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)

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%

Photo: Paul Van Jaarsveld

Helping the little swimmer to overcome the associated fears and uncertainty’s is the first step in the Learn to Swim journey.

Building a trust relationship will be a good swim teacher’s first goal.

Up to the age of 3, many children will only trust their parents or other family members and learning to trust a stranger in a swimming pool can be very stressful.

It does help if the little swimmer knows some other children who are learning to swim with the same teacher.  They will then compare notes amongst each other and can help make the whole journey more enjoyable.

There may be tears when a little swimmer enters the water for the first time.  A patient, calm swim teacher will help the child through this traumatic stage and this will be the start of the trust relationship.

Brenton’s Swim School offers lessons at the Training Edge Gym in a heated covered swimming pool. For more information, email kougaswim@vodamail.co.za

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!

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

He won the 200 m Freestyle in 1:46.27 and the 100m Butterfly in 51.75. Both these times are the fastest in  the world in 2011 for these events.

Michael Phelps swum a 51.75 for the 100 m Fly

Phelps took a break from swimming following the 2008 Olympic Games and got back into serious training last year in a build up to the London Olympics next year. From the form shown a year out from the Games, Phelps will undoubtedly be a medal contender come business time in 2012.

“I said to myself if I was under 1:47 in the 200 free, I’d be really happy, and when I saw 46.2, it kind of surprised me a little bit,” Phelps said. “It was the best time in the world, so I’ll take it. I’m definitely happy.

“My freestyle has been connecting a little bit better than it has in the past, so that’s one thing I’m really happy with. The only thing I’m kind of upset with in my fly was my finish. I try not to have finishes like that, because I know how important they are.

“I know there are some things I can still change, but for the most part, I know I’m heading in the right direction. I’m pretty confident.”

Follow this gala at USA Swimming

Yet, from a pure swimming perspective, Phelps has been part of a revolution regarding the way freestyle is being swum. This was clearly demonstrated in the 200 m Freestyle at the Beijing Olympics where Phelps used a hybrid stroke that incorporated hip driven and shoulder driven freestyle.

The old way of 3 strokes and breathe has also been done away with and the top swimmers in the world mostly favour a 2 stroke and breathe technique.

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

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

Incorporating other strokes in your workouts has the following benefits:

Butterfly helps build strength, is good for your abdominal muscles and is aerobically challenging.

Andre Saunders is developing a pretty good butterfly stroke

Butterfly and breaststroke require bilateral symmetry – because your left side does the same as your right. As a result, these strokes help establish more muscular symmetry.

Because backstroke is essentially the inversion of freestyle, working your arm and leg muscles in the opposite directions is helpful to building overall strength. Additionally, your hip rotation in the backstroke can help you improve your hip rotation in freestyle.

If you have a relatively weak freestyle kick, working on these other strokes, especially backstroke, will help you build your leg strength. Most swimmers kick more in backstroke than they do on freestyle.

Learning and working on swim strokes other than freestyle helps you become more kinetically aware of your body’s movements in the water which can help improve your freestyle.

Individual medley (butterfly + backstroke + breaststroke + freestyle) sets are aerobically challenging.

You can add significant variety to your pool workouts and become less dependent on hand paddles, pull buoys and kickboards.

Visit Open Water Source for more information about the world of Open Water Swimming