Ned Denison, an experienced channel swims from east to west and north to south, traveled to South Africa with fellow swimmers Simon Murie and Tom Hudson to experience extreme swimming in that part of the open water world.

This is his account:

Three English Channel solo swimmers combined a vacation – and snuck in another swim – when they flew down for the Cadiz Freedom Swim. Landing in Cape Town a week before the famous Cadiz Freedom Swim, Simon Murie, Tom Hudson and Ned Denison met up that afternoon for an acclimatisation swim at Clifton Beach.

They had all combined mostly pool training this winter and spring while Simon and Tom enjoyed a few bracing swims in the sea off Brighton England and Ned trained in the 8-11°C (46-52°F) waters.

The very next day, Simon and Tom stepped off Robben Island and completed a challenging 11K Three Anchor Bay swim. Further down the coast, Ned took his talents to the a well-documented home of the Great White Sharks when he left Dias Beach, rounded Cape Point into False Bay and came ashore at Buffels Bay in 2:02, tying the world record.

A few days later, they met up with local channel swimmers for long sessions in the 50m open air pool at Sea Point in balmy 16.5°C (62°F) waters.

Ned reflected on the trip, “The Cadiz Freedom Swim comes before the season starts in the Northern Hemisphere. This forced me into a quicker ramp-up of pool meters this winter and longer ocean swims in fairly cold seas. As a result, the sea in Cape Town felt pretty warm. The Cape swimmers treated us very well and I recommend more northern swimmers get down next year for the race. I returned to Cork more prepared for the first local race than my traditional competitors.”

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