Six-hour ‘fun’ swim from Robben Island gets emotional
● A music teacher who swam breaststroke for six hours from Robben Island to Melkbosstrand this week — possibly the first person to do so — says she simply wanted “a bit of fun” to distract herself and others from the Covid-19 lockdown blues.
Kim Prytz had already completed the “usual” route in 2019, walking ashore at Blouberg after four hours of breaststroke. However, on Monday she made it all the way from the island to Melkbos, a distance of 10.4km in 14°C water, wearing just a costume and swimming cap.
The achievement was partly a fundraising effort to help families in the Muizenberg community of Capricorn affected by the lockdown. But Prytz said the exertion and mental discipline needed to achieve her goal turned it into a deeply personal experience.
She said that by surrendering to the ocean currents she found a new way to experience her emotions.
“Sometimes I think of the ocean as all the unshared tears of the world,” the 46-yearold told the Sunday Times this week.
“Different feelings come up in the swim, and probably the most poignant is grief.
“You can grieve as much as you like because nobody will know you are grieving — it is cathartic.”
Another notable aspect of Prytz’s feat is that she started long-distance ocean swimming only in 2019 when she and her friend Lisa Kirsch completed a training camp in Langebaan. She now intends setting herself other ocean challenges, including a swim around Cape Point.
Prytz is no exercise novice, however. She has a black belt in karate and is an avid trail runner. She credits her karate teacher with helping her achieve the mental conditioning required to complete her marathon swims.
She said meditation and spiritual teachings had also helped her develop clarity and mindfulness, and swimming had become a useful metaphor for a broader understanding of life.
“I could have chosen to swim crawl, but I chose something I love which is slower and allows me to watch the vista of Table Mountain, because that’s what I love. It’s also a message: you don’t have to always go for the fastest thing, you can go for the slower thing.”
While she may have bagged a record swim, she will be hard-pressed to beat Ryan Stramrood’s record of 109 Robben Island crossings. Stramrood set the record in July in honour of his late friend and legendary Cape Town swimmer Theodore Yach, who made the crossing 108 times. The first recorded crossing was by Henry Hooper in 1909, and the fastest, in just 1hr 23min, was by Troy Prinsloo in 2013.
The principal of Capricorn Primary School, Siddieka Hassen, said Prytz was an inspiration to her pupils. “The excitement of our learners who were present when she arrived at Melkbos beach was immeasurable,” she said.
“We definitely endorse her swimming adventure as she epitomises hope and this is crucial in a community like Capricorn where daily life is an uphill battle.”
Prytz, who grew up in Durban and has always loved swimming, said she was painfully aware of the hardships suffered during Covid-19, particularly in poorer communities. “Everyone was so isolated and I thought why not do something fun in the sea, to distract people, just a bit of fun? Why not do something that sparks the imagination?”