Open Water Swimming
I grew up in Bakoven and Camps Bay, and as a result was a bit of a beach bum from an early age. The advantages of this upbringing were that we learned to swim early (in the sea!) and were oblivious to cold water - that's just the way it was. By my early teens we were body-surfing at Glen Beach, and a few years later surfing with the Endless Summer crew. Needless to say, swimming was my earliest and favourite sport.
Many years later in March 1995 I moved back to Camps Bay. At the time I was heavily involved in triathlons and a few mates and I used to hang out on Camps Bay beach in summer and swim across the bay just for fun. My triathlon days are descibed here.
In early May 2006 I was strollling along the Camps Bay boulevard one Sunday morning and noticed some people swimming across the bay. I decided to join them when summer came around again, and so it was in November 2006 that I began my regular Sunday morning swims, summer or winter, rain or shine.
We'd start swimming in front of Cafe Caprice and head south to the kelp where we would take a break. Andrew liked to tell a joke at this point and one particularly cold and rainy day when he had started to ramble a bit, Ram interjected with "Hurry up, Andrew, we're getting wet here!".
I'm not sure when the hot chocolate tradition started, but it soon became de rigueur after a swim to gather on the pavement outside Caprice and drink hot chocolates. Eventually, the demand became so great that Caprice would bring jugs of hot chocolate out for us.
Most of the people who swam on Sunday mornings were also veterans of Robben Island and other swims and it was inevitable that I would have to give Robben Island a go myself. As it happened we had a lovely warm water spell in December 2008 which led me to cast off my wetsuit and commit myself to the big one. I did the Freedom Swim in April 2009 (by the skin of my teeth), had another go in 2010 and failed, and then a final heroic and successful swim in 2011. My Robben island swims are documented here.
Apart from the Freedom Swim itself (on Freedom Day) the Freedom Swim Series is a group of swims that take place on some of South Africa's other public holidays, and which I have done several times: Human Rights Day, Youth Day, Womans' Day, Heritage Day and Day of Reconciliation. I have also done the occasional swim at LLandudno as well as the popular Round The Rocks Swim at Blouberg.
The Womans' Day swim 2010 in Camps Bay (see below) was particularly rough with massive seas and I have to admit I didn't finish! The Heritage Day swim is held at the Oceana Power Boat Club at Granger Bay and provides a pleasant view of the Cape Town Stadium (when you aren't worrying about sharks!)
1SOMS was started by Warren Fialkov in conjunction with Clifton Lifesaving Club. The course was between the Lifesaving club on 4th Beach and Moses Beach, a 1.6km round trip, and crossing the notorious Cherry Reef between 1st and 2nd Beaches. I recall doing my first one in 2007; in fact, I remember being the only swimmer to pitch one Sunday and Warren graciously offering to paddle with me. I declined.
Another great Clifton tradition is the New Year's Day swim, started way back by the lifesavers themselves. This is held at 12 noon on NYD and follows the same route as 1SOMS. In fact, the last cold water swim I did was the NYD swim on 1 January 2016.