Bell Buoy Challenge rings in another winner in epic style
The Bell Buoy Challenge, Africa’s toughest 5km Indian Ocean swim, took place off Gqeberha on Saturday, with a tough shore break and a big smooth swell offering epic conditions.
The 14th edition of the race from Pollok Beach 2.5km out to Bell Buoy and back was won for the third time in a row by Gqeberha’s standout open water swimmer, Kyle White, 21, with two other usual suspects, Connor Moynihan and Gary Albertyn close on his heels.
With the sea looking wild on Friday, the wind switched from an easterly that night to a stiff southwesterly and by the morning a relatively benign window of opportunity had presented itself for the 118 entrants.
Still for many it was anxious times, especially for the firsttime entrants and there was much fiddling around Summerstrand Lifesaving Club with swim buoy straps to ensure they did not come off, Foggle Goggle to ensure goggles did not mist up, and balms and plasters to prevent wetsuit chaff during the one to three hours they would be out in the big blue.
There was strategising too with Bell Buoy old hands offering much-needed advice: avoid the rocks on the way out but stick left to counter the current; keep the sighting buoys on your right shoulder and if you can’t see the next buoy because of the swell, hope for a visible swimmer in front of you who knows where he is going.
Listen for the crackle of the reef below the Bell Buoy and, of course, the sound of the bell, because then you’ll know you’re nearly there.
In 1797, Lieutenant William McPherson Rice charted a submerged reef about 1.5 nautical miles offshore, north of Cape Recife.
He named it Dispatch Rock and noted that it lay only 3m below the surface at low tide, endangering shipping.
Today, an East Cardinal marker buoy, 2.5km off Pollok Beach with co-ordinates 33°58.897 S 25°41.916 E, warns ships to pass on the eastern side.
At night a flashing light marks the location of the reef and there is a bell attached to the buoy to warn ships when fog rolls into Algoa Bay and the light is ineffective.
The bell is mounted just above the floating compartment and is rung by the rocking of the buoy in the waves.
Race organiser Mike Zoetmulder of ZSports said the first Bell Buoy crossing — Hobie Beach to Bell Buoy and back — was achieved in 2009 by Eastern Cape solo swimmer Kyle Main.
On the back of Maine’s 2009 achievement, the Nelson Mandela Bay Bell Buoy Challenge was established as an open water ocean swim of 8km.
In 2014, the start and finish were transferred to Pollok Beach, cutting the distance to 5km, and in another major milestone, the event became part of the Open Water World Tour.
“In those early years, the Bell Buoy Challenge attracted some of the world’s greatest open water swimmers.
“Among them, past champions include Bulgarian Olympian Petar Stoychev, Australian Olympian Melissa Gorman, Slovenian champion Rok Kerin and SA Olympian Troy Prinsloo.
“They were the who’s who of world open water swimming at the time and the race came to be known by them as one of the world’s toughest 5km open water races given the really challenging conditions, and the toughest in Africa.
“On a great day, the 2.5km swim to the buoy can be a breeze but then the currents around the buoy can ensure the swim back is double the time as it was getting there.
“Part of the challenge is the mindset of knowing what’s beneath you as you venture into the deep sea. Thirty-two species of shark add to the fear factor, but hey — we’re the Friendly City, and even our wildlife is friendly.”
Speaking after the race on Saturday, Johannesburg swimmer Nikki Candy said it had been a stiff challenge.
“I did the Robben Island crossing swim two years ago and Bell Buoy was definitely a lot tougher.”
Bay resident Gaye Hosking, 63, was joined by her daughter Jessica, 37 — who is 11-and-ahalf weeks pregnant, and only flew into Gqeberha on Friday evening after a long flight from London.
Hosking, who recovered from flu herself just in time to participate, said they had loved the race.
“It was a challenge getting through the waves but we regrouped and then we were fine.
“The trick was we didn’t push it. I think Jessica’s baby was just pleased not to be doing tumble turns in a London pool any more.
“I was half expecting to see some big scary fish out there but the ocean was just blue and friendly. What a privilege.”
The winner in the men’s category was White in a time of 01:03:24, followed by Moynihan (01:03:26) and Albertyn (01:03:58).
Carina Bruwer was the first woman home in a time of 01:16:53, followed by Tiara Finnis (01:17:54) and Emily-Claire Crookall-Nixon-Lemmer (01:18:06).
The youngest finisher this year was Conrad Marais, 16, and the oldest was Andre van Rooyen, 73 — who also came 25th overall.
Four Bell Buoy Legends who have finished every one of the 14 Bell Buoy Challenges — Andre Kleynhans, Mary-Anne Stott, Stanford Slabbert, and Ralph West — were honoured.
On the return leg from Belly Buoy, the beacon was the Radisson Hotel but there was quite a strong north to south current that affected a number of swimmers including Jonathan Melunsky, who was forced to make a challenging exit across the rocks the other side of Pipe.
The reporter swam his first Bell Buoy Challenge and, while the days leading up to the event were stressful and the night before nerve-racking, and my swim buddy Billie McNaughton and I got separated early on during the swim — in the end it was fantastic, and something I will never forget.
The buoy was heaving in the swell but another swimmer and I swam close enough and touched its barnacled side.
I think I got a lucky gap in the hectic shore break and was also thankfully watching open water master Lyal Blom walking in just in front of me and saw how he grabbed the strap of his buoy before diving under the white water, so I copied him — and it worked. Thanks Lyal.