2011 Freedom Swim

By Ryan

May

22

2011 was the 10th time the Freedom Swim was officially held. Starting at Robben Island and ending at Big Bay the swim distance is an impressive 7.5km of cold water swimming. This is the forth or fifth time we have taken part in the swim accompanying various swimmers across the channel. Including Natalie Du Toit on our older boat and more recently Luke – our resident swimmer.

Unfortunately the weather was not accommodating and infamous South Easter wind kept the sea swell too big to swim. The swim did not take place from the Island but rather from an altered route from Big Bay (see www.cadiz.co.za for more details). I have uploaded a video and you can see why it was unsafe to swim  in these conditions.

Freedom Swim Condition Highlights

Having said that, Zangetsu handled the sea conditions with ease although the skipper had to keep alert as visibility was not exactly 100%.  To all swimmers, hopefully next year will be better.and this was definitely the worst conditions I have seen in which a swim was potentially going to happen.

The Go team supporting our swimmer

It only just begun…

By admin

May

20

You’ve seen the work in progress…which was ZANGETSU in the making. Now I’m pleased to say that the newest member to the CONQUEST CHARTERS group is complete. After a frantic dash to get all the safety equipment and legalities sorted we headed off to SAMSA for ZANGETSU first of many safety surveys. Following a full safety inspection we were given out operating number of DTC 8135B, which we proudly had sign-written on pontoon to give ZANGETSU the business look.

The next day we rushed off to Hout Bay (not too far from Cape Town) for the first of many Adventure rides that day. Our target being a 30min round trip to Duiker Island (also known as Seal Island), Chapmans Peak which included a few minutes of speed and high speed turns just off the beach in Hout Bay.

I’m pleased to say it was AWESOME. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the trip. Having tested a range of different sea conditions that week, ZANGETSU is living up to its name of being able to slice through the waves like a hot knife through butter.

Enjoy some of the photos of the trip and a Cape Fur Seal cleaning up after a fishy meal.

You can expect the next update from the CADIZ VISTA NOVA ROBBEN ISLAND swim.

For Now…

By admin

Feb

8

For now i’ll be posting some pictures of previous trips! Bearing in mind we’ve been in action since 1999, there are few pics to put up. However these will be mostly to convey the feel of the Cape Town area and the potential fun to be had. I hope you enjoy these!

The next big planned event will be the Robben Island to Blaauberg Swim. A truelly amazing feat we will be taking part in! More on this to follow. But until then i’ll be trying to catch a fish in this big big sea of ours.