.45pm. A swimwear fashion show will precede the final prize giving at 2.45pm.

Over and above the highest prize money in the events history, there will be no fewer than 4 Jonway motorcycles up for grabs. The AutoTrust winners jackpot, which features the top 5 Men and top 5 Ladies swimmers, will have 3 bikes as lucky draws whilst the 4th Jonway bike will go to one lucky Mile swimmer.

Open Water Training to start on Friday

October 19, 2010

The bad weather experienced over the past few days is keeping the water temp on the chilly side in the Marina Canals.

We are looking at starting open water training on Friday afternoon at 4 PM. Everyone to meet at the Phase 2 gate. Thats trhe gate closest to the Aston Bay road.

Cost is R 40 per session for non swim club members.

See you there.

Winter swim at Marina Martinique

June 6, 2010

After the most successful open water swim season ever in the Eastern Province, motivation levels have dropped due to there being nothing to train for.

The Kouga Swim Club will be holding a training swim at the Marina startin at 10 AM on 12 June. Please be in the car park at the Walskipper resturant by 09H45 as we need to start promptly at 10 Am to avoid people getting too cold.

Full details can be found here

Marina Martinique will be the venue for the winter training swim on 12 June


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