[imagesource: Twitter / Lewis Pugh]

Swimming in Cape Town’s ocean waters is the city’s unofficial extreme sport.

The Vaalies who visit can’t really complain but ask a Durbanite to wade in for a splash and you may well get some pushback.

I’d say Clifton is right up there in terms of frigid temperatures, and Camps Bay Beach isn’t far behind.

I stumbled upon this 2017 Tripadvisor review of Camps Bay Beach by a bloke called Brett from Melbourne.

He said “you’d be brave to have a swim here, the water is the coldest I have ever felt” before adding that “even walking along the wet sand at the water’s edge my feet were cramped from the cold, and this was in the middle of summer in January!”

Where am I going with this? Ah yes, Lewis Pugh.

The South African endurance swimmer is famous the world over for taking on gruelling tasks to raise awareness around various environmental concerns.

He has already tackled swims in the Arctic and Antarctic but his most recent swim, which he calls the ‘coldest swim on Earth’, took place in Greenland.

He covered 7,8 kilometres in the Ilulissat Icefjord in 14 sessions over 12 days.

The Malvern Gazette reports:

Swimming in waters fed by the world’s fastest moving glacier, the UN patron of the oceans had to brave water temperatures between 0C and 3C (32F-37.4F) as he became the first person to undertake a multi-day swim in the polar regions…

He said: “This was an extremely challenging swim. Not only because of the cold, and not just because I had to swim in freezing water day after day, without a chance to let my body recover, but because the conditions were also very treacherous.”

You don’t have to be a scientist to know that water freezes at 0°C, which makes the presence of those icebergs understandable.

No wetsuit. Just a Speedo. Madness.

After completing the swim, Pugh shared this video:

I’ve completed the #ClimateSwim. 12 days, 7.8 gruelling kms. I am relieved, exhausted, cold. And worried.

The melting we’ve seen on the Greenland Ice Sheet will impact all of us. We have a very small window to act. We need all hands on deck to solve the Climate Crisis. #COP26 pic.twitter.com/Y7FJkeQO08

— Lewis Pugh (@LewisPugh) September 7, 2021

His task was made all the more difficult by a number of icebergs coming apart during his swim, leading to large pieces of ice rushing out to sea:

That made the conditions harsher, with colder water and air, and forcing Mr Pugh to deal with the sharp edges of brash ice as he swam.

But the polar regions are experiencing faster changes due to the climate crisis than anywhere else on Earth, which Mr Pugh said meant it was the best place to raise awareness.

Pugh said when times were tough, he would focus on a single reason to get back into the water (like family, or raising awareness).

It also helped that he had this beautiful hound to greet him at the end of each day:

Will miss this boy so much. Every day Qaqu has given me the biggest hug after each swim! #ClimateSwim pic.twitter.com/Fa4rGLifVV

— Lewis Pugh (@LewisPugh) September 6, 2021

Good boy, great man.

I’m still not dipping a toe in the water at Clifton, though.

[source:malverngazette]