“To all who finished: well done. To those who didn’t, don’t worry, Robben Island is going nowhere. It was a great effort. Don’t give up. Come back and tame this crossing,” said Cadiz Freedom Swim Chairman Ram Barkai.

“The conditions were very deceiving. It was calm and sunny with a (relatively) hot start (13.2°C). Little did we know the temperature would drop constantly and forget to rise towards the end. Then there were swells and a strong current.”

Cold with decreasing temperatures.

Calm with increasing swells.

Sounds like a classically extreme open water swim. But the swimmers rose to the occasions. A total of 326 swimmers started and 298 finished. Among the solo swimmers, 129 started and 103 finished. Among the relays, 57 teams started and 56 finished. Tyron Venter (1:48:28) and Sarah Kay (2:08:51) were the first finishers

“This was an event of epic proportions and a race of extreme conditions,” said Craig Craig Doonan of the 7.5K swim in Cape Town, South Africa from Robben Island to Big Bay. “It was an incredibly challenging swim.”

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