Feisty swimmers make real rewarding splash
Fresh and feisty East London open water swimmers and friends hammed it up at the start of their inaugural Wild & Free swim from the mouth of the chilly Bushman's River up 16km to a bridge on Saturday.
But it got serious for three East London swimmers, Dr Mandy Uys, Joy Roach and Gail Wild, who did the full 16km in only their nylon costumes in
16°C water.
The other swimmers, who comprised five medical doctors, one science doctor, a physiotherapist, a builder, a guesthouse operator, a top Deaf SA swimmer, and a Daily Dispatch journalist, swam in wetsuits, and managed between 14 and 6km. All the swimmers joined the three women in solidarity for the 16th kilometre which ended on glowing, mirror-like waters at sunset.
The women climbed onto the Sandbar floating restaurant support barge with blue lips and shaking after four hours in the water, but in great spirits.
On Sunday, soon after dawn, all the swimmers jumped in at Horns Up on the nearby Kariega river and swam 5km to the mouth at Kenton-on-Sea.
The swimmers chipped in for their weekend costs and made a further donation to the Wild Swim project run by environmental news agency Roving Reporters and partners.
Wild said on Monday that the Wild & Free swim had raised R8,430.
The Wild Swim has gripped the imagination of open water swimmers nationally, and has taken place on the Umtamvuna and Mtentu rivers on the Wild Coast last month, from Cape Point to Camps Bay in a relay two weekends ago, and now the Wild & Free swim on the Sunshine Coast.
The women climbed on to the support barge with blue lips