Source2Sea is a three-week stage swim by Craig Torr, Liz Webb and Richard Willmore.

Starting on October 22nd in Ceres, the three South African swimmers will attempt to swim 315K down the length of the Breede River.

The adventure swim is scheduled to finish at the Breede River Mouth (Witsand) 21 days and 315K later on November 13th. Craig, Liz and Richard plan to swim an average of 15K per day with two rest days en route.

Source2Sea aims to raise awareness for the need for clean water in South Africa. Craig explains, “Almost all of South Africa’s rivers, streams and dams are under threat of environmental pollution. This pollution is caused by over-population of rural rain water catchment areas, and the use of rivers and streams for human bathing and washing as well as a lack of municipal infrastructure. Lack of sanitation and lack of access to our rural communities has caused a steady increase in water borne diseases such as cholera. A lack of government funding has resulted in continuously unhealthy material being pumped into our drinking water, rivers and dams.”

Through Source2Sea, the trio want to raise the profile of the magnificent Breede River and the need to keep the river clean and beautiful.

Yet they will face one of the most unusual risks in adventure river swimming: bull sharks. The Breede River is famous for being home to the world’s largest bull shark. In 2009, a 4-meter bull shark was captured in the Breede River estuary in the Southern Cape region of South Africa. The bull shark (known locally as the Zambezi shark) swims up rivers, thriving in low-saline water and has only been documented several hundred kilometers up river.

Copyright © 2011 by Open Water Source