Sarah Ferguson (South Africa, MSF bio here), founder of Breathe Conservation, has quite the pedigree in the open water.

In addition to her prolific record in the open water [see below], she is spending a lot of time and effort on giving back to the sport and to Planet Earth.

• 2022: One Ocean Swim, a year-long 1,500 km stage swim from Durban to Cape Town in South Africa
• 2019: 60 km circumnavigation swim around Easter Island in Polynesia in 19 hours 8 minutes [see photos below]. Her pioneering swim was the subject of a 58-minute documentary film called Against The Current
• 2019: 11 km coastal swim in False Bay in South Africa in 3 hours 10 minutes
• 2018: 6-day 100 km stage swim called the Elephant Coast Swim Series
• 2017: pioneered an 18 km Aliwal Shoal swim in South Africa in 5 hours 0 minutes
• 2017: 45 km crossing of the Molokai Channel from Molokai to Oahu in 17 hours 54 minutes, the first African woman to do so
• 2016: participated in a Madswimmer pool event where she covered 45 km in 24 hours
• 2015: 8 km Cape Point swim in 2 hours 6 minutes
• 2015: 7.4 km Robben Island crossing in 2 hours 2 minutes
• 2014: first woman to swim 17.9 km from Umhlanga to Durban, South Africa in 4 hours 16 minutes
• 2014: Four Elements Ocean Challenge in Durban, South Africa

She is hosting the annual World Ocean Day Swim in Durban, South Africa on June 7th [see here].

Ferguson explains, “We are a non-profit organisation and the proceeds for our event go directly towards our marine ecology program working in underprivileged schools.

I wanted to use my love of swimming to do something bigger. I decided to start a own non-profit organization, Breathe Conservation specifically dedicated to tackling the issue of plastic pollution. The name Breathe is all encompassing. In order to live we need breath. It is essential for life, without it we cannot function. Breathing helps reduce pain and facilitate child birth bringing in new life. We need to learn to breathe slowly to get through the chaos of life. God breathed His life into the world at the very beginning of time. While we still have breath, we have potential, opportunity, purpose and responsibility to make a difference.

Breathe aims to breathe life into people.

Previously, Breathe focused on ways to reduce plastic in our oceans through eliminating single use plastics, and on engaging local communities to help them work towards this goal. We are now working to spread the message “Live Deeply, Tread Lightly”. With this motto, we aim to inspire future generations to reconnect with nature and be conscious of their impact on the earth. We want to encourage curiosity about where things come from (such as water, electricity, food, clothing) and where things go (such as waste management), and to consider how to eliminate single use plastic from our lives.

Breathe Conservation encourages this curiosity and consideration through multiple approaches: we offer school and corporate education talks, we promote sustainable products to use instead of plastics, we provide education resources on this topic, and run monthly beach and reef cleans, amongst other events.

© 2025 Daily News of Open Water Swimming

“to educate, enthuse, and entertain all those who venture beyond the shoreline“

A World Open Water Swimming Federation project